Jimmy Lange may not be the most skilled guy in the world, but he sure is exciting. For five and a half rounds, veteran journeyman junior middleweight Raul Munoz rocked him around the ring Saturday night at the Patriot Center in Fairfax, VA. Lange was slow, and looked to be confused by his smaller opponent’s movement. A big left counter mid-way through the sixth gave the evening’s viewers a happy ending, though. After the big shot landed, Lange stayed patient, and just took the openings Munoz gave him. He wobbled him numerous times after that, and after the third knockdown, the fight’s official had no choice but to step in at 2:44 of the 6th.
The rest of the night was filled with decent scraps between a few prospects, and some decent veteran names. Although none seem to be headed for superstardom or even meager “stardom,” there was only one match on the card that elicited boos from spectators, a dreadful affair between George Rivera and “Contender” veteran Jonathon Reid. Michael Stewart, another former “Contender,” put journeyman Jimmy Leblanc’s lights out in the 2nd round of a short, foul-filled affair, and then proceeded to call out Lange (apparently he hates guys named Jimmy). Zain Shah was on his way to a quick TKO victory when he blasted Julius Kennedy while he was on his knees after the second knockdown of round 2. Kennedy was ruled unable to continue, but no mention of the illegal blow was made in the announcement of the official decision: TKO in the 2nd. Scott Sigmon took care of Bruce Rumbolz in a bout which picked up the pace in the final rounds. Tori Nelson, the current WBC women’s middleweight titleholder, edged former national Gold Gloves winner Michelle Garland. Todd “White Lightning” Wilson survived some tough moments to beat out former IBF titlst Eric Aiken, and Lawrence Jones opened the night off with a decision win over Jose Felix.
Boxing was definitely the biggest part of the night, but it was also a night that gave back to servicemembers, police and firefighters around the area. If a person was part of any one of those special groups, they got their tickets for free after a giveaway Saturday morning.
It wasn’t seeing YURIORKIS GAMBOA! go to work, or Vitali Klitschko beat up another overmatched opponent. However, it was a damn good night of fights.
