Cameron Sevilla-Rivera connects with a punch to Dave Courchaine's face

The 97th edition of the Battle at the Boat pro boxing series went down on August 23rd at the Emerald Queen Casino in Tacoma WA and featured a 7-bout card that had a number of names that perhaps were not familiar to NW boxing fans but should be more than familiar to NW MMA fans, one such name being UFC veteran Dennis "Superman" Hallman who was making his pro boxing debut.

The main event was in the 10-round super middleweight division, and had Dashon "Flyboy" Johnson, who both boxes and fights MMA professionally, taking on up-and-coming boxer Louis "The Unknown" Rose. While both fighters displayed their moments of boxing prowess, overall the bout was fought at a relatively mild pace and wound up going all 10 rounds. In the end the judges saw it 99-91, 98-92, 98-92 for Louis Rose who picks up his 11th win against just one loss and one draw. Johnson falls to 15-16-3 as a pro boxer, and next will fight his 2nd MMA bout for the UFC in Brazil against Godofredo Pepey on September 13th.

In a middleweight matchup, hard-hitting Cameron Sevilla-Rivera entered with 4 wins against 0 losses, all by knockout. His opponent "Insane Dave Courchaine at 2-4 looked on paper like another victim for Sevilla-Rivera, but in the MMA world, Courchaine is a rising star and NW MMA fans know him as an ultra-tough competitor. Although Sevilla-Rivera was able to control the fight with Courchaine, landing a number of hard punches, Courchaine would not drop and did well in limiting the damage plus counter with his some of his own hard shots. After four rounds, it went to the judges who saw it 40-36 across the board for Sevilla-Rivera.

The NW's own Dennis "Superman" Hallman, a veteran of 70 pro MMA fights over the past 18 years, including 9 in the UFC, made his pro boxing debut against another NW MMA fighter in Base Fitmass MMA's Frankie "The Battle Goat" Orr. While Hallman is not known for his knockout power in his MMA fights, those who have fought or sparred with him knows he hits hard, and so it was Orr chose to stay on the outside away from Hallman's power shots. Orr displayed good footwork and utilized his jab to score points in the first couple of rounds. In the third, both fighters starting opening up more, with Orr getting the better of the exchanges. In the final round, Hallman showed some urgency, going for the knockout shot, but Orr made it through the round to the judges scorecards with two seeing it 40-36, and the third 39-37, all for Frankie Orr.

Jeremy McCleary, fighting out of Buckley WA, picked up another win at the EQC by taking all four rounds in his lightweight contest with MMA fighter and debuting boxer, "Dirty" Benny Vinson of Portland. While Vinson held tough throughout the fight, it was McCleary's experience, speed, and sheer number of punches in the pocket that won him the day. McCleary is now 5-0 as a pro.

Pro MMA Fighter and pro boxer, Harrison "Wolverine" Bevens, was looking for another win inside the I-5 Showroom, following up on his MMA victory in July at CageSport 31. Middleweight Daryl Gardner had different ideas however dropping Bevens once in the 1st and once in the 2nd round. Bevens stayed aggressive throughout the fight, and in the third looked to score with his right hand, but yet again Gardner caught Bevens with a couple of hard shots and the referee had seen enough, stopping it at 1:37 of the round. Bevens suffers his first boxing loss and is now 2-1, while Gardner moves to 2-3 as a pro.

The night's sole knockout came in the middleweight matchup between debuting pro Zach Marti of Olympia and Oregon's Cole Milani who entered at 1-1. An active fight from both fighters saw Marti doing well throughout in scoring up close with body shots and the occasional head shot, while Milani stayed busy utilizing his reach and countering with shots of his own. The end came at 2:56 of the 4th round when Marti dropped his hands and Milani timed a perfect combo that laid him out cold.

In the Light Heavyweight division, NW Pro MMA fighter Taki Uluilakepa made his boxing debut against 1-0 Jon Jackson of Olympia. Uluilakepa was aggressive, moving in on Jackson with his punches. This aggression cost him though as he was leading with his head and after a couple warnings had a point taken away. Jackson on his part showed better boxing form, utilizing good footwork and a good right hand to take the decision win 40-35, 39-36, 39-36.

Halquist Productions will present Battle at the Boat 98 at the Emerald Queen Casino on November 15th. Learn more at Halquistproductions.com.