The Promoter Chronicles

2011-04-26T09:26:00.000-07:00

How does the judges ruling lifting the NFL Lockout effect Ray Edwards and does he truly have a future in boxing?

As many of you heard, Ray Edwards has put his backup plan in action and has scheduled a professional boxing match for June 10. Edwards will be competing in a four round bout and is currently slated to take on Van Goodman of Mpls, MN but with the judge ruling that the NFL cannot lock the players out what does this mean for this fight and more importantly does Ray Edwards really have what it takes to compete in professional boxing or is he just another circus act?

From all I have read and heard this ruling about the NFL lockout will not stick and within days the owners and the player will be on opposite sides of the door again. Which sucks for all of the die-hard Vikings fans like me who hoped to break out the jerseys and touchdown towels soon! I will be the first to admit that I’m not real knowledgeable about the NFL workings so I will leave my opinion at that but I will answer the later question in more detail since this is more in my wheelhouse.

Most people that know boxing have had a good laugh at the banter from Ray Edwards and his trainer about how great and talented he is, how would fair against the top heavyweights in the world, and how he has walked through everyone whom he has spared against. All this talk from the Edwards team had sparked a great interest for me to get Ray to our boxing gym so we could really evaluate him as a fighter.

We first were treated to watching his trainer try to hold the hand pads for him and it resembled a new born baby deer trying to learn to walk! lol

Then put Ray in with Joey Abell and this is when we we told that Ray only had 1 round of sparing total prior to to that day. I said wait... I thought you said on ESPN that you have blown everyone out you have spared with? Hmmmm. Well that explained to us why Ray would look away and turn his back eveytime there were punches thown at him. This was very strange to me becasue I have never seen any top heavyweight showcase this type of defense but maybe this was a new pick-a-boo defense put in play by his trainer Jeff Warner! Lastley we put Ray in with Ray Watson a ammatuer fighter from Dultuth,MN and lets just say that Ray was lucky there was no judges scoring this! Although Edwards out weighed Watson buy atleast 60lbs the young ammatuer easly manuvered the NFL palyer around the ring.

Now I have seen Tommy Zbikowski- safety for the Baltimore Ravens, fight live and although he has had over 50 amateur fights I haven’t seen him boosting about how he is better than Ali and how he has whipped everyone whom has dared step into the ring with him. All though I do respect anyone who is looking to bring in some extra bread for his family, I will be the first to inform you that Ray Edwards cant fight a lick! He is a circus act!

2011-04-26T07:39:00.000-07:00

Mike "The Marine" Richman will be making his professional boxing debut against undefeated Gavin Quinn on the undercard of the premier Minnesota fight of the year Andy Kolle vs Caleb Truax. This will all take place May 27 a the St Paul Armory. Tickets avalable at http://www.soboxing.com/truaxkolle.html

2011-04-26T07:27:00.000-07:00

Come join “Golden” Caleb Traux tonight at 7pm for the taping of FOX 9 sports series GameON! at the Courtside Bar and Grill in downtown Anoka. Truax will be talking about his upcoming Minnesota super fight with Andy “Kaos” Kolle. The former MN Gopher will be signing autographs and giving away tickets for his upcoming May 27^th

GameON is powered by the North Metro’s best sports bar, the Courtside Bar and Grill, and hosted by 8 time Emmy wining journalist Rod Simmons. Join us for great food, drinks and a chance to be on GameON! (www.gameontvmn.com)

2010-05-27T09:13:00.000-07:00

Caleb Truax (14-0-1) will be a making a big step up against Antwun Echols (32-12) on June 11th. Caleb has continued to impress me with his eagerness to continually push his talents and abilities. He is truly focused on becoming the best fighter that he can be which is very refreshing compared with most of the other professional fighters that I come across in this boxing game. Caleb realizes that the professional boxing landscape has changed. Gone now are the days were fighters can pick and choose their opponents and purses. With the influence of the sport of MMA fans are now more educated and eager to see true match ups that gives them return on their hard earned money.

The State Of The State

2009-08-12T16:01:00.000-07:00

THE STATE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA BOXING

It has been a wild ride since Governor Pawlenty and the state of Minnesota authorized a new Boxing Commission and we began hosting state sanctioned cards. And since that time just a few short years ago, we’ve had some good times haven’t we? Sure, there’s been some controversy too; an element of professional fisticuffs since the inception of the sport-and we’ve been no exception. First, we saw the return of boxing to a legitimate large venue; the Target Center- something not seen since St. Paul’s Matt Vanda battled liver-eater, Yori Boy Campas in 2005. And with it, came our first state sanctioned Minnesota Middleweight champion in more than a decade. That generated a crowd of 5,170 screaming people. Something unheard of for local fights. But this was just a prelude of what was to come next when the state’s hottest rivalry since Brian Brunette faced Gary “The Hammer” Holmgren in February of 1984. Sure there had been a few in-between like LaCoursiere-Evgen and Margan-Papasadora, but none that was able to draw like Bonsante and Vanda, which drew an audience of 9,272. It wasn’t a state record, but its aftershock was as impressive as Bonsante’s performance. Not since Bobick-LeDoux I back in 1976, had so many casual and non-boxing fans paid to join the die-hards to witness a fistic battle.

So where are we at now? Nothing sells like a local rivalry, and we saw a few. We witnessed Matt Vanda and Kenny Kost duke it out at the Roy Wilkins, followed by Vanda and Andy Kolle trading fantastic shots at the Myth in Maplewood back in November of 2007. Earlier this year was the passing of the torch from Anthony Bonsante to Andy Kolle. Mean while one if the hottest Middleweight prospects in the world has been right under our noses racking up wins against the top fighters from all over the United States. Terry Tock 17-4, Jonny Hayes 6-3, Durrell Richardson 11-2, and Patrick Perez 26-5, all have fallen to “Golden” Caleb Truax’s power and skill.

At a time when Andy Kolle and Caleb Truax should be fighting, it’s not even close to happening. Will we see it happen? Don’t hold your breath. The Kolle camp don’t want any part of the red hot Truax!