The main event at last Saturday’s Rumble may have been the Dan (Mayhem) Mott vs. Randall Graham match but Kyle (The Motor) Tessier’s win over Anthony Aulotte was the ‘bout of the night.’
The eighth fight on the card, Tessier, the hometown fighter from Two Rivers Boxing Club, and Aulotte, from the Beverly Bronx Boxing Club in Edmonton, Alberta, electrified the crowd in the 160lbs Junior C bout.
Tessier, the surprise of the night, stole the match from the heavier, older boxer, Aulotte, managing a 4-1 decision in his favour..
“Kyle Tessier really surprised me because his opponent had a two year edge on him for age and he also had some weight on him. So Kyle pulled that one from his boots,” coach for the Two rivers Boxing Club, Wally Doern, said.
Despite the disparity between the boxers, the fight was closely contested, rising to a crescendo of cheering by the third.
After the first round, with a consultation with Doern, Tessier came back with a renewed plan to sneak under Aulotte’s jabs and work the body in close where Tessier’s shorter reach would be an asset.
The tactic worked for Tessier, but Aulotte didn’t give up. By the third round both boxers were bloodied and tired. The crowd, simmering up until the third, exploded, throwing its full support behind the hometown boy, which added fuel to Tessier’s fire.
“You just hear snippets (of the cheering) but what you do hear, it just fuels you,” Tessier said.
The energy from the crowd added just enough fuel to get him through the bout and grind out the win.
Tessier summed up the fight in three words, calling it ‘tiring but exhilarating.’
The hard work of the two boxers and the close competition, which had the crowd participating as if they were in the ring, was recognized with the Kyle Mooney Award for the best bout of the night for the two boxers.
Kyle (Bulldozer) Black was the other winner for the Two Rivers club on the weekend.
The first fight on the card, against Darrion Cameron from Revelstoke, B.C. in the 132lbs Jr. A class, Black took the trophy in his first ever competition bout with a split, 3-2, decision in his favour.
“I’m feeling extremely well and very pumped up,” a wide-smiling Black said.
The two boxers also received the Logan Reeve Award for being the youngest boxers on the card. Both fledging pugilists were eleven-years old.
The main event of the night was the 165lbs Senior bout between Dan (Mayhem) Mott, fighting out of Two Rivers Boxing Club, and Randall Graham, from the Shaolin Boxing Club in Prince George.
Though Mott had the crowd behind him for the duration of the fight, Graham proved to be too much, taking the match in a unanimous 5-0 decision.
Two Rivers had five fighters on the twelve-match card. Greg (the Punisher) Petsul, from Two River, lost to Mauricio Malvarez from the Beverly Bronx boxing club in a 100lbs Junior C bout on a RSC (referee stops contest) after the second round. Joey (the Mechanic) McKerricher faced off against Jason Weiss, from Shaolin Boxing Club, but was defeated by Weiss in a 5-0 decision.
With a two for five record on the night, Doern saw room for improvement with his boxers.
“Some of the boys they did their best. There’s a little bit of room for improvement, but that’s what it’s all about. We’ll go back to the drawing board, back to the gym and we’ll be back again,” Doern said.
Six clubs made it out to the fight night, ranging all the way from Edmonton to Revelstoke.
The hall was packed for the event and Doern, one of the organizers for the event, was well pleased with the turnout.