D Company’s Ulrich Hellmeir plays to the crowd before his heavyweight bout against E Co.’s Ryan Dunbar. Photo by Melissa House.
Soldiers square off at Spartan Boxing Smoker
Melissa House, Monitor Staff
Soldiers of the 2nd Combined Arms Battalion, 5th Brigade (Army Evaluation Task Force), 1st Armored Division squared off in the ring at the Spartan Boxing Smoker Friday in Milam Gym. The event featured 12 bouts in Golden Glove weight classes ranging from Lightweights to Super heavyweights followed by the “Main Event.”
James Allen, E Company first sergeant, organized the event at the request of the battalion leadership and took the event from concept to execution in about a month. Each of the battalion’s six companies was asked to field one officer, one NCO and two enlisted competitors. That mix, Allen said, was done specifically to create the team-building event.
A Co.’s Tony Salinero looses his balance while trying to avoid a punch thrown by Tim Bullock, FSC. Despite landing on the ring floor a few times during the bout, Salinero came up with the win. Photo by Melissa House.
“We wanted to do that so the Soldiers could see their leaders doing the same stuff they were doing,” Allen said. “It went awesome. I think we had at least 600 people there.”
Allen said the response from the companies was positive, and the unit received a lot of support from the Morale, Welfare and Recreation Sports Division and the area Golden Gloves organization.
“Across the board, we had more Soldiers and NCOs (wanting to fight) than we needed,” he said. The companies held tryouts in an attempt to field the best competitors.
Uso Faletagoai, a combat engineer in E Co. fought in the Heavyweight division because he felt he had to represent his company, the smallest in the battalion. He lost his bout by split decision.
Dillon Rodriguez, FSC, left, and Lance Davis, HHC, trade punches during their Light heavyweight bout. Photo by Melissa House.
“It went pretty well, though,” Faletagoai said. “A lot of people supported it and it was a pretty good event to build morale and competitiveness between the companies in the battalion.”
And having never stepped foot in the boxing ring, he said his plan was to be the comic relief. His training consisted of “watching a lot of ESPN.”
“I was the one dancing,” he said. “Maybe I didn’t win because I didn’t have the right shoes. I went in pretty and I came out pretty.” Unlike some of the boxers, whose opponents scored bloody noses and lips on them, Faletagoai emerged unscathed.
The Smoker ended with the mystery Main Event – a no-holds-barred battle between James “The Redneck” Allen and Elliott “The Real Deal” Rogers.
Tony Henry, left, leads Brian Bunn out through the smoke for the first enlisted Middleweight bout. Boxers chose “fighting names” and theme music. Photo by Melissa House.
“I was just trying to think of something crazy to do,” Allen said. “The WWF thing was something, as a Soldier, I just wanted to see. If there’s a ring, I think somebody should be bouncing off the ropes.” Allen and Rogers spent several hours before the event rehearsing their match, a match that quickly went from traditional boxing to chair-smashing, flying clothesline and diving knee-drop entertainment.
“Yes, it went awesome,” Allen said. “The E Company Soldiers took ownership of their tasks and ran with it and the (Family Readiness Groups) raised a lot of money to support the Holiday Social.”
Headquarters and Headquarters Company Soldiers took the Spartan Commander’s Cup, going 4-0 in their bouts.
“Do not tolerate fear,” said Singels. “We are here to make sure nothing bad happens.”