Orr returns, Crothers rocks, and Steen rolls at the "Battle at the Bear"
Colwood, British Columbia - The first boxing/kickboxing event in the new Bear Mountain Arena in Colwood, British Columbia proved to be an entertaining affair that boasted a 12 fight card including the return of one of Victoria’s favorite sons, Olympian Donny “Boy” Orr in the main event. Two other boxing bouts and nine kickboxing contests rounded out the card.

Orr returns, Crothers rocks, and Steen rolls at the "Battle at the Bear"
Colwood, British Columbia - The first boxing/kickboxing event in the new Bear Mountain Arena in Colwood, British Columbia proved to be an entertaining affair that boasted a 12 fight card including the return of one of Victoria’s favorite sons, Olympian Donny “Boy” Orr in the main event. Two other boxing bouts and nine kickboxing contests rounded out the card.

The main event saw local son Donny “Boy” Orr take on Idaho’s Travis Smith in one of three boxing bouts on the card. The relatively unknown Smith was unaffected by the partisan pro Orr crowd and looked great in the early goings getting the better of the early exchanges. Orr looked somewhat sluggish in the early goings as Smith darted in and out scoring with flurries. Orr turned it up in the latter half of the first using power shots that the American deflected well, in a close round that could have gone to the visitor from America. The fight was beginning to get interesting in the second round which started off with Smith landing two distinct arring left hooks to the head and he appeared to be finding his range, but Orr decided to throw a left hook of his own and when it landed it sent Smith careening into the canvas for the decisive down. The ref stepped in to administer the 8 count but before he could finish, Smith’s corner threw in the towel to end the fight to the applause of the crowd. Smith got up and slammed his fist into the ropes belching “FUCK” loudly in disgust, but the fight was over and in the end it was his corner that ultimately decided that he had taken enough. MMARR spoke with the visiting corner after the fight and he told us the reason that he threw in the towel after only one punch and one down was because he felt that “He (Smith) was done” and went on to say he didn’t want to let him get up and take more punishment solely for the pleasure of Donny Orr’s fans. Orr later told MMARR “Yeah I felt them” referring to the two left hooks in the early goings of the second, but elaborated by saying that he never felt that he was in trouble at any point and gave his opponent credit for coming to fight.

Shane “The Warrior” Wilson  continued to display his skills in an impressive physical display that saw Wilson defeat Brandon Carlick of Prince George who was cornered by none other then UFC veteran Bill “The Butcher” Mahood. Wilson who is not known for being shy was announced as saying that at the weigh he would present a straw to his opponent, because after the fight he would be needing it with his new jaw. The first round started pretty close with Wilson starting slow picking his shots but showing his power with body and head shots that appeared to jar his opponent despite being successfully blocked. Carlick looked good at times picking his spots and working the stick and move strategy well in the first but could not seem to overcome the sizable weight difference in the fight.

It was downhill for Carlick starting in the second as Wilson’s power became too much and the larger Wilson knocked his opponent down decisively on three separate occasions in the span of one round. To the dismay of Bill Mahood, Wilson fouled his opponent by punching his opponent in the head after the down on the third and final knockdown. There is a three knockdown rule so the fight was effectively over at this point based on three downs in the round, but the referee seemed unaware of the rule and inexplicably started counting down and asked the fighter if he still wanted to continue! On top of that he gave no warning, point deduction, or verbal note to Wilson who hit his opponent while he was down, and has done this for the second time in front of the same ref. The first time he did it at the King of the Ring event in 2005 where he punched Bill Lawson twice to the head after the down and got no warning from the same referee there as well. The story of that fight can be found HERE… Wilson wins via TKO at 2:16 of the second round.

Keri “The Crusher” Crothers sometimes known as Keri Scarr used her height and reach to work the outside game digging to the body a handful of times and working the smart long distance strategy to garner the unanimous 3 round decision. Crothers was warned twice during the fight about use of the elbow but it didn’t appear to be a big factor in the fight, and despite eating a nice punch to the face as the third came to a close much of the fight followed a similar pattern for the duration of the contest. At the close of the fight she personally thanked her son Hayden who had his name sewn into her shorts as she asked him to come into the ring where she proclaimed “He made a touchdown today in football so give him a hand!” Crothers wins via unanimous decision after three rounds.

King of the ring 2005 winner Todd Steen took out the overmatched Alan Li with a dominating punching game powering his way through Li’s leg kicks, finding his range and impressively taking the fight with a right hand that finished his opponent at 2:29 of the first. Steen is on a major roll and appears to be well on his way to becoming a crowd favorite in his home town.

One of the best young up and comers is 18 year old Aaron Varga who took on late replacement Justin Dawson in one of a handful of mismatches on the card. Varga knocked his opponent down twice in the first round and almost appeared to be on cruise control almost carrying his opponent throughout the latter part of round one and the beginning of round two before he scored another knockdown. The cornerman for Justin Dawson had seen enough at that point and smartly threw in the towel at 1:52 of the second. Varga’s talent is unquestioned, and in the second round almost toyed with his opponent who could not touch Varga at any point in the fight. Was it a mismatch? Or is Varga just that good? Varga appears to be well on his way to some impressive things and the 18 year old has to be one of brightest young lights to come out of Canadian kickboxing in a long time.

It was announced that Paul Beaulieau would be dedicating this fight with Eman Lynch to his deceased wife Tara and in a workmanlike effort he took home the victory over his younger 22 year old opponent in impressive fashion. The older Beaulieau looked every bit the veteran faking high and firing off deep leg kicks, following up with punches, and mixing it up constantly, putting his opponent on the defensive for much of the three round fight. Beaulieau worked the outside game effectively and when it got a little to close for comfort, tied up his man for the restart. In the second Beaulieau landed a beautiful spinning back fist and followed with the left hook for the knockdown. Lynch would recover well and later in the round landed an unintentional knee to the groin. Lynch looked to be the much stronger fighter but could not get off and appeared to be intent on working the inside clinch game with knee’s to the body that worked off and on, but his ring savvy opponent would have none of it. Though he could not match power with his younger for, Beaulieau more then made up for it with ring generalship and earned the well deserved unanimous decision after three rounds.

Tina Derix grinded out a split decision over Nikki Evans of Kelowna, in one of two fights to be decided by split decision. Evans looked strong in the opening stanza and appeared to take the first by way of the more effective punching mixed in with the sporadic leg kick. Derix would not be deterred and kicked it up a notch in the second, landing the looping overhand right hand at the beck and call of her cornerman Stan Peterec and appeared to do enough to take the second. In the third round Evans looked weary and as a result her offense waned, Derix took advantage pushing the action and staying the busier of the two to take the split decision victory after three rounds.

Blake Shearing looked every bit the power puncher and despite keeping his hands a little lower then his corner Stan Peterec would have liked, eventually overpowered Scott Girling for the dominating victory. Shearing dropped his opponent once in the first and once in the second working a left kick to the body, a spinning back kick, as well as a salvo of punches to put a halt to the contest at 2:00 of the second stanza.

In another aggressive display, Kal King defeated Greg Lamothe via split decision in what was probably the closest call of the night. Both fighters were super aggressive and put on a show for the crowd, and in the end King had done enough in the eyes of two of three judges to snag the win in an entertaining affair.

Brian Chou put on a kick boxing clinic taking a well deserved Unanimous decision victory over an opponent that rarely had a chance to mount effective offense throughout the three round contest. River Dawson showed a big heart with a granite chin to match, but never had the chance to take the fight to Chou. Chou looked quicker, darting in and out with blistering leg kicks in the early goings that significantly slowed Dawson down as the fight wore on. Chou scored with flurries of punches that landed but couldn’t put the tough Dawson away for the count. The second saw Chou take an unintentional shot to the groin but after the restart it was all Chou again and although the action slowed as the fight went on, Chou never looked like he was in any trouble en route to a unanimous 3 round decision victory over the game but overmatched River Dawson.

Ryan Wong who came to the ring sporting a Mohawk defeated Dan Beer in one of the best contested bouts on the card. The back and forth battle saw both fighters land their shots but Wong appeared to have the edge in power shots rocking his opponent near the end of the first round with an uppercut to get the down but with precious few seconds remaining in the first round could not capitalize before the bell rang.

The second was a close round with Beer landing with effective low kicks while Wong looked for the big one punch power shot. The young mohawked fighter fired off a spinning back punch off a low kick that found it’s mark and ended the fight in spectacular fashion over the tough Beer at :35 seconds of Rd. 3

Victoria boy Gabriel Varga kicked off the card with a TKO over his overmatched opponent from Vancouver, Ronnie Alampour at 1:22 of the first stanza

The Battle at the bear proved to be well worth the price of admission. Spinning back fists must have been on special at the Bear Mountain arena as we saw the seldom utilized attack used diligently by many of the participants on the night. It was used to good effect and helped provide an entertaining evening for the fans at the arena who witnessed a card without a boring fight in the mix. There was plenty for the local sports fan as every fighter who was listed as a Peterec’s fighter on the program won their fight. On top of that the action on the night was non stop, literally, for the first time that I can remember, there wasn’t a single intermission throughout the entire 12 bout, 3 hour event. Promoter Stan Peterec crafted an entertaining event and appears to have found the formula for successful shows in Victoria, B.C, and with the fan base growing at a steady pace it looks like the future is bright for fights, boxing, kickboxing, MMA or otherwise.