By: William Holmes
ESPN’s Friday Night Fights was broadcast from the Minneapolis convention center in Minneaspolis, Minnesota.
Friday night fights started on time with no delays and immediately went in to the first bout of the evening between hometown fighter Caleb Truax (21-1-1) and Don George (24-3-1) in the middleweight division.
Caleb Truax is best known as being a warm up bout for former middleweight champion Jermaine Taylor and most experts felt George was the better tested and more talented fighter.
Luckily for fight fans the winner is determined inside the ring.
Truax started the fight off aggressively and it was clear his game plan was to come out swinging, apply pressure, and never let up. He landed multiple straight right hands in the first round that surprised Goerge and had him hurt by the ropes. Truax ended the round strongly and the announcers felt that it could have been a two point round.
Truax continued to stay aggressive and used his jab to follow up his straight right hand. Don George continued to get tagged and was not showing any defensive skills. In the third round Truax blasted Don George by the corner and had him in serious trouble.
George was never able to get his offense going and was hit repeatedly by the jabs and straight right hands of Truax. A chopping downward right hand by Truax in the sixth round dropped George and he was unable to beat the count.
Caleb Truax upsets Don George by a 6th round TKO at 2:24.
Gavin Quinn (1-0) and Kenn Glenn (2-0) met in the junior middleweight division in a swing bout. Both Quinn and Glenn were southpaws and they devliered an exciting fight with lots of action inside the ring. Glenn is a former MMA fighter and he landed some hard left hands throughout the bout. Quinn’s nose was busted badly and gushing blood by the third round. Glenn clearly dominated and won with scores of 40-36, 40-36, and 40-36.
The main event of the night was between Cuban standout Rances Barthelemy (18-0) and Thai boxer Fahsai Sakkreerin (39-3-1) in the junior lightweight division.
Barthelemy towered over the much shorter Sakkreerin. Sakkreerin is a former Muy Thai fighter, but he had a losing record. Barthelemy kept Sakkreerin on the outside with his long reach and steady jab in the first. Sakkreerin tried to tag Barthelemy with a lunging and reaching left hook but was unable to reach the much taller opponent.
Sakkreerinstarted the second round by throwing wild and inaccurate punches. Barthelemy connected with a right uppercut to the body of Sakkreerin that sent him down to the canvas. Sakkreerin was unable to get up and the end came at 1:26 of the second round.
