EST 1997 ST LOUIS MISSOURI			LIGHTS OUT VERSION 3.0

 

 

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Friday Night Fights at Lumiere Place – November 20, 2009

By Dave Patek - SEF President / Photos by Bob Barton

The Lumiere Theater was the place to be for STL boxing fans last night – as one of the most anticipated match-ups in recent history was to take place in the main event. Robbie Cannon, the soft hitting lightweight was challenging the much bigger WBF Americas Welterweight champ Brandon Baue, a full fledged 147 pounder. The two are no strangers – as both were excellent amateur fighters and split the two bouts they had against one another several years ago.

Apparently inspired by Manny Pacquiao’s successful jump to welter, Cannon called out Baue and the fight was signed without hesitation. Jim Howell – Baue’s trainer said “We knew Brandon would be the bigger, more powerful guy…but (they) wanted this fight, so we gave it to them.” This is not the first time Peashooter has called out a nemesis for a public showdown.

You may remember that he smack talked Leon Bobo and was soundly beaten by Bobo late in 2008. He also called out dangerous puncher Dannie Williams this year, a fight that nobody thought he would win – and it never happened for whatever reason. At any clip, Robbie dodged a literal bullet with that fight, and he lives to challenge the powerful Baue.

The sold out event kicked off with a welterweight bout featuring Chicago prospect Achour Escho (4-0) fighting Springfield Missouri’s Yankton Southern (3-1). Southern came out with a poking jab that seemed to be an antenna to feel out the strength and defense of Escho. However, Achour seemed to find the jab to be annoying, and he returned fire with a flurry of sharp jabs and lead rights that all landed flush on Southern’s chin and cheeks. A four punch combo punctuated by a right hook floored Yankton at the halfway mark of the first round. Unsteady after a quick 8-count, Southern charged forward only to be turded center ring by a huge right uppercut. He did not beat the count this time, and the fight was over at 2:05 of round 1. Escho looks to be a strong fighter, but his career is just starting – so it’s hard to tell if he was that good…or Southern was that bad. All is not lost for Yankton – if he ever decides to act in porno films, he has a terrific name for it.

 

The next fight featured a very fat old man against a 0-1 local club heavyweight. Virgil Yarber, the 55 year old tugboat from Indianapolis came to the ring in sunglasses and a tight robe that was hiding mountains of flab. It was quite obvious to the crowd that he was also an old man. I can honestly say I have never seen a 55 year old man put on gloves and seriously attempt to fight in a professional ring. Props to that. Not sure if it is pride or sheer stupidity. His opponent, Jones was not in the greatest shape either, though he did have a 30 year age advantage on Yarber (that doesn’t look right in print. It’s like looking at 200 RBIs).

Surprisingly, the ring supported both men, and the bell rang to start the first. After humiliating himself with short arm punches that made him look like a T-Rex, Yarber left his chin wide open, and the first real punch that Jones threw (straight left) landed flush on the chin of his un-gangly opponent. Yarber hit the ropes, then the canvas and though he made it up by the 10 count…he could not walk a straight line to the referee and Mike England called it at 1:50 of the first. Hopefully this ends the career of Yarber, who gets points for being brave, but loses points for not taking his training seriously. The dude had to have weighed over 300 pounds.

The third fight of the evening featured former UFC middleweight Terry Martin (now a cruiserweight at 183 pounds) (2-0) – also out of Chicago, IL. Against Jaddell Wells (debut) out of Canton, OH. Before the fight, Michael Jackson’s “Beat It” played to the delight of the fairly reserved crowd of about 350. There is something hilarious in watching a South City drunkard dancing with a large black woman – both singing the song word for word. Considering we had not seen a ring-card girl yet, it was an Easter egg that was much appreciated by this fight fan.

Anyway, in Martin’s corner was the very talented Heavyweight “Fast” Fres Oquendo. Fres has been one of the most overlooked heavies in the world – probably because he was dismissed by David Tua and the boring John Ruiz – but don’t discard him just yet…the dude still has some skills, albeit he’s 37. His record was incorrectly announced by Peter Vaccaro as (31-2) with 28 knockouts…his record is actually (31-5) with 20 stoppages. So much for accuracy.

 

Martin came out strong in the first landing a left/right combo that wobbled Wells out of the box. A left uppercut nearly sealed the deal, but somehow Jaddell remained on his feet. Wells’ strategy seemed to be to hold as much as possible, then unleash a few powder puff punches – and then hold again. Martin was unimpressed and continued charging forward, missing as much as he landed. Wells’ awkward style prompted me to tell my companion, Mick Larkin that Martin was in there with boxing’s version of Willie McGee. As the second round began, Wells attempted to land first, only to be caught by a big left hook, overhand right combo that seemed to stagger him. Wells held on in order to stay on his feet – though this time he actually landed some decent shots on the face of Martin, who at this point was breathing hard from all of the supporting he’d been doing for the first five minutes.

In the third round, another bomb to the chin of Wells forced him to hold again, and Mike England immediately removed a point for it. A right hook hurt Wells, and as he turned his back to Martin, England halted the bout. It was a fair stoppage. Wells clearly had no intent of winning the fight…or even making it competitive. Martin, though still green as a boxer was mostly unimpressive. There were times during the fight, you could tell he wanted to take Wells to the ground and choke him into submission. That would have been cool – though probably classified as assault.

Bout four featured two Light Heavyweights with decent records and in good shape. “King” David Thomas (8-1-2) and Dennis “The Nigerian Assassin” Ogboo (6-2) entered the ring in hopes of putting on an impressive performance for the attendees – who at this point were hoping that they would see at least a little boxing on this night. Ogboo has been on my radar since July, when he was stopped by Chris Eppley. There was some bad blood between the two, and Eppley was invited to Lexington, KY for a rematch, which he won. Based on his record, I assumed that he was a decent boxer who didn’t prepare properly for his last fight in STL.

Thomas came out and immediately took charge with a crisp, powerful jab that landed on Ogboo’s eye several times and seemed to bother him. While Dennis was in mid-parry, Thomas crushed him with an overhand right that rendered him useless on the canvas. He barely made the count, and was allowed to continue…surprisingly. Almost immediately, Thomas landed a left hook that doubled Ogboo over and followed up with another overhand right that turded Ogboo in his own corner – where he lay, starched for 5 minutes while the ringside physician performed a battery of tests to make sure Dennis was OK. It was the kind of knockout that many fighters do not come back from. Thomas was surprisingly good, and we may see him again on a larger stage at some point.
The Main event, described earlier was destined to be the fight of the evening. Considering that four fights contained a whopping six rounds, something had to prove worthy of the admission price, which was a fair $25.

Baue stopped by to say hello prior to the fight, and said he felt great and was 145 pounds – he then lifted his shirt to reveal a defined six-pack. Later on, Jim Howell told me that Brandon had to sweat off about 7 pounds prior to Friday’s weigh in. That could not have been good for the ole’ adrenals.

Cannon entered the ring first – to his usual music, Queen’s “Another One Bites the Dust”. His trainer, Joe Pounds led the way – along with a couple other guys from the Twin Cities boxing club. As Robbie removed his robe, it was evident that his 144.5 pound frame was not in the best condition it could have been in. He wasn’t fat – but also wasn’t defined.
Baue entered the ring before his music even started, which told me he was ready to step between the ropes and get down to business. As the instructions were explained by England, both fighters smiled at one another as a token of mutual respect, knowing that afterward, they would likely share a beer and possibly get into another fight in the parking lot of the casino (kidding, of course).

 

As the first bell sounded, Baue came out firing a powerful and accurate jab that seemed to dent Cannon’s head every time it landed. Robbie took his time, and traded a little with some arm punches that seemed to be coming from his hips. Cannon probably had an edge in the speed department, but Baue was not feeling any of Robbie’s punches. A jab/right hook combo rocked Cannon as the 10-second warning was clapped.

 

In the second round, it appeared that Cannon’s strategy would be to circle left and keep away from Baue’s right hand as much as possible. However, Brandon’s jab reappeared and threw Peashooter’s game plan out of the window. Baue jabbed for the majority of the round, and punctuated it with a hard left hand as the bell sounded.

In the third, Baue’s first shot; a right hand lead was followed by a big left hook that seemed to concern Cannon. However, Robbie managed to get off a good right/left hook combo that stunned Brandon. It didn’t last long. Brandon chased Robbie along the far side of the ring and landed a right hand that put Cannon into the ropes. A fast uppercut combination sent Robbie to the canvas. The crowd erupted and came to its feet for the first time of the evening. Cannon beat the count and the bell sounded with Robbie hurt terribly.

 

Round four saw more of the same. Cannon landed with a straight right hand that Baue followed with a big left hook and a right hand that put Cannon on the canvas for a second time. Cannon again, rose to his feet and landed a decent right hook to Baue’s midsection, only to be hit with a big right cross that put Robbie in Candyland temporarily. Baue capitalized with a left hook that I was certain would earn a stoppage…but no, England allowed the beating to continue. Had I been in Robbie’s corner, I would have had a towel on standby to throw into the ring for mercy. Knowing Joe Pounds a little, I knew that wasn’t happening. I firmly believe that he thought his fighter had a chance to change the course of the fight with one or two big punches.

In the fifth, it appeared that Baue was taking a breather – though not sure why. Cannon was obviously hurt and could have been finished. It wasn’t as if Brandon was breathing with his mouth open, but he didn’t land anything of substance. Unfortunately, Cannon did nothing either, though Cannon’s ‘nothing’ seemed to be more that Baue’s ‘nothing. This was the first round I gave to Peashooter.

 

As the sixth round began, I noticed that Baue’s guard, which had been high and tight for the first half of the fight had all but disappeared. He began holding his hands at his waist – attempting to drawn Cannon into a set-up, then KO shot. Cannon landed a quick right/left combo before accidentally butting Baue on the forehead. Both fighters winced in pain, but continued without incident. At the end of the round, it looked as if Baue would be shut out again, but he did manage to land a big left hook in the last five seconds. I still gave the round to Cannon.

The seventh stanza showed an aggressive Cannon throwing more shots. He landed a jab/hook combo cleanly but Baue walked through it unfazed. At this point, it was clear that Cannon could do nothing to hurt Brandon. A right hook from Baue hurt Cannon again, and Robbie’s right eye, which had been showing effects of the jab early on, was now nearly swollen shut. It was a good round technically for both fighters, but the power edge clearly went to Baue.

 

In the eighth and final round, the fighters touched gloves and within seconds, Cannon butted Baue accidentally for a second time. A slight trickle of blood began to leak from the left eye of the Peashooter. Baue followed the mishap with a straight right hand, then a jab that seemed to hurt Cannon again. Cannon bounced back and actually stunned Brandon with a fast right hand, but Baue came back immediately with a left hook followed by another overhand right. End of fight. I had Baue winning 6 rounds to 2. The average score was 69-61 or 70-62 – a Unanimous decision for “The Business”. Brandon keeps his WBF America’s Welterweight title. According to Howell, Baue will fight again in January for the Intercontinental Version of the WBF belt…and if he wins, he will try to challenge for a big belt toward the end of 2010.

Overall the card, produced and promoted by Hitz (Chicago) and co-promoted by Midwest Boxing Promotions was fun. There were some mismatches on the under card – a few looked good on paper, but ended up being stinkers. The venue was much better for boxing than the smoky Heart of St. Charles…though, the Theater at Lumiere is not best suited for a boxing ring. The seating is a little awkward. However, the card was well organized and we were done with boxing by 9pm – which left plenty of time to play some table games in the casino and grab a burger at the Burger Bar. The admission price was very reasonable at $25, though they stopped selling tickets half-way through Friday. This was disappointing – there were at least 50 empty seats and the box office was turning people away. Make a mental note to buy your tickets for Lumiere shows early.

Until next time, stay safe.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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