A packed house at the River Rock Casino Resort in Richmond B.C., Canada enjoyed a great night of action as the six fight card delivered even with all bouts going the distance. The fight that drew the hardcore boxing fans to the venue was the match up between heavyweight veteran Ross “The Boss” Purity going up against Michigan native Carl Gathright.

Right from the opening bell both Purity and Gathright stood to toe toe banging away as both looked to end it early. Neither fighter let up and the momentum carried through into the second round where they continued from where they left off in the first. On my card Purity took round one by landing the cleaner, harder shots.

Round two went to Gathright as he was pressuring Purity and landing effectively throughout. In the third both fighters were unloading and Gathright was hurt bad when Purity caught him flush. He almost went down but he weathered the storm and stayed on his feet and fought back. You could make a case for a 10-8 round but Gathright showed a ton of heart and battled back.

By the fourth Purity looked gassed as he could not finish Gathright in the third and Gathright was shaking off the cobwebs from the hellacious Purity attack. The round was slower yet Gathright was busier and did enough to bounce back and win the round.

Round five saw a lot of posturing by both fighters as one was waiting for the other to do something. Purity closes out strong but Gathright did just enough to take it. In the sixth the pace was slow as the previous two with neither fighter wanting to take the initiative. Purity takes it due ring generalship and landing the more effective blows.  

By the seventh Gathright had his composure back and caught a second wind. He was busier and picking his shots and landing almost at will. Purity had no answer for the Gathright attack as he was unable to land that one big punch to stop Gathright in his tracks.

In the eighth and final round both fighters continued from where they left off in the early rounds. They stood toe to toe bombing away. Purity took it by landing numerous power shots and pressing the action. When the final bell rang Purity and Gathright were exhausted. The crowd rose to their feet applauding the valiant effort by the combatants as did Hollywood action star Steven Seagal who was sitting ringside. 

When the scores were tallied (76-76, 77-75, 77-74) it was a majority decision victory for Ross “The Boss” Purity. It was close as I had it a draw but the third and eighth rounds Purity clearly controlled and helped him gain the victory. In speaking to Purity afterwards he said his training camp was not up to what it should have been and that Gathright was much tougher than anticipated. 

With the win Purity improves his record to (31-20-3 27) KO’s and Gathright falls to (6-12-1 2 KO’s.) The main event of the evening saw the return of British Columbia native and Canadian Super Middleweight sensation Mark “Machine Gunn” Woolnough (16-5-1, 5 KOs) who in his second fight since a three year lay off thoroughly dominated the brave yet outclassed Kareem Chartrand (7-4-1 4 KO’s) of Winnipeg, Manitoba. Woolnough showed no real signs of rust or butterflies fighting in front of a capacity crowd. Woolnough came into the ring in the best shape of his career dropping Chartrand twice and winning a convincing eight round unanimous decision by scores of 80-71, 80-71, 80-70.

The other bouts of the evening all went to the cards as well with Stuart McLellan, Junior Moar, Roberto McLellan and Kevin Reynolds all coming out victorious. Manny Sobral and his team once again deserve a lot of credit for bringing boxing back to British Columbia.

The Canadian Boxing Championships will take place at the River Rock Casino Resort from November 28^th to December 2^nd. The National champions will be decided then it’s off to  Beijing in August to represent Canada for the 2008 Summer Olympics. Tickets are available through Ticketmaster.

Questions? Comments Write Ed Ludwig here