Johnny Lewus defeats Allen Litzau in return

Report and photos by Bill Hillmann at ringside

Chicago Promoter Bobby Hitz revived his annual-tradition of Thanksgiving-Eve bouts at the Belvedere Bash last night in Elk Grove Village IL. The packed house at the sleek Belvedere Hall proved once again that, as Hitz told Fightnews “People love to come out the night before Thanksgiving to see guys knock the stuffing out of each other.”

The main event featured a Light Middleweight battle between Johnny “Bad Boy” Lewus (26-4-1, 21 KOs) of Chicago’s Bridgeport neighborhood and a game Allen “The American Boy” Litzau (13-7, 7 KOs) of St Paul Minn. Lewus came out fired up and decisively won the early-action with effective-aggression. Litzau found some room to counter in the third. The bout heated up in the fourth, fifth, and sixth. The hometown crowd was appeased as Lewus out-dueled Litzau in several explosive exchanges. Scores were 59-55, 59-55, 58-56 all in favor of Lewus.

In the co-main event, Chicago’s rising Super Middleweight prospect Mike “Hollywood” Jimenez (5-0, 3 KOs) took on James Denson (4-6, 2 KOs) of Akron Ohio. Jimenez floored Denson with a neat left hook to the liver in the first. Jimenez pursued Denson through the middle-rounds. Jimenez consistently drove Denson to the ropes and ripped shots to the body. Denson cowered in his guard. In the final round Jimenez once again found a place for his viscous body-attack and dropped Denson twice more. Denson narrowly escaped a stoppage. The final scores were a shut-out across the board in favor of Jimenez.

Chicagoan Gerald Taylor (5-3, 2 KOs) defeated Bruce Rumbolz (22-23, 15 KOs) of Sterling IL in their Super Middleweight contest. Rumbolz floored Taylor in the second but Taylor’s energy and aggression swayed the judges. Scores were 37-39 37-39 37-38.

Former Chicago Golden Gloves Champion Erick Correa made his pro-debut against Keon Graham (2-7) in a Heavyweight bout. Correa found and early home for his over-hand right. Graham weathered the heavy shots but did little more. Correa continued to hack-away at Graham throughout the bout and earned a unanimous decision. Scores were 40-36 across the board.

MMA star Terry Martin (5-0, 5 KOs) opened the night with a sensational first-round knock-out of win over Thomas Boose (0-5) in their Cruiserweight-clash. Martin landed an over-hand right which floored Boose. Boose didn’t beat the count. Time of stoppage was 2:39 of the first round.

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November 24th, 2011

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