Dryden wins main event at Smoker

By DAVID ERICKSON/Whitefish Pilot

It is one of those rare traditions that make life in Montana interesting: A little blood, plenty of screaming and a ton of adrenaline. Brave young men and women battle it out under the lights for the chance to give their town bragging rights for the year.

By the time the dust settled at this year's Cat-Dog Boxing Smoker on Monday night at Memorial Field in Whitefish, the Wildcats had eight wins to the Bulldogs six, but almost every bout could have gone either way.

Whitefish's Dylan Dryden won the main event, a heavyweight fight, over Dean Phillips by unanimous decision.

"I've been having dreams about this," he said after the fight. "I was just trying to wear him down and then get my jabs in."

The courage award of the night goes to Whitefish's Brian Flickinger, who bravely took on Michael "Raider" Hader. Last year, Hader brutally knocked down his Bulldog opponent in a matter of seconds, twice.

The Flickinger-Hader fight was easily the best (most intense) bout of the evening. Flickinger twice pummeled Hader into the ropes to the wild delight of the fans, with the referee having to stop the fight to untangle the Hader.

It only made the Wildcat mad.

It's hard to fight a windmill, and Flickinger was fighting a hurricane. He bravely kept up his defense, even inflicting a few solid punches on the angry Wildcat, but he just couldn't hold on. Flickinger went to the mat and couldn't get up, and Hader got the first technical knock-out win of the evening.

The Columbia Falls crowd went berserk.

It was a fine performance by the fighters from both sides. What they lacked in technical boxing ability and training, they made up for in heart and aggressiveness. For the parents of the boxers, the evening couldn't end fast enough.

"I'm just glad it's over," Pat-rick Dryden said as he hugged his son Dylan.

Results:

140 lb.: Andre Groschup (WF) def. Dillon Merseal by un. dec.

160 lb.: Chris King (C.F.) def. Logan Nolan by un. dec.

160 lb.: William Joubert (C.F.) def. Nicholas Donovan by un. dec.

170 lb.: Joe Gross (C.F.) def. Cameron Fauth by un. dec.

170 lb.: Shay Riley (C.F.) def. Chaemous Herbert by un. dec.

170 lb.: Jake Smith (WF) def. Cole Jones by split dec.

205 lb.: Kodie Kentfield (C.F.) def. Ignacio Cornejo by un. dec.

130 lb.: Brittaney Wilson (C.F.) def. Gabriele Freeman by un. dec.

135 lb.: Kassie Hebert (C.F.) def. Ariel Ducote by un. dec.

145 lb.: Bryn Thomas (WF) def. Daniel Busic by un. dec.

150 lb.: Jessie Kelso (WF) def. Hunter Fishel by un. dec.

150 lb.: John Woody (C.F.) def Max Stallard by un. dec.

160 lb.: Michael Hader (C.F.) def. Brian Flickinger by TKO

185 lb.: Dylan Dryden Dean Phillips by un. dec.