Staff Sgt. Lilia Maxilon, left, takes a left jab from fellow Fort Huachuca soldier, Spc. Christina Boilard, in their All-Army Boxing title bout Saturday in Barnes Field House. Boilard won the decision. (Mark Levy-Herald/Review)
Posted on 01/30/2005 12:43:49 PM PST by SandRat
FORT HUACHUCA - Many of the top-level All-Army boxers who have become minor local celebrities in recent years are fading away.
But a new class of emerging All-Army boxers appears to be filling the void.
Chief among them is 1st Lt. Boyd Melson. A year ago, Melson, a West Point grad, surprised a WCAP fighter to win gold in the 152 division. Since then, the sky has been the limit for Melson.
He topped the best of the Air Force and the Marines in the Armed Forces championships to qualify for the World Class Athletes Program.
Last October at Barnes Field House, Melson made his way through an international field to reach the finals at the Conseil du International Militarie boxing championships where he upset Elshod Rasulov of Uzbekistan, one of the top fighters from the top country represented at the event.
He went uncontested in this week's All-Army Championships, but on Saturday night, he fought against 165-pound Trent Clark, also from Fort Carson, Colo.
"I sparred against all the 165s during camp, so I was used to it," Melson said of fighting up a weight class. "They take shots a lot better and he hit me with four or five hook shots and I felt the power."
Melson stayed low against the bigger Clark and scored repeatedly with body blows on his way to a 33-22 exhibition win.
After the win and the presentation of the gold medal by U.S. Congressman Rick Renzi, Melson handed his medal to a woman seated in a wheelchair in the third row.
"That's my girlfriend, Christian Zaccagnino," Melson said. "She's my inspiration. She flew down here from New York to support me."
Melson said Zaccagnino broke her neck in a swimming accident when she was 10 years old. He said he expects her to walk again one day soon.
"She was supposed to never walk again after that and now she has almost full use of her body from the waist up," Melson said.
He said she hopes in the next couple of years to go to China for stem-cell surgery. Melson said he's looking forward to the day when his country opens up to the technology.
Melson expects his 2005 to be even better than his 2004. He'll be back at Fort Huachuca next month for the Armed Forces Championships where he'll try to defend his title, but he's looking ahead to March and the U.S. Amateur Championships.
But as endearing as Melson was to the packed crowd at Barnes Field House Saturday night, it was local fighter Nathaniel Hicks that drew the biggest cheers.
On Wednesday night, Hicks suffered a close loss to Clark. But he came back on Saturday night to level a 25-18 decision over Pfc. Paul Eghareva from Fort Drum, NY.
Though Hicks has only been stationed at Fort Huachuca for about six months, he's drawn quite a following among his fellow soldiers and Saturday night they helped lift him to victory.
Hicks tried for the early advances but was turned away each time until he landed a solid right jab and later in the opening round a wicked right cross that drew a standing eight count on Eghareva.
Hicks went to the neutral corner and bobbed up and down to the adulations of his fans.
Trailing in the fourth round, Egharava looked to come out aggressive and he scored early, pushing Hicks against the ropes. But Hicks worked his way back to the center of the ring and put one more standing eight on Eghareva before the final bell.
However, Hicks wasn't the overall champion in the 165-pound category, the only class to be heavily populated in this year's diminished All-Army field.
That distinction went to Quentiin McCoy who won a 33-32 decision over three-time All-Army champion Yamar Resto.
Resto missed last year's military boxing because he was stationed in Iraq and his fatigue showed as the two fighters draped over each other for much of the match.
Hicks wasn't the only Fort Huachuca fighter to box Saturday night.
In the lone women's bout of the night, Christina Boilard won her third straight All-Army title in the 132-pound class and fought up a weight class against 138-pounder and fellow Fort Huachuca soldier Lilia Maxilom. Boilard came out the winner 47-36.
Alyssa Corcoran took the 119 pound women's title unopposed, as did Viridiana Lavelle in the 125-pound class.
All-Army veteran Christopher Downs a Staff Sgt. from Schofield Barracks, HI defeated newcomer Spc. Travis Walker by TKO at 1:52 of the fourth round.
The 6-foot-3 Downs hurt Walker with a wide-ranging left hook to draw a standing eight and later in the round pummeled Walker in the corner forcing the referee to stop the fight with eight seconds still on the clock.
"It was a little sloppy, but each visit to the corner, they got me through it," Downs, who took bronze in the 165 class last year, said.
Downs was stationed with his Schofield Barracks unit in Kirkuk, Iraq. His unit is still there, but Schofield was sent home a month early in order to compete in the All-Army Championships.
"They're not back until mid-February or mid-March," Downs said. "It was the support of my chain of command that made it happen."
Downs, an 11th Bravo infantry soldier specializing in security of troops, plans to be back at Fort Huachuca next month for the Armed Forces championshp.
"My goal is to win the Armed Forces," Downs said. "Once I win there, I get accepted to WCAP."
In a hard-fought 141-pound bout, Spc. David Gallegos from Fort Carson, Colo. topped Spc. Marcus Dawkins of Fort Carson, 36-25.
Other unopposed boxers who won gold Saturday night included Spc. James Villa from Fort Lewis, Wash. at 132 pounds, SSG Lilia Maxilom from Fort Huachuca at the women's 138, and Sgt. Joe Guzman at 201. In the final bout of the evening, Pfc. Corey Stewart of Fort Carson stopped Pfc. Colton Bettez from Fort Drum, N.Y.
Staff Sgt. Lilia Maxilon, left, takes a left jab from fellow Fort Huachuca soldier, Spc. Christina Boilard, in their All-Army Boxing title bout Saturday in Barnes Field House. Boilard won the decision. (Mark Levy-Herald/Review)
2nd post of the day on the All-Army Boxing Championships.
I wish they would televise these matches.
Thanks for the ping!
We're not even getting them on the base access Command Information Cable Channel but, since I have a meeting on this coming Friday with the PAO; I'll mention it to her as a recommendation for the Armed Services Championship that will be held here.
I'm with you on televising the matches. It would be a real shot in the arm for our sport and the fans. By the way, a pal of mine saw Liet. Melson at the championships in October and spoke highly of this impressive boxer. Let's get Boyd and his fellow warriors on the air!
I personally would enjoy seeing boxing and also other armed forces matches on TV, if it were available.
Like I said I meet with the Ft Huachua PAO on Friday and I'll plant the idea. Even if it is only for those that have access on/off post to the Command Information Channel what a boon during the Armed Forces Championships. Who knows maybe that would get a regional network interest for next year.
ESPN has previously covered Armed Forces Boxing Championships (but not individual services), as well as National Collegiate Boxing Championships, but never consistently. It's been a couple years for the former and over a half dozen years for the latter.
Also, the Army dominates the Armed Forces matches, with the Marines usually second, the Air Force and the Navy alternating 3rd and 4th place.
For Collegiate boxing, which includes the service academies, this is literally the reverse. Air Force usually dominates, with the Navy usually very close behind, and the Army falls way back, usually behind kids from the universities.
Ok, topic for discussion: Who was the all time greatest boxer, regardless of weight devision?
Must be a neo-con:
2003 grad Melson named Outstanding Jewish Athlete of the Year
COMMACK, N.Y. – First Lt. Boyd Melson, a 2003 graduate of the U.S. Military Academy, will receive the 2005 “Marty Glickman Outstanding Jewish Scholastic Athlete of the Year Award” from the Jewish Sports Hall of Fame April 3.
Melson, of Fort Carson, Colo. and originally from White Plains, N.Y. took gold in the 69 kilogram weight class at last fall’s 2004 CISM World Military Boxing Championships.
“Coach (Staff Sgt. Basheer) Abdullah,” coach of the Army World Class Athlete Program and the 2004 U.S. Olympic boxing teams, “said I should thank West Point because it gave me what I needed to succeed,” Boyd said. “If I didn’t have that foundation, I couldn’t have progressed to where I am now.”
Boyd is following in the footsteps of previous West Point recipients of this award: ’99 Army football offensive captain Neil Ravitz, and 2004 gymnasts Dustin Greenhill and Daniel Helmer.
http://www.pointerview.com/melson.htm
btt
Tough call to make one specific choice...I always liked Sugar Ray Robinson, Ali, and Marciano...
Secretariat. No, wait, that's all-time greatest athlete.
Yeah, Sugar Ray, Marciano, Ali, tough to argue there. I still keep thinking of Marvelous Marvin Hagler against Thomas Hearns though. On that night Marvin looked like one helluvan all-time middleweight great to me.
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