Airmen, Soldiers compete during boxing tourney

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Stephen Collier
  • 8th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
U.S. ARMY GARRISON HUMPHREYS, South Korea (AFPN) --  Fighters from the U.S. Army and Air Force settled their interservice "differences" in the ring during the 2007 summer Smoker Boxing Tournament Aug. 11 here.

The competition, sponsored by Army Morale, Welfare and Recreation, pitted 36 Airmen from Osan, Kunsan and Suwon air bases against Soldiers from across the Korean peninsula in 18 bouts, each lasting no more than three rounds. The boxing smoker lasted more than three hours.

The tourney began with fighters Wilson Rivera of USAG Humphreys and Kunsan's Michael Barry during two rounds. A ferocious Rivera delivered one-too-many jabs above the waist, securing the win and ending the fight early.  Then, Juan Flores from Kunsan beat out Osan's Steve Jordan during a head-shot, three-round bluesuiter bout.
Air Force fighters again took over the ring, pitting Kunsan's own against each other with Jason Burke taking on Derek Rowe. Burke 'patti-caked' with Rowe early on, but laid into the fighter hard, taking him down in the second. Gregory Shoopman from Humphreys put Kunsan's Sergio Sanchez down on the mat twice, but still lost out to the Air Force fighter in round three.

"As hard as we train in a week, these guys (Kunsan's opponents) will never compare," Richard Mora, Kunsan Air Base Boxing Team coach, said after being asked where he expected Kunsan's Airmen to rank in comparison with opponents.

"I push them through a lot during training, so coming here should be easy for them. Going into this fight, these guys were hungry and they were ready. We showed the Army how to box," he said. 

Determined from the start, Grayson Walker from USAG Eagle poured on hard hits from the beginning, taking down Kunsan's Erick Rivas by total knockout for the first Soldier-on-Soldier fight. 

Soldiers went at it again with Ken Laird of USAG Eagle taking on David Sanders. Laird laid into the USAG Casey Soldier each round, taking the win after split decision.

Casey's Leonardo Avila and his long reach lined up to take on Kunsan's Aaron Valdes for the next Air Force-Army fight. Valdes needed just 35 seconds, putting Avila on the ground for a total knockout.

USAG Yongsan's Jeff Duncan pummeled on USAG Hovey's John Hoskins like a machine gun, Duncan continued to open up on Hoskins, taking the win in round three. Casey's Courtney Donnatein took on Humphrey's Curtis Waller next, throwing both lower jabs and upper cuts in round one. Waller continued to keep his head down, giving Donnatein more opportunities at head shots, not mention the win after referee decision.

Air Force's Devin Goodnoe from Kunsan took to the mat, taking on Elzavon Maxie from Casey. Maxie's larger arms couldn't trump his slower speed, giving Goodnoe the advantage in the third for the win.

"I'm having a ball," said U.S. Army Sgt. Maj. Jason Kim, USAG Humphreys command sergeant major about the fight. "USAG Humphreys hosts a lot of events so this is a great way to keep our Soldiers on post instead of having them off. Boxing is an exciting sport so a lot of people enjoy this kind of sport. Tonight, the Air Force has a good chance. There is good competition between them and the Army."

The action continued, putting Kunsan's Vincent Reed up against Humphrey's Avery Robinson. Robinson showed his strength early on with lightning swings into Reed's midsection. Even though he tired himself out, Robinson took the fight by split decision.

Lucky bout number 13 was next, with luck going to Kunsan's 179-pound Tim Silva with a knockout on Yongsan's Lincoln Gordon just 45 seconds into the first round.

Dustin Crawford from Eagle and Michael Gordon deployed from Aviano Air Base, Italy, stepped up next with veteran Crawford taking it in the first. But Gordon turned around in the second, forcing Crawford to see stars after knocking him to the ground.

Next it was time for another Air Force knock out with Suwon's Elijah Gilbert laying into Humphrey's Joshua Jamal, forcing Referee Ki-Taek Kim to call the fight after 10 seconds.

Determined not to give the Air Force all the knockouts for the night, Sean Pate from Humprheys stepped up and leaned into Kunsan's David Rodriguez, putting him down after 16 seconds.

Humphreys and Kunsan returned again, with 196-pound fighter Tremaine Gordon and 201-pound Luther Jones sparring. Both fighters came out strong early, matching each other's blows. After Gordon delivered two free hits on Jones after the referee's intervention, the fight was called, giving Jones the win.

Kunsan and Yongsan met again, with fighters Amon "Rampage" Wester and Vincent Matheny putting each's 190-pound plus punches into one another. Wester delivered back-to-back lethal blows onto Matheny, knocking him out of the ropes to take the win.

The night's main event arrived with Humphrey's Won-Tae Kim, a Korean augmentee to the U.S. Army Soldier, versus Kunsan's Justice Burrus. Both fighters danced around each other into the third, with Burrus taking more points over Won.

Lawrence Blackwell, USAG Hovey and three-year boxer, said he was interested in a rematch with Kunsan's boxers, but only after the new USAG Casey boxing team had been formed.

"After the Fourth of July match at Casey, a lot of guys were interested in getting a team off the ground," he said. "Right now, we have between five and 10 guys. This is Kunsan's day, but I promise you, we're going to have an evenly-matched fight between the Air Force and the Army. We'll be ready."

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