Ken Johnston
For one individual, “What happened in Vegas did not stay in Vegas!”
He ended up taking home some ink in the form of a Canadian flag tattooed on his backside!
That was the price he paid for losing a fight on Easter weekend to Rainy River’s Robert Tolen.
The two-round match had a bet on the line: the loser would get their opponent’s national flag tattooed on their butt.
The fight was the culmination of months of trash talking on the Internet and on the Jason Ellis satellite radio show, “Faction 28.”
Tolen, 38, began listening to the show last year and became intrigued by it and its followers. After overcoming his lack of computer literacy, he joined the chat rooms affiliated with “Faction 28” and quickly became part of the trash talking.
A man from Duluth, Mn. named Scott, or “Sniper” as he is known in the chat rooms, threw out a challenge to fight someone, anyone—even a Canadian!
Tolen bit. He agreed to fight Sniper, but then the trick was to get Ellis’ attention and put them on the card for “Ellismania 5” in Las Vegas on Easter weekend.
That is where the tattoo idea came and soon the challenge was a reality.
Tolen began training, created a Facebook page and Twitter account. He developed quite a following, which led to 16 people that personally know him travelling to Vegas to watch the fight.
Tolen arrived in “Sin City” on April 1 and watched the radio show broadcast from a bar there.
While the rest of us were enjoying a holiday on Good Friday, Tolen was attending weigh-ins for the fight. Sniper went first, coming in at 177 pounds.
“He was heavier than me before so I was worried that he was in better shape than me,” Tolen admitted.
“I was concerned, thinking he must have really trained hard.”
Tolen weighed in at 176 pounds, but knew he had an advantage in reach.
During a radio interview, Tolen said he had brought along some real Canadian maple syrup and was going to say, “Here is a taste of what’s coming your way [to Sniper].”
But Tolen decided not to play that card at the last minute, being a bit nervous being on the radio for the first time.
That night, Tolen also went up on stage with Ellis’ band and sang a song—another first for him.
“They did not boo me off stage so it couldn’t have been to bad!” he reasoned.
Tolen also flew for the first time on this trip. “It was definitely a trip of firsts for me!” he enthused.
He also had no previous experience boxing, but his research paid off when he and Sniper stepped into the ring around 10 p.m. (CDT) on the Saturday (April 3).
It was billed as Canada vs. the U.S., and there was a great deal of hype before the fight. Boos echoed through the crowd of 3,000 as Tolen, or “Ref” as he is known online, entered.
But that later was replaced by “Go Canada Go” cheers!
“There were more than my friends there from Canada and I heard them!” Tolen said.
Tolen proudly wore shorts with the Maple Leaf on them while his opponent wore a U.S. pre-fight robe which drew him cheers!
While the crowd was so loud that Tolen could not hear his fight song (“Rock You” by Helix), he said the noise did not phase him.
He had been carefully preparing himself for the experience. He walked around the night before and saw the stage.
And before the fight, he also went outside and saw the lines of people. It helped him feel more at ease with the big event just ahead of him.
“Ref” and “Sniper” faced off for two rounds, and both wore head gear. In the first 30 seconds, it looked like Tolen was going to be beaten—and badly—as “Sniper” came out with a flurry of punches.
“He was fighting like a drunken sailor!” Tolen recalled.
But Tolen bided his time and “Sniper” quickly burned out. As his opponent tired, his swings became less accurate and wide like a haymaker.
That gave Tolen a chance to jab him in the nose.
“As soon as he let off, I hit him a couple of times in the nose,” Tolen said, adding he kept working that throughout the fight.
His ringside attendants were former Bergland resident Billy Olson and one of his chat room acquaintances from Vegas known as “White Rabbit.”
“They kept telling me to hit him a couple of times and then step off,” Tolen noted. “It worked well!”
After a one-minute break between rounds, “Sniper” came out strong like he did in the first round, only this time he ran out of steam even quicker.
“He came out swinging in the first 10 seconds, then gassed out,” Tolen said.
Tolen kept working the nose and by the end of round two, the blood would not stop flowing. Tolen was ruled the winner.
But because of the bleeding nose, “Sniper” did not have the Canadian flag tattoo done ringside. Instead, Tolen said they took him upstairs to work on his nose.
“It took 45 minutes for them to get the bleeding to stop. Then he got his tattoo!”
He later returned to the ring to show off his new tattoo.
Tolen said that at the end of the fight, the large Canadian contingent on hand began singing “O Canada.” Tolen said he was just stoked!
With adrenaline flowing, he was tempted to call out a fight with Benji Madden, but later was glad he didn’t once he thought about it.
“He trains professionally and it would likely not have been a good outcome for me!” Tolen admitted.
Tolen spent the rest of the weekend enjoying Vegas, and even got to meet celebrity Tony Hawk of skateboarding fame. There were other celebs there, too, but that was the one he wanted to meet.
In reflecting on the experience last week, Tolen remarked, “If a person wants to do something, just go do it. At 38 it seems crazy to go and fight, but it was a great experience for me.
“Don’t let life pass you by!” he stressed.
On the other hand, Tolen’s wife, Rebecca, who had been supportive of the entire thing from the get-go, said she was really nervous.
“I had to look away because I thought he was going to get hurt!”
Will he do it again? Tolen said he would do it again but if he does, he will get some professional training.
“I was lucky my opponent did not have the training others had at ‘Ellismania.’”
Last week on his radio show, Ellis said it was “all Canada” when referring to the fight.
