Open super heavyweight champion Isaac Mendoza of Giebelstadt, right, mixes it up with Wiesbaden’s Matthew Dusch on Sunday during the U.S. Forces Europe championship bout at Wiesbaden Army Airfield, Germany. Mendoza came back from a second-round knockdown to claim the title when Dusch didn’t answer the bell for the fourth and final round. (Rusty Bryan / S&S)
Open super heavyweight champion Isaac Mendoza of Giebelstadt, right, mixes it up with Wiesbaden’s Matthew Dusch on Sunday during the U.S. Forces Europe championship bout at Wiesbaden Army Airfield, Germany. Mendoza came back from a second-round knockdown to claim the title when Dusch didn’t answer the bell for the fourth and final round. (Rusty Bryan / S&S)
Chandra LeCompte of Ramstein sticks a jab into the face of Bamberg’s Mona Michelson during the U.S. Forces Europe women’s light middleweight championship bout Sunday at Wiesbaden Army Airfield, Germany. LeCompte won with a second-round stoppage. (Rusty Bryan / S&S)
Scott Hanshew of Dexheim looks for an opening against teammate Leonardo Brightstarr in the novice lightweight championship bout Sunday at Wiesbaden Army Airfield, Germany. Hanshew claimed the title with a fourth-round stoppage. (Rusty Bryan / S&S)
WIESBADEN ARMY AIRFIELD, Germany — A team representing Wiesbaden and Dexheim claimed four novice titles Sunday to lead the home team to the U.S. Forces Europe boxing championships title.
Flyweight Christopher Davidson, lightweight Scott Hanshew, light middleweight Cedric Redus and light heavyweight Christopher Benjumea kept gold medals in town, leading to a 41-22 triumph over runner-up Bamberg.
But only two of the Wiesbaden champs had to fight to do it. Davidson won unopposed, and Redus took his title when Ramstein’s Rommel Sia failed to make Sunday’s weigh-in.
Hanshew and Benjumea, however, won impressively.
Hanshew victimized teammate Leonardo Brightstarr for a 5-0 victory, rocking his buddy with thunderous right hands in the first and second rounds.
Hanshew, who upped his career record to 4-1, admitted he’d rather not have had to face his teammate, who was fighting his first official bout, but put aside that feeling when the bell rang.
“You’ve got to be a man when you get into the ring,” he said.
Benjumea was fighting for the second and final time, he said, after downing Lance Locke of Bamberg in an up-tempo bout.
“It was fast paced,” said the OCS-bound Benjumea. “I kind of lost focus in the first round, but he got tired. My coach told me to keep the pressure on him, and I was able to. It’s all about conditioning.”
Conditioning paid off at super heavyweight, the only open bout of the 12-bout card. Isaac Mendoza of Giebelstadt and Matthew Dusch of Wiesbaden slugged it out until Dusch was unable to answer the bell for Round 4.
“My team and I have been training hard for 3½ months, ever since we came back from Afghanistan,” Mendoza said.
The most explosive bout of the day came in the welterweight bout, where Sherwood Moore of Bamberg decked Gimaans Goeman of Hohenfels halfway through the first round.
“He kept bending over,” Moore said, “and I unleashed my hooks.”
Women’s light middleweight champion Chandra LeCompte of Ramstein made short work of her opponent, Mona Michelson of Wiesbaden, winning when the referee stopped the bout at 1:10 of the second round.
Still, she was disappointed.
“I’ve been practicing moving around,” she said, “but I didn’t get a chance to do it.”
U.S. Forces Europe boxing championships
WIESBADEN ARMY AIRFIELD, Germany — Results of Sunday’s championship bouts at the 2006 U.S. Forces Europe boxing championships (RSC-referee stopped contest):
Team scoring: Wiesbaden-Dexheim 41, Bamberg 22, Heidelberg 20, Giebelstadt 12, Kaiserslautern 10, Ramstein 7, Hohenfels 2, Mildenhall 1.
Women’s novice
Featherweight: Aida Pence (Bamb) by RSC over Sarah Kendrowski (Wies) 1:25, 3rd round.
Welterweight: Robynlee Jaquay (Kais) by retirement over Sabrina Bradford (Heid), 0:50, 1st round.
Light middleweight: Chandra LeCompte (Rams) by RSC over Mona Michelson (Wies) 1:10, 2nd round.
Light heavyweight: Angel Silva (Heid) dec. Danelle Brooks (Heid) 5-0.
Men’s novice
Flyweight: Christopher Davidson (Wies) uncontested.
Featherweight: Rasheen Griffin (Bamb) dec. Alex Periera (Wies) 5-0.
Lightweight: Scott Hanshew (Wies) by RSC over Leonardo Brightstarr (Wies) 0:25, 4th round.
Light welterweight: Mario Juarez Jr. (Heid) dec. Patrick Stephens (Kais) 5-0.
Welterweight: Sherwood Moore (Bamb) by RSC over Gimaans Goeman (Hoh) 1:00, 1st round.
Light middleweight: Cedric Redus (Wies) by walkover over Rommel Sia (Rams).
Light heavyweight: Christopher Benjumea (Wies) dec. Lance Locke (Bamb) 4-1.
Heavyweight: Ian Jackson (Gieb) by walkover over Walter Lockwood (Wies).
Men’s open
Super heavyweight: Isaac Mendoza (Gieb) by retirement over Matthew Dusch (Wies) end of 3rd round.
