On Saturday, a full house of fans witnessed 15 bouts of Golden Gloves boxing at the Wadena National Armory with eight Wadena boxers scoring victories.
In the main event, Wadena veteran Dewayne Steward faced a worthy opponent in Matt Brislan of North Dakota. Steward was a flurry of non-stop action all four rounds, using a combination of body and head shots en route to winning the decision.
Wadena's T.J. Steward faced a strong Tyler Buseth of Fergus Falls in the 147-pound division. Both boxers came out fighting with good combinations but Steward landed a solid right to Buseth's nose at the end of the second round to force a third-round retirement.
In the 70-pound division, Wadena's Chris Steward had too much firepower and won a decision over Eloy Zavara of Willmar.
Travis Petro, Wadena's 15-year old boxer, fresh from competing at the Silver Gloves Nationals, squared off against Alex Lusby of St. Paul. The St. Paulite won the first round but Petro came on strong in the last two rounds by forcing the action to win the hard-fought bout.
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Wadena's Trent Petro used hard combinations and applied the pressure to win a second round RSC (referee stops contest) over Justin Ruiz of Willmar in the 165-pound bout. Tyler Hultin of Fergus Falls had a real battle with Nick Runningbear of North Dakota. Hultin kept the pressure on with hard body and head shots to win the decision.
The girl bout found Wadena's Stephanie Koljonen giving boxing lessons to Fergus Falls' Marie Roggenkamp as she used good ring movement and fast combinations to score the decision.
Wadena's Elliot Sandberg, boxing his second bout in the heavyweight division, used his reach and hard combinations to score a third-round RSC over Everett Rebstock of Lower Sioux Morton. Boxing his first bout, Wadena's Joe Collom used a solid jab and solid lefts in all three rounds to win a decision over Josh Crooks of the Lower Sioux Morton.
Wadena's Chandler Green lost the decision in a tough bout to Ricco Uribe of Lower Sioux Morton.
Other boxers winning decisions include Dylan Mason of White Bear Lake over Ray Leal of Lower Sioux Morton; Fergus Falls' Jesse Wannemacher topping Devon Hollingsworth of Brainerd; Silver Solis of Willmar defeating Ray Howard of North Dakota and St. Paul's Jeremy McLauren beating Luis Solis of Willmar.
