LACKLAND AIR FORCE BASE, Texas –
The Bennett Fitness Center audience watched six bouts before a boxer hit the mat during the 2011 Air Force Box-off tournament Jan. 22.
Not surprisingly, it was a super heavyweight that provided the payoff.
Forrest Booker, RAF Alconbury, England, recorded his first career knockdown roughly one minute into the first round against Denzel Hayesworth, Golden Gloves Boxing Club.
The referee stopped the bout before any more damage was done.
The contest, his first ever, "definitely felt good to win," the Airman said.
The knockout came as a surprise to his corner, which instructed him to jab and stay out of reach. Starting with the jab, Booker added straight-arm punches to the head of his retreating opponent, dropping him to his knees.
Also earning his first victory in an Air Force tournament, returning welterweight James Beck, Langley Air Force Base, Va., outpointed Daniel Logan, Tinker AFB, Okla., 4-1, while scoring a personal victory at the same time.
Beck left camp before last year's Box-offs to undergo reconstructive surgery on his jaw.
"That was my motivation. They took it from me last year," he said, but "they didn't get me this year."
The bout was tough fought, with each boxer dictating flows of attack. In the first round, Logan bounced around outside, while the shorter Beck sneaked in close, to target his body. With Logan advancing to start the second, Beck did well to block the attack and land a few body shots in his defense.
"I just wanted to show I had a enough heart today to fight to the end no matter what," Beck said.
The winning boxer began to tire in the third, but the damage from the previous rounds was already done.
Eliciting gasps from the crowd, heavyweight Kent Brinson, Fort Carson, Colo., earned a unanimous decision over Owaldo Escamilla, Championship Fit Boxing Club, in a dominant showing punctuated by breathtaking strikes.
"I love (body shots). It doesn't score points as well but it hurts," Brinson said.
Despite only five days of training, Brinson channeled a pretty good Rocky Balboa and provided the Bennett crowd some of the best action of the night.
"I knew if I went to the body hard I could take his legs from him," he said.
Brinson's stamina remained throughout the bout. In the opening round, He soon began delivering seismic-like blows to his opponent's sizable midsection.
Still working the body in the second, Brinson went head hunting, narrowly missing two uppercuts before the referee called for a standing-eight count.
While experienced - Brinson said he entered the ring with 26 bouts - the win was his first fight in four years. Brinson said he "wanted to get my comfort level back. Work my hands and try not to get tired."
During the evening's finale, second-year Air Force light heavyweight Larry Hampp earned a unanimous decision over a flashy Gary Griffin, Stewart Air National Guard Base, N.Y.
Throwing on a red ball cap with a lighting bolt logo after the contest, Griffin resembled DC Comic's The Flash in more than just style.
He kept the incumbent Armed Forces silver medalist at bay with his speed most of the fight.
Out of respect for each other's different boxing style and strategy, Hampp and Griffin were at times at odds and out of rhythm during their contest, stunting any opportunity for a knockdown.
"It's kind of like a chess match," Hampp said about his bout against the Airman he's sparred many times over the past two weeks. "I didn't want to make a mistake and end up paying for it. When he made a mistake I would counter."
During the rounds, Griffin was happy to feint and try to persuade Hampp to open up; Hampp - an explosive fighter - advanced patiently, looking for the chance to unleash a chain of power punches.
Less reserved in the second round, Hampp began throwing combinations but only caught the air after Griffin's movements. Hampp continually covered up before Griffin's own punches.
By the final bell, both competitors were left staring at each other in the middle of the ring, and as any well-matched contest might end, still looking for a weakness.
After two weeks of training and one time around the ring, the boxers haven't reached the level their coach wants - the level of competition they'll face at the Armed Forces.
"(They're) not as close as I want," Air Force coach Steven Franco said. "For the amount of time it's decent. We have a lot of work to do."
The boxers selected to the Air Force team have little more than two weeks to prepare for the Armed Forces Boxing Championships on Feb. 15.
Franco said he wants to see more power punching, even though amateur boxing is based on points - punches landed.
"That's fine, get your points," he said. "But you also have to wear them down."
Boxers selected from the camp will gain more one-on-one time with Franco and assistant coach Rudy Moreno.
Walking into an event filled with the military's best boxers can be daunting, especially against the established year-round programs of the Marine Corps and Army.
"We have to mentally prepare for that," the Air Force boxing coach said. "I need them to visualize what they will encounter."
Setting up exhibitions with local boxing clubs, such as "Jesse" James Lejas', will allow the Airmen to experience different techniques and competition, and help prepare for the Armed Forces, Franco said.
"They'll tear your head off," Franco said about local amateurs. "It may sound wrong, but we need that. We need someone who is hungry."
Since 2011 is an Olympic Team Trials year, a gold medal at Armed Forces is essentially the golden ticket to box against the world's best.
Welterweight Hector Ramos was the last Airman to qualify for the Olympic Team Trials, earning an Armed Forces gold medal in 2003.