‘Rockin’ the Rafters’: Melendy, Fitzer win bouts at fundraiser

On Friday night, Fallon’s annual Night of Fights ended three hours of high school boxing with Rockin’ the Rafters after Carson “Slim Shady” Melendy scored a unanimous decision against Frankie “The Kid” Cortez in a three-round bout that kept the audience focused and hollering until the final bell.

Melendy, fighting in the green corner at the Rafter 3C Arena, and Cortez measured each other throughout a hard-fought first round in the boys’ main event. Cortez scored when he connected with a powerful punch to Melendy’s jaw. The round ended with the boxers wrapped up.

Cortez fought aggressively, which appeared to surprise Melendy during the round.

Both boxers roared out of their corners to begin the second round, each swinging wildly but not connecting. Melendy tried hard to connect with his punches, but Cortez deflected what the Fallon junior offered.

Melendy’s conditioning gave him a slight edge going into the third round.

The two boxers traded punches to the head, but Melendy staggered Cortez. Near the end of the round, Melendy punched Cortez, who fell to the canvas by his corner.

Near the end, Melendy knocked down Cortez again.

After Melendy earned the unanimous decision, many in the audience stood to applaud and holler their approval to both athletes.

“I had a lot of conditioning, and I knew it was going be a good fight,” Melendy said after his bout. “I thought I could win, though, for sure.”

Melendy said this is one of the great community social sports events of the year.

“This is always the best,” he said.

Sponsored by the Greenwave Takedown Club, Night of Fights is a major fundraiser for the Churchill County High School wrestling program. Earlier in the week, a Calcutta was conducted where participants bid on competitors to raise money for the wrestling program. Local businesses or individuals sponsored the boxers, who worked out and received training for several weeks before the Night of Fights.

“Twenty-eight fights was a lot to get through but everything ran smooth, making it possible to get so many fights in, in a timely manner,” said wrestling coach Trevor deBraga. “The fights were all entertaining, no one got hurt and we didn’t have any other situations with all the fans that were in attendance.”

deBraga estimates at least 600 fans watched the bouts from the arena floor and many more fans were in the stands.

“We will meet next week for totals on how well we did so as of now it’s up in the air,” he said.

The girls’ main event also produced a hard-fought bout between Tommie “Sweet Feet” Fitzer and Hannah “The Hammer” Hammontree.

Fitzer quickly took control of the first round with one punch after another, causing Hammontree to bleed. Referee Bert Serrano stepped in to stop the round for a few seconds, and then Hammontree threw a few punches before the bell rang.

In the second round, an aggressive Fitzer backed Hammontree into the ropes, throwing a lead jab followed by an uppercut. Hammontree struggled to respond.

Fitzer won on a TKO in the third round when Hammontree slipped on the canvas after being knocked down.

In the girls’ semi-main event, Alexa “La Morena” Herrera-Enriquez stopped Victory “The Vicious” Heafner.

Herrera-Enriquez controlled the bout’s tempo from the beginning in the first round and stunned Heafner before the bell when she punched her opponent on the side of her head. In the second and third rounds, Herrera-Enriquez continued to dominate her opponent and delivered several more jabs to Heafner’s head.

In the final round, each boxer landed her punches although Herrera-Enriquez remained the more aggressive fighter.

Trevor “Chevy McBevvy” Hyde quickly sent his opponent Ryder “Prime Time” Letourneau to the mat in the first round of the Boys Semi-Main Event.

After Letourneau stood up, Hyde then unleashed a series punches that sent his opponent to the corner. Serrano stopped the bout and declared Hyde the winner by TKO.

PRELIMINARY BOUTS

• Bout 1 — Nate “Iron Fist” Anderson vs. Myles “Man Made” Coatney

Anderson won by TKO in the third round.

Each boxer sized his opponent in the first round. Neither boxer connected with a significant punch until Coatney delivered one to Anderson’s jaw. Anderson began to take some control of the bout in the second round with his aggressiveness, and by the third round, he connected with a punch that caused Coatney to stop.

• Bout 2 — Kaitlyn “The Killer” Hornby vs. McKayla “Hound dog” Taylor

Hornby dominated from the first round and delivered a number of punches in rapid fire. Hornby had Taylor on her heals near the end of the first round.

Hornby used her jabs to more in the second round. Near the end of the round, Taylor showed fatigue although she connected on a roundhouse punch with time expiring. Fatigue affected both fighters in the third round, but Taylor landed a few more punches to take a split decision.

• Bout 3 — A three-way bout with Angel “Baby Huey” Barajas, Evan “The King” Innes and Tommy “Gun” Ames.

Barajas and Innes linked up in the first round with each boxer landing a few punches. In the second round, Ames faced Innes. Ames was more aggressive in the round although Innes landed a punch that caused Ames to slip. Near the end of the round, Ames was more aggressive and landed more punches. Ames remained for the third bout to face Barajas. Barajas scored on a jab, and Ames responded with an upper cut that resulted in a flurry of punches from Barajas. Near the end of the bout, Ames missed an upper cut, but both boxers blocked each other’s punches in the final 30 seconds.

In a split decision, Barajas won.

• Bout 4 — Koda “The Bear” Torres vs. Raul “El Gallo Negro” Sanchez. Torres threw the first punch, and his opponent responded. Torres did a better job of blocking Sanchez’s punches. Sanchez, though, had a stronger second round with a punch to Torres’ head, but Torres backed his opponent into his own corner.

In the final round, each boxer each landed their punches, and near the end Torres landed several hard punches.

Judges called the fight for Torres.

• Bout 5 — Peyton “The Heart Attack” Heckman, Mati “The Menice” Parmenter and Tabitha “Princess” Brockelsby had a three-way match.

In the first round, Heckman had a slight height advantage against Parmenter. Both boxers mixed it up with a few jabs and short, compact punches. Near the end of the round, neither boxer landed significant punches.

Returning for the second round, Heckman took on Brockelsby, who came out swinging and backed her opponent into the ropes. Brockelsby showed her tiredness in the third round against Parmenter, but neither boxer landed a notable punch.

Judges called the bout for Brockelsby.

• Bout 6 — Riley “Deadshot” Pascale and Bryce “Invincible” Vargas. Vargas took control immediately and landed the first punches against Pascale who fell down. Vargas won by TKO.

MAIN CARD BOUTS

• Bout 1 — Tyson “Titan” Wilson vs. Osman “Winnie Pooh” Loera.

Each boxer landed a few good punches in the first round, but Wilson came out connecting in the second round and landed a few more punches including a soft jab before the bell. Wilson dogged Loera in the third round, but each boxer showed fatigue. During the final 15 seconds, Loera shows more aggressiveness against Wilson.

Judges scored the bout for Wilson.

• Bout 2 — James “Lofty” Lofthouse and Jaxon “Minnie Machine” Homer dogged each other in the first round with each boxer turning up the heat. Homer increased the tempo with a few punches to the head. Lofthouse and Homer each scored on a few punches in the second round although Lofthouse backed his opponent into his corner near the end of the round.

The third round appeared to be a draw between the two boxers. Judges awarded a unanimous decision to Lofthouse.

• Bout 3 — Benny "El Monstruo” Enriquez Galeno and Ryan “The Stud” Judd began their first round by sizing each other up and then hitting each other until the bell rang.

Judd was more aggressive in the first round. Both boxers were also missing their punches.

Judd connected with his first two punches in the second round that caused Galeno to slip. Galeno and Judd exchanged punches to begin the third round in a bout that could’ve gone either way. Judges awarded Galeno the win in a split decision.

• Bout 4 — Emmanuel “Santo” Robles against Leo “Luxury” Chavez. In the first round, Chavez moved back from Robles’ punches, and during the final 30 seconds, both boxers unleashed a flurry. Chavez, though, was more aggressive in the second round and deflected Robles’ punches. Near the end of the round, Chavez unleashed a hard punch causing Robles to slip to his corner.

In the third round, Chavez delivered an uppercut to his opponent’s jaw that led to his win by decision.

• Bout 5 — Tristen “T Diddy” Shear and Dustin “Strit Strain” Stritenberger sized up each other in the first round. Stritenberger came in with a 2-inch height advantage. Near the end of the first round, they exchanged punches.

Shear was more aggressive to begin the second round, landing a flurry of punches. In the first minute of the third round Shear landed several punches to Stritenberger’s head, but during the last 45 seconds, Stritenberger showed his aggressiveness and landed several punches.

In another outcome that could’ve gone either way, Shear won by decision.

• Bout 6 — Matthew “Buster” Bird and Angel “El Duvalin” Quezada roared out of their corners in the first round. Bird kept his distance by avoiding Quezada’s punches to his head. Quezada wasn’t connecting with his punches in the second round, and neither boxer was effective in the first half of the final round until Bird delivered two effective jabs to his opponent’s head. Bird won by decision.

• Bout 7 — The first female bout of the main card featured Tara “Taradactle” Vershum against Deanna “La Reina” Henderson. Vershum took control of the bout with a strong first round accented with a combination of punches and counter punches. Vershum moved her opponent around the ring like it was a dance floor in the second round.

In the second round, Vershum landed a number of punches against Henderson during the final 10 seconds.

Vershum won by unanimous decision.

• Bout 8 — Nate “Golden Boy” Bernardo and Jaycer “95” Downs started their bout slowly. Each boxer missed a few punches and blocked their opponent’s jabs.

Downs connected on a punch in the second round in their chess-like match, both boxers landed several shots against each other in the final round.

Judges declared Downs the winner.

• Bout 9 — Carlos “Carlitos” Valenzuela and Avery Dealoia began their bout by exchanging punches. Dealoia threw the first two punches, but Valenzuela quickly responded. Dealoia’s aggressiveness kept moving Valenzuela backward.

In the second round the boxers showed signs of slowing down. Dealoia missed with a hook. Both boxers kept their heads down while swinging in the third round. Dealoia showed more aggressiveness in the final round after delivering a punch to Valenzuela’s head. Referee Bert Serrano then stopped the bout with Dealoia picking up the win.

• Bout 10 featured Barry “Bear” Mitchell against Josue “El Gallo Negro” Lopez. Each boxer kept the pressure on his opponent with neither dominating the first round, Mitchell connected on two punches midway through the round while Lopez effectively blocked every punch.

The second round saw each boxer sizing up each other by throwing a few punches, but the third round began with Mitchell throwing a series of punches while Lopez blocked most of the shots.

Mitchell won by decision.

• Bout 11 — Nathan Bianchi, fighting in the green corner, began the bout with a flurry of punches to back Ray Decker into the corner. Decker connected on a punch to Bianchi’s midsection.

Bianchi, though, controlled the second round and backed Decker into a neutral corner. He continued to dominate the bout in the third round with several punches including one to the head. For the last 10 seconds, both boxers were losing their stamina. Bianchi won by decision.

• Bout 12 — Udi “Booty” Anaya Rios won by unanimous decision against Tristen “Triscuit” Hinsken.

Rios opened the first round with an uppercut to Hinsken’s jaw followed by a punch to the nose. He then backed Hinsken into the black corner with a flurry of punches.

Rios controlled the second and third rounds by aggressively attacking and moving Hinsken around the ring.

• Bout 13 — Kacin “Rahh Dogg” Rogne and Jesse “J Bezel” Childers saw Rogne control the bout from the first flurry of punches in the first round. Rogne came out of his corner swinging. Near the end of the round, the boxers backed each other into their respective corners.

Rogne dominated the second round with a series of cross punches. Rogne won by TKO when Childers couldn’t finish the bout in the third round.

• Bout 14 — Jose “Angelito” Valenzuela and Andre “Black Bean” Green excited the sellout crowd with a lively battle.

Green landed more punches in the first round and backed his opponent into a neutral corner. He was just as aggressive in the second round with several punches that caused his opponent to back up into the ropes.

Green’s left jab followed by a quick succession of punches had Valenzuela into the ropes again, but Valenzuela responded with a left jab to the jaw. Green won by unanimous decision.

• Bout 15 — Dru “Baby Face” Mckay won by TKO against Deonte “Wilder” Wallace.

Mckay began the bout as the aggressor and continued his strategy by pushing Wallace into a neutral corner.

• Bout 16 — Ashton “Ash Cash” McCourtney won the bout in a split decision against Chaddy “Mcdaddy” Agaman.

The stunned crowd verbalized their unhappiness with the decision.

Agaman controlled the first round with a number of punches and backed McCourtney into the corner. Agaman landed a few punches to McCourtney’s face.

Both boxers swung wildly against each other in the second round, and in the third Agaman connected on several shots to the head, including one that knocked McCourtney’s mouthpiece to the canvas.

McCourtney punched Agaman in the face as the final bell rang to end the match.

• Bout 17 — Evan “El Topo” Garcia and Kaison Jayne squared off in the final main card bout.

Garcia came out of his corner as the aggressor and kept the pressure on Jayne by backing him into the ropes. In the second round, Jayne couldn’t connect on his punches, but in the final round, Garcia backed Jayne in to the ropes and landed a few punches to his opponent’s head.

Green won the spirited bout with a unanimous decision.