CELINA - Four fighters came out victorious in Saturday night’s Hometown Showdown in Mercer county.
Six fights were set to take place, but two of the scheduled fights did not happen, due to different circumstances.
Van
Wert’s own Paul “Nite Nite” Barton did not get his chance to take the
ring, after his opponent Michael Widmer pulled out of the fight earlier
in the day.
Widmer’s official reason for pulling out of the fight
is unknown, but the general consensus in the arena Saturday night seemed
to be that he wanted no part of this highly anticipated match.
Although
he didn’t fight, Barton enjoyed a nice moment in the ring with his
family, where he vowed to fight professionally one time before he hangs
up his gloves.
“Whether we have to come back to Mercer county, do
this in Van Wert county, or have the fight in my back yard, I’m going to
make this happen,” Barton said. “This is something I want to do for my
family and for team Nite Nite to show you how much I appreciate the
support.”
Tipton Walker of Benton Harbor, Michigan, missed weight
at Friday night’s weigh in, negating his chance to take on Cleveland’s
Fred Wilson in a battle of the undefeated.
As for the fights that did take place, the first bout of the night was between Darnell “Achilles” Pettis, and Junior Rocci.
The
two lightweights battled it out for four rounds, with Pettis, the more
experienced fighter, coming out on top by a unanimous decision.
Pettis,
who once fought in the Barclay’s center in Brooklyn, New York, had
nothing but praise for the event as a whole on Saturday night.
“Seeing
all the love here is phenomenal,” he said. “When you’re in a small
town, the atmosphere seems more family oriented than it does in a big
city.”
Following the opening match, Celina’s own Caleb Fickert stepped into the ring to do battle with Justin Parks of Findlay.
Fickert gave the crowd its most exciting moment of the night when he knocked out Parks in the early stages of the fourth round.
When
his opponent failed to get up off of the canvas Fickert ascended to the
top of the ropes to celebrate with his hometown crowd.
“I’m on Mount Everest right now,” he said. “Coming in here and getting a knockout in front of this crowd was extra special.”
Following
the fight, Fickert plans to return to mixed martial arts, where he has
spend the first nine years of his professional fighting career.
In
the lone competition between flyweights on Saturday, Carlos Suarez
improved to 11-3, with a split decision win over Rondarius Hunter.
Hunter
was warned by the official multiple times during the match to clean up
the fight, while Suarez kept his composure and found his way to the win.
“My
jab was working tonight, and I was able to come over the top and hit
him clean,” Suarez said. “This fight wasn’t a split decision in my mind.
I can’t find a single round that I thought he won.”
As for the
main event, Raymond Castaneda put on a show. The super lightweight was
able to land a number of clean shots on his opponent, Maurice Anthony.
Castaneda,
a native of Defiance, came out of his corner as the most aggressive
fighter of the night, showcasing his speed and landing one big hit after
another.
What ended up being a unanimous decision in favor of
Castaneda, seemed like it would have been a knockout, had the fight gone
on any longer.
“It’s still a work in progress out there,” said
the boxer following his win. “The plan was to see how my opponent was
going to react early and then counter, but instinct took over and I got
really aggressive.”
The oohs and ahs from the crowd throughout the
night echoed a positive feedback shared by the boxers about the series
of fights on Saturday night.
“If they ever want us back over here,
we’re going to make it happen,” said Raymond Castaneda. “I just love
the atmosphere we were in tonight.”
Here’s to hoping its not another 107 years until we see professional boxing back in Mercer county.