At the Griffins Boxing Club in North Vancouver Saturday, Feb. 5, the Sunshine Coast Boxing Club had three of its senior boxers in action on an amateur boxing card with 10 bouts contested.
Accompanying the boxers were an enthusiastic two dozen or more friends and family from the Sunshine Coast.
First to box was 150-pound George Vortouris in his first ever bout against Griffins Misha Daroshin, a veteran of 11 bouts in an exhibition bout due to the difference in experience.
The sparring match soon turned into an all-out boxing match with the referee seeing that the boxers were evenly matched and allowing them to fight all out.
Vortouris won the crowds' favour as the fans from the Coast cheered him on with every punch he landed.
Next up was Randy Hollett at 167 pounds in a rematch with Pemberton's Zak Tomas.
In October, Hollett won a close, hard-fought decision over Tomas.
With Tomas the aggressor, the slimmed-down Hollett was tagged by a booming right hand on the nose shortly after the opening bell, fracturing his nose and causing it to bleed profusely throughout the fight with the doctor being asked by the referee to check if Hollett could continue to box during the bout.
Allowed to continue, the slick counter-punching Hollett built up a 14-1 points lead after two rounds. He would make Tomas miss with a punch and make him pay with a heavy counter punch. To Tomas' credit, he never stopped trying and with 30 seconds left he cornered Hollett and rained heavy punches on him.
Making a novice boxer mistake, the unhurt Hollett covered up, hoping to ride out the onslaught until the fight ended. This backfired as the referee thought Hollett was hurt and stopped the fight to protect the boxer.
Disappointed at the fight's end, Hollett took the result as experience and will campaign in the 165-pound category from now on.
In the evening's main event, Gibsons 20-year-old super heavyweight Nik Steven-son, in his first bout, boxed 42-year-old four-fight veteran Dennis Musto of Griffins.
With the fans of both boxers creating a deafening roar in the small fight club, Musto took a slight lead in the match due to his boxing experience, keeping himself at a safe distance from the power-laden fists of the Sunshine Coast boxer.
As the fight moved through the second round, the crowd was so loud the referee even had to cover his ears for a time and his instructions to the boxers could not be heard by the boxers as the aggressive, Stevenson attacked the muscular Musto.
In the final round, Stevenson became more confident and aggressive as his supporters encouraged him and he landed the more telling blows.
At the bell, the audience, which had been on its feet for the entire bout, gave the boxers a long round of applause in appreciation of the effort they had seen in the ring.
As the tension and drama mounted, the boxers were brought to ring centre awaiting the announcement of the judge's decision. The Coast contingent erupted in a huge cheer when it was announced that Stevenson was a 7-6 points winner.
The Sunshine Coast Club will continue to compete at various boxing events and expects to hold a mid-June fight night in Gibsons.
-Submitted
