The Heavyweight Boxing Federation

[vistaman44]

... but glad I "made an impression" at the tryouts. Thanks, Commissioner KC!

[kenyan_cheena]

THE PUNCHING ... ACCOUNTANT?

Wednesday 12 June 2002

In one of those "unlikely as hell" type scenarios, a Connecticut-born former accountant and lacrosse player has stood out above the pack during this week's Heavyweight Boxing Federation auditions at Berlin's Estrel Convention Center.

30 year-old Scott Mundt may appear to have a background unsuited for the sport of boxing, but dig a little deeper and you'll find out that he was on the verge of an amateur career in his late teens.

"I boxed for a few years in school, right up until I was eighteen," said Mundt, who prefers to go by his middle name Scott rather than his first name Christopher. "But I tried lacrosse and really enjoyed it. I weighed up the appeal of running around trying to propel that little rubber ball into a net against the appeal of getting hit in the head and, well ... chose the rubber ball."

Growing up on a farm in Central Connecticut, Mundt attended UConn where he studied accountancy and played lacrosse competitively for the university. Gradually, the boxing bug left him altogether and after graduating, he went to work at an accounting firm in Hartford.

Back in '99, Mundt found himself at a crossroads both personally and professionally and made a decision that surprised his closest acquaintances. He chose to leave America and moved to his grandfather's hometown of Zeitz, an old mining town in Germany.

"I think it was probably the most impulsive decision I've made in my life," he said. "But it's also one of the best ones. I'm a much happier person now than I was three years ago, so I have no regrets."

When the Heavyweight Boxing Federation's World Championship tournament kicked off back in January, Mundt rediscovered his passion for the sport.

"It was amazing," he said. "Almost like a long-forgotten memory. I watched the first couple of cards and that was it. I was hooked. I'd caught "the bug" again. I was right here in the crowd when Riddick Bowe TKO'd Tom Cowler on debut and right then I knew that boxing was going to be a part of my future."

HBF President Michael Vincennes's announcement at the end of April, where he revealed that more auditions would be taking place, led to Mundt getting into training in earnest.

"I've always been fit," said Mundt. "Most of that had to do with my upbringing, all those countless hours of work on my family's farm. I almost had no choice, really. But when the president made that announcement, I went out that very evening and jogged for an hour. I was excited and inspired."

The International Boxing League came to Berlin only two weeks ago as part of their European selection trials. Mundt attended those trials, not to be selected but to feel what it would be like to be a part of the sport.

"I met the Olympic Champ Rocchigiani," said Mundt, smiling. "That was really something. We talked boxing, life, even accounting. He's someone I'm really hoping has a lot of success in the IBL."

On Monday, it was the turn of the HBF to gauge Germany's talent, and the federation's European rep Matthew Hutchinson likes what they've seen in Mundt.

"His level of fitness was the first thing that impressed us," said Hutchinson. "The guy said he's never lifted weights in his life, and I believe him. He has the type of physique that only comes from hard work and even harder exercise. Told us he's been doing a lot of callisthenics, also miles and miles of road work. The fellow is in superb shape, but his boxing skills are also top shelf. Scott has an aggressive disposition in the ring, a real brawler. You're not going to see him sit back behind a jab, that's certain."

It looks like the Heavyweight Boxing Federation have found themselves not only another talented competitor, but one who has a great passion for the sport. It goes without saying that Scott Mundt will be one to watch once action in the HBF's Qualifying League commences later this year..

[Romdawg88]

Originally Posted by kenyan_cheena

"I boxed for a few years in school, right up until I was eighteen," said Mund, who prefers to go by his middle name Scott rather than Christopher. "But I tried lacrosse and really enjoyed it. I weighed up the appeal of running around trying to propel that little rubber ball into a net against the appeal of getting hit in the head and, well ... chose the rubber ball."

Going to have to say that was a smart choice, throwing rubber balls beats getting punched in the face quite easily.

If you done made everyone and don't mind could you post a zip of all the TBCB guys in the HBF and IBF. It'd be nice to take a look over my guys and the cats he'll be facing off against.

[CONN CHRIS]

Originally Posted by Romdawg88

Going to have to say that was a smart choice, throwing rubber balls beats getting punched in the face quite easily.

If you done made everyone and don't mind could you post a zip of all the TBCB guys in the HBF and IBF. It'd be nice to take a look over my guys and the cats he'll be facing off against.

Those "little rubber balls" don't feel so good when you catch one in the ribs.

Well done Dan!

[Romdawg88]

Originally Posted by CONN CHRIS

Those "little rubber balls" don't feel so good when you catch one in the ribs.

Well done Dan!

No, I suppose they don't but they still beat getting punched 200+ times in the head.

[kenyan_cheena]

Originally Posted by CONN CHRIS

Those "little rubber balls" don't feel so good when you catch one in the ribs.

Well done Dan!

No problemo, Chris.

I know I said it before after I wrote about Romy's guy, but I'll say it again. I'm really enjoying doing these intros for all of you who signed up for my universe. There's four of you that attend the MSG auditions, so that figures to be a pretty big post.

[Claybor]

There's four of you that attend the MSG auditions, so that figures to be a pretty big post.

Woohoo!!!

[kenyan_cheena]

NO BLUES FOR JEANNETTE:
JERSEY'S HERO STAYS PERFECT IN BILOXI

Wednesday 12 June 2002

New Jersey's Joe Jeannette has maintained his perfect record with a tough majority decision victory over California's Clarence Henry at the Mississippi Coast Coliseum in Biloxi. Having turned back the serious challenge of San Francisco's Charles Horn in a split decision win last month, Jeannette scored his second consecutive win over a golden state opponent, taking the decision by scores of 58-57, 57-57 and 59-56.

In doing so, the North Bergen native has become the seventh World Championship tournament #1 seed to improve to 5-0, joining Gene Tunney, Larry Holmes, Riddick Bowe, Peter Jackson, Sam McVey and Sam Langford with that distinction.

Henry came into tonight having KO'd his previous two opponents, his 3-1(2) record placing him in a tie for 2nd in Group Eleven. A win would see him move above his 11th-seeded opponent into at least a tie for 1st. He gave Jeannette all he could handle, taking the opening round convincingly thanks to an aggressive disposition. Round two saw the combatants engage from in close, bumping shoulders and landing shots from point blank range before the bout erupted in round three, the best of the fight. Both men had their moments, but Jeannette stamped his name on the round when he landed a trio of impressive, damaging combinations late in the piece.

The Los Angeles-born Henry continued to test his man in the fourth but looked to be all out of fight in the fifth, which Jeannette took with relative ease. The final stanza offered little, but strangely it was Henry who was the hungrier and busier of the two. Nonetheless, when the verdict was revealed it confirmed that Jeannette had been the better man, but not by much. The Jersey slugger landed 113 of 292 punches (38.7%), while Henry connected on 93 of 268 (34.7%).

(to be continued)

[kenyan_cheena]

(continuation)

"I'm really enjoying the challenge," said Jeannette afterwards, sweat beaded upon his bald pate. "I'm relishing it, to be honest. You know, Horn last month and Henry tonight. They both pushed me to the limit and I think these tough bouts are really going to serve me well down the line."

The 11th seed was asked how life has been treating him since his victory over Charles Horn in Japan last month.

"Things couldn't be better," he said, smiling. "People in my hometown have started recognising me as a positive force in the community, which is real humbling, I gotta say. Never thought the day'd come when folk'd look at me in that way. My relationship with my family is probably better than it's ever been, and for that I've got my parish priest Freddie Ciccone to thank. He led me to the Lord and he led me into boxing. Maybe I'd be dead now if not for him."

Jeannette had entered the ring wearing an oversized navy blue/sky blue New Jersey Titans baseball jersey and cap. He donned them proudly as he left the ring, acknowledging the crowd's applause with a smile and a raised fist...

MCCALL PUTS FLORIDA ALLIANCE BACK ON TRACK
WITH DOMINANT VICTORY IN THE CO-FEATURE

The Florida Alliance's determination to put what has been a disappointing period behind them was given a shot in the arm in this evening's Co-Feature when Fort Lauderdale's Oliver McCall scored a convincing unanimous decision win over Washington native Ibar Arrington.

Having been a combined 1-3-1 since the beginning of May, McCall produced the group's first comprehensive performance since Elmer Ray's 4th round KO of Tony Ross back on April 26. The man known as "The Atomic Bull" came out with malicious intent, winning the opening round with ease before suffering what was clearly a flash knockdown midway through round two.

One would have thought that Arrington would have jumped all over the 1st Defense tournament's #3 seed, but he failed to follow up and, even worse, McCall shut the door on the north-westerner in rounds three and four, dominating Arrington with a resoluteness that was there on his face for all to see. There was hatred and ruthlessness in McCall's execution, as if he was saying to Arrington "No, you ain't gonna get close to winning this fight".

By the 5th, any enthusiasm that the 3-1 Arrington had for the contest was long gone and McCall cruised home, taking his foot off the gas but still maintaining control. The judge's scorecards all favoured the Florida native, 58-55, 57-56, 58-55.

(to be continued)

[kenyan_cheena]

(continuation)

The Alliance had made their usual big entrance some thirty minutes earlier with Elmer Ray leading the bloated entourage out, exclaiming "MISSISSIPPAAYYY!!!" before a crunching, pounding hip hop beat exploded from the coliseum's speaker system. Decked out in their patented colours of black, red and white, their journey to the ring was a deliberately slow one, almost as if to send a message to the boxing public that they aren't going away any time soon.

Once the bout was over, their mood was celebratory. Ray, Gomez and Haynes all joined McCall in the ring for the post fight interview.

"Thought it was important for me to come out an' make a statement tonight," said McCall. "Didn't quite work like I plan, but I'm happy enough. Prob'ly the most dominant win of my career to date, I'd say. I'm in a strong position far as qualifyin''s concerned, so it's all good, you know?"

McCall was asked about the surprising knockdown that Arrington scored in round two.

"Jus' a lucky punch," he answered, smiling. "Don't get me wrong, it was a good, clean shot. But it was lucky. He got me when I was a bit off balance, man. All you gotta do is look at what happen the rest of the time. That's the real story on this fight, see?"

It would be difficult to disagree with McCall on that point. He landed over half of his punches (168/320) while Arrington barely connected with twenty percent of his (59/291). Numbers don't usually lie and those ones tell the truth of what transpired during this bout.

"We still all here, y'all," said Elmer Ray, when one journalist queried the Alliance's recent struggles. "Ain't a couple losses gonna get rid of us, man. We all in this thing for the long haul, see? We still all be here ten years from now, sho nuff. This thing a journey, man, ain't no sprint. Every journey got it's potholes 'long the way, y'all. Just keep on watchin', man. We ain't be takin' no prisoners from here on out."

Ray was asked if the Alliance had a chance to stop in at the recent HBF auditions in Miami.

"Naw, man," he said, shaking his head. "Y'all, we really wan'd to be there, but see, we come straight here to Biloxi after Tommy's fight up north, man. But I heard they find some real talented brothers, y'all. People tellin' us this cat name Alvarez got some real skills. That Qualifyin' League, that's still few months away, but we be watchin' those Florida cats when they in action. We be keepin' our eyes open, y'all."

The next scheduled bout involving the quartet will take place on the 27th, when Terone Haynes clashes with Australia's Allan Horace in Japan. Ray confirmed that both McCall and Gomez will be heading home to recuperate from their recent contests, while he and "The Hastings Hammer" will be flying out to Japan next Tuesday for promotional duties and to conclude preparations for the fight.

(Still to come: the Biloxi Undercard)

[kenyan_cheena]

The Biloxi Undercard

OPENING BOUT

Oklahoma's Tommy Morrison continued his impressive run towards the second stage of the 1st Defense tournament with a dominant unanimous decision victory (58-56, 59-55, 59-56) over 14th seed Amos Johnson.

The blonde-haired 20 year-old was like a bull at a red cape in the opening round, hunting Johnson down and crashing a series of powerful shots into his head and body. In particular, a flush right hand late in the round had the Ohio-born Johnson rubber-legged. Morrison came close to finishing him off right there and then and would have if not for the sound of the bell.

Morrison continued to control proceedings as the fight progressed, with Johnson putting up a better fight in round three. But it was clear going into the fifth that he was fighting a losing battle. A look at the scorecards once the fight was over would reveal that all three judges had awarded each of the first four rounds in Morrison's favour.

The native of Oklahoma's Delaware County eased off in the final two rounds, content to keep the bruised and beaten Johnson at bay with the jab.

Following his third consecutive unanimous decision win, Morrison remains perfect at 5-0 and, more importantly, retains leadership of Group Three in the tournament standings. Of all the 24 group leaders in both of the federation's premier tournaments, Morrison (4(30)) and England's Gary Mason (5(66) in the World Championship tourney) are the only two to be seeded lower than #2 in their group. Quite an admirable achievement, I'd say.

Johnson's hopes of qualifying for the second stage of the tournament were all but over before tonight, but this loss has made it official. With his record now 1-2-2, the 14th seed has been eliminated from the picture, as far as progression goes. He faces a tough contest against 3rd seed Oliver McCall in five weeks, a bout he'll struggle to win based on his form to date.

As for Morrison, he is clearly the big surprise of this 1st Defense tournament. A win in his next bout against Ibar Arrington will wrap up a birth in the tournament's second stage. He'll clash with McCall in series seven, a fight which will more than likely determine who finishes on top of the group.

PRELIMINARY 1

Omaha native Ron Stander improved his record to 2-2-1 with a hard-fought majority decision victory over San Francisco's Al Kaufmann (59-55, 57-57, 60-54).

In a very entertaining contest, Kaufmann was better than two of those scorecards indicated. He really took the fight up to Stander, especially in the first four rounds. But only Mexican judge Herminio Cuevas appeared to notice.

Despite the win, his first since his debut upset of Clarence Henry, Stander's chances of moving any further in the World Championship tournament are slim. However, wins in his final two bouts will see him gain a higher seeding than would be expected in the upcoming Continental Americas tournament.

(to be continued)

[kenyan_cheena]

(continuation)

PRELIMINARY 2

Having come off a trio of bouts against Group Eleven's top seeds where he had fought admirably but come out on the losing end of the decision each time, San Francisco's Charles Horn came up against an opponent he felt confident of defeating tonight, the winless New Yorker Mike DeJohn. And win he did, but it turned out to be a lot more difficult than he would have expected.

After a six round slugfest, Horn was awarded a majority decision victory (58-56, 57-57, 58-56). Despite the fact that these two men had just one win between them, they put on a fantastic show, with DeJohn displaying more heart and desire than in any of his previous bouts. He actually came close to TKOing Horn in the 5th, where he dominated proceedings and had the Californian seriously hurt.

But in the end, the difference would turn out to be the knockdown that Horn scored early in round three. Without that, the result would have been a draw.

Horn is now 2-3 while DeJohn continues to search for his first success at 0-5.

SUPPORT BOUT

Detroit's Johnny Summerlin improved to 4-1 with a hard-earned majority decision win against New York's Billy Daniels (58-56, 57-57, 58-56). It was perhaps the bout of the night, with Summerlin turning back the testing challenge of an opponent who came into the event with top two aspirations.

A 2-1-1 record meant that a win would have seen Daniels jump to 2nd place in the group standings and he almost pulled it off. This was one of those fights where the momentum shifted from round to round. The Gotham native come out quick, taking the opening round with aggression before Summerlin showed in the second that he could play that game, too. The World Championship tournament's 22nd seed maintained control in round three before Daniels took it back in the fourth. They were on a cracking pace and the crowd was loving it.

Going into the fifth, two judges had it all even while the third had Daniels up by a point. But Summerlin dug deep in the last two rounds, winning both of them on each judge's card to secure the victory. He was more dominant in the final stanza than at any point during the fight, pummeling his tiring opponent.

As said earlier, Daniels would have been in 2nd place with a win here, so not only did Summerlin fight off that challenge, he's kept himself in a position to move into the top spot with a victory against Joe Jeannette next month.

"That's what I kept tellin' myself," the Michigan native said afterwards. "I couldn't face Joe with a 3-2 record, man. It would o' been real tough for me to get up for the fight, that's assumin' he wins tonight. But I'm real happy with this win. I earned it, 'cause Billy pushed me most of the way."

[kenyan_cheena]

SUMMARY OF RESULTS
HEAVYWEIGHT BOXING FEDERATION FIGHT CARD
WEDNESDAY 12 JUNE 2002
MISSISSIPPI COAST COLISEUM, BILOXI, MISSISSIPPI, USA


OPENING BOUT

HBF 1st Defense Tournament - Stage One - Group Three
4(30) Tommy Morrison UD6 2(14) Amos Johnson

PRELIMINARY 1

HBF World Championship Tournament - Stage One - Group Eleven
6(86) Ron Stander MD6 8(118) Al Kaufmann

PRELIMINARY 2

HBF World Championship Tournament - Stage One - Group Eleven
5(70) Charles Horn MD6 7(102) Mike DeJohn

SUPPORT BOUT

HBF World Championship Tournament - Stage One - Group Eleven
2(22) Johnny Summerlin MD6 4(54) Billy Daniels

CO-FEATURE

HBF 1st Defense Tournament - Stage One - Group Three
1(3) Oliver McCall UD6 3(22) Ibar Arrington

MAIN EVENT

HBF World Championship Tournament - Stage One - Group Eleven
1(11) Joe Jeannette MD6 3(38) Clarence Henry

[Jeff1787]

"The Duke" Tommy Morrison is the man!!!

[kenyan_cheena]

Originally Posted by Jeff1787

"The Duke" Tommy Morrison is the man!!!

Yep, he's really made a good start to his career. I'm just wondering how long it will go for. Surely, McCall will be too good for him but even if he losses to the Atomic Bull, he might still qualify for the second stage of the tournament. Things could get pretty rough for him there.

[vistaman44]

Originally Posted by kenyan_cheena

Yep, he's really made a good start to his career. I'm just wondering how long it will go for. Surely, McCall will be too good for him but even if he losses to the Atomic Bull, he might still qualify for the second stage of the tournament. Things could get pretty rough for him there.

... want to look over his shoulder. The Bluffs Butcher's the same kind of absorb punishment to give punishment kind of guy. There's a bout that could be a war!

[kenyan_cheena]

Hey, all.

Been working on my NFL dynasty the last few days (feel free to give it a look by clicking on the link in my sig (plug *cough* plug)), but I should be able to post most of the review of the MSG auditions either tonight or tomorrow.

k_c



EDIT:

Hmm, looking at my recent posts, I just realised that I hadn't made a post in my NFL thread for three days before the one I just made. Oh, well. You can still have a look if you want to.

[Jeff1787]

I just checked it out...pretty cool stuff....

[kenyan_cheena]

MSG QUARTET HAS HBF SINGING PRAISES TO NYC

Thursday 13 June 2002

The Heavyweight Boxing Federation appears to have hit the jackpot at its Madison Square Garden Qualifying League auditions, with a quartet of fighters both young and old impressing HBF scouts. These past four days have also had some excitement added to them with the presence of World Championship tournament #3 seed Jack Johnson, who will be fighting New Yorker Ronaldo Snipes on Saturday night at the Garden.

With a few exceptions, it would be true to say that the first week of the HBF's auditions was something of a disappointment. The same cannot be said for week two, with the New York scouting team more than satisfied with what they've unveiled.

* Born in Ohio but residing in Utica, New York, 40 year-old Mark Jones has displayed a boxing ability that defies his age, with fast hands and assured, skillful footwork. A laid-back, mellow individual, Jones arrived at these auditions in tip top shape, revealing himself to be an effective counter-puncher and defensively sound.

"Yeah, his driver's licence says he's 40," said HBF scout Gil Roberts. "But he look