Cats slap Dogs in annual Smoker boxing brawl

Hungry Horse News

The first round bell rang and the two boxers ran at each other brandishing jabs, furious uppercuts and frenzied right hooks.

Dalvin Averill and B.J. Hattel, the scrappy fighters from the 140 pound weight class, battled each other intensely, trading shots to the head and abdomen before Averill knocked Hattel down in the third round, claiming the first victory of the 2005 Cat/Dog Smoker boxing tournament for his Columbia Falls team.

All the while, the blaring crowd chanted for Averill, yelling "Daddy Dollaz," his self-appointed nickname, and cheering every time either boxer teetered after a hit.

As Hattel fell to the mat and the crowd erupted with a roar, the tournament officially began.

The night featured 15 matches, pitting guys and girls from Whitefish, Columbia Falls and Bigfork against each other, with the kids split evenly between Whitefish and Columbia Falls teams.

Columbia falls dominated the matches, winning the head-to-head battle 9-5, with seven of the victories unanimous.

A fund-raiser for the Glacier Twins baseball team, the Smoker has been a fixture in the community for years and organizer Rita Hanson can't even pinpoint the exact year it began.

"No one's sure how long," she said. "It's approximately 30 years."

The event routinely draws crows of 2,000 spectators, and Hanson said that without it, the Twins wouldn't be able to play.

"We do this because this is one of our major fundraising efforts for our program," she said. "Each year, we do not charge players to play in our program."

Hanson, whose son Morgan played on the Twins before he graduated high school in 2000, said she got involved to lend her son a hand and had so much fun that she just hasn't stopped.

"This is the event of the year," she said with a smile.

Cars lined both sides of East Second Street and people of all ages shuffled into the baseball field, paying their $7 to enter - or $20 for ringside seats - and met up with friends and family.

As much a social event as it is a sporting one, longtime Twins advocate and Smoker judge Dick Sapa has been associated with the matches for over 20 years and said they were going on before his sons played for the Twins and fought in the ring.

"It was going on when I got into it," he said. "It's a good competition. My kids did it. They'll get in there and butt heads, but then tomorrow they'll be out there playing baseball together."

Sapa said that the event was originally held in school gymnasiums but that liability concerns forced the matches to public arenas and that official school associations were dropped. He is still a big fan, though, and hopes to see the fun continue.

"It's a great competitive event and they ought to keep doing it," he said.

In the Smoker, females aren't only ring girls, they fight too. In past years, several matches have featured girls, and this year was no exception. Columbia Falls' "Jabbin" Jessica Lyman took on Whitefish's Makayla Peck to a huge reception from the crowd. Lyman ended up winning, much to the joy of the fans in the stands.

Sapa said that the girls fights have long been the most celebrated of the matches, the ones garnishing the most noise from the onlookers.

"That's the highlight of the event," he said. "That's the most fun."

Whitefish sophomore Eddie Correa was sitting ringside and said he was there to see good fights and a Whitefish team victory. It was his first year attending the event, but he said he was friends with some of the guys boxing and that many of them played basketball and football in school. They told him they were anxious to step into the ring and impress.

"They were excited," he said. "It's the biggest thing around right now…It's pretty cool."

A matter of school and community pride, the outcomes of the matches were determined after weeks of training by the fighters.

Before his match against Columbia Falls' Jace Ladenburg, Bigfork sophomore Andrew Winham - fighting for Whitefish - said he heard about the event through some friends on the Twins. He said the training was interesting and was asked if he was nervous.

"Of course," he said, running off to a team huddle. "But you can't show it or the other guy will be all over you."

Dalvin "Daddy Dollaz" Averill defeated B.J. Hattel in the 140 pound class, Brian "Phenom" Doxey defeated Marty "The Kid" Richter in a 150 pound bout, Zac "The King" Fisher lost by a 2-1 split decision to Justin England in another 150 match, and Russell Vlieland lost to Brian "Newbs" Newbury in the 155 pound class.

Derrick "Downtown" Downing beat David Lautaret in a 2-1 split decision, Justin Goode beat Brad Bell in a 2-1 split decision in the 165-pound division, and Herschel James little Coyote lost to Nathan Topliff in the 170 pound class.

After the intermission, the girls fought, with "Jabbin" Jessica Lyman defeating Makayla Peck in the 145 pound class. Calvin Williams then lost to Rusty "Nails" Peterson in the 170 class by a 2-1 split decision and Troy "Master of Disaster" Zastrow beat Brian Flickenger in another 170-pound match-up.

Nik Caron defeated Tyler Jacobs in the 180 pound class and Dennis Marceau floored Matt Mangold in the 185 class. Jace Ladenburg triumphed over Andrew Winham in the 200-pound class and Scott "Hillbilly" Barnes lost to Kevin Kaltschmit in the 140-pound semi-main event, a closely contested battle that was regarded as one of the best of the night.

In the main event, Michael "Raider" Hader and Matt Krause fought to a draw in a 145-pound fight.