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(continuation)
The evening's Co-Feature was a clash of two 19 year-olds who had both stood out at their respective selection trials. Laid-back Milwaukee native Eric Bengtson had impressed in Indianapolis with his punching power and fitness while Philadelphia's Harold Johnson caught the eye of scouts in Atlantic City with his quick hands, superb defense and ring movement. All the ingredients were there for a classic boxer versus puncher stoush.
Having claimed to be one who doesn't like to draw attention to himself, Bengtson had done just that when he turned up at a promotional event earlier in the week accompanied by fellow Wisconsin fighter Jake Morrison, the two dressed in dark pinstripe suits and sporting identical shaved heads. Morrison has been a controversial figure since coming into the public spotlight during the same Indianapolis trials that uneartherd Bengtson, his hair-trigger temper and aggressive attitude leading to a number of run-ins with other trialists, including fellow Middleweight Stanley Ketchel. Morrison was involved in an assault incident in July and drew the ire of the Mellon Arena crowd following his debut last week when he verbally abused a young child on the way back to the dressing rooms.
It was a surprise to see Morrison and Bengtson, two polar opposite personalities standing side-by-side in apparent alliance with each other. The assumption was made that, like the members of the Florida Alliance, Jersey Pride and USC, the two had decided to start training and preparing for their fights together, although they never confirmed it.
Bengtson had alluded to their partnership back on Wednesday with what was meant to be a comical remark, saying "I guess we're the Wisconsin mafia." Although he'd only been playing the media had run with the remark and they've been referring to the two fighters as the "Wisconsin mafia" ever since.
Tonight Morrison made the walk to the ring with Bengtson, dressed in a similar dark suit to the one from the promotional event. Bengtson wore a robe of black silk around his torso and a sneer of hostile intentions upon his countenance, eyeing Johnson in the moments before the two were brought together in the centre of the ring.
(to be continued)
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