Joey Payeur
Amber Berg isn’t much for interviews.
Her fists of fury—and the impact they left on the face of Halley MacMillan—told enough of a story themselves.
Berg won the Throwdown Championship Series belt at the inaugural “Throwdown at the Duke” Muay Thai kickboxing event at the Couchiching Arena on Saturday night when MacMillan was not allowed to start the third round by her coach and event organizer, Combat Culture co-founder Dave Zuniga.
“I saw an opening,” Berg said simply about landing a heavy right hand squarely to the left eye of MacMillan just 45 seconds into the first round of the scheduled three-round bout between the two Winnipeggers fighting in the 63-kg division.
“She hit me good with that first one,” admitted MacMillan, who sported a quickly-darkening shiner and a significant amount of swelling around her left eye.
Berg, who improved her record to 6-6, went on to deliver three more hard shots to MacMillan before the end of what the Double Dragon Gym rep called an “ugly” first round.
“I just needed to stay focused,” she remarked.
“[MacMillan] really came out to fight from the start in the second [round].”
The two had several toe-to-toe exchanges, but the 30-year-old Berg’s 10 years of training experience—and slight power advantage—had the 21-year-old MacMillan (4-4) back on her heels more often than not.
Zuniga almost threw in the towel before the second round ended, but let his Nak Muay Gym fighter last until the bell before pulling the plug to keep MacMillan’s left eye from what could have been even more serious damage.
“Safety is my No. 1 concern,” Zuniga stressed.
“I felt she needed a KO to win the fight at that point and I didn’t see the fight going in that direction, so I ended it.”
Zuniga’s decision turned MacMillan’s stomach like a pitcher of sour milk.
“I was [ticked]. I’m still angry,” declared MacMillan, who had a vigorous debate with her coach when told his plan.
“I could feel the bump on my face but I thought I could keep going,” she added before relenting somewhat.
“When I went to see the doctor for the post-fight medical, he said it was a good call and that things really could have got worse if I had taken any more shots to the eye,” MacMillan noted.
“This is my first championship fight and definitely my hardest loss,” she said.
“I can accept it. I don’t know what else I could have done,” MacMillan added.
“[Berg’s] style is to rush in and punch, and I’m never going to do that technique.”
Berg was surprised MacMillan wasn’t allowed to answer the bell in the third round but wasn’t going to apologize for a short night of work.
“It feels good to be champion,” she grinned.
“I just have to keep doing what I’m doing and just do it better,” added Berg, who gave plenty of credit to her trainer, Master Jerrick Hodge.
“I can’t even mention all the things he’s helped me with . . . anything and everything.”
The rest of the fights on the card went the distance, starting with Jared Roulette (7-0) using a dominant third round to beat fellow Nak Muay Gym member Isaac Dixon (3-2) by unanimous decision in the 86-kg weight class.
Each of the three judges scored the bout 30-27 in Roulette’s favour.
In a match-up of two 60-kg division fighters seeking their first win, Russell Guevara of Double Dragon had an intense battle with Nenad Jurinovic from Winnipeg’s Academy 64 in the latter’s competitive debut.
The newcomer took the fight to Guevara in the first round, with Guevara being more the aggressor in the second.
That carried over to the third, with Jurinovic getting in a flurry of head punches midway through the round, but Guevara controlling the early and late stages of it.
Guevara (1-2) came away with a split decision as he was scored 30-27 by two judges, with Jurinovic (0-1) getting the same 30-27 nod from the third judge.
Another competitive rookie, Bruce Roussin of Gojo’s Gym (Winnipeg), looked to win his debut against Double Dragon’s Craig Emslie in the 67-kg category.
But Emslie (2-0) gave Roussin (0-1) practically no room to breathe—reigning supreme in all three rounds to win by unanimous decision.
In the most diverse style battle of the night, the 91-kg division offered a matchup
between Logan MacDonald from United Fighter in Kenora and rookie fighter Matthew Von Eard from TRACMA Canada in Winnipeg.
MacDonald’s two years of kickboxing training against the five years of martial arts training of Von Eard saw the two fighters employ markedly different strategies.
Von Eard preferred to strike from long distance as opposed to MacDonald’s mauling, in-close punching style.
The two were fairly close in the first two rounds, but MacDonald (2-0) wound up bloodying the lip of Von Eard (0-1) and then used some solid strikes in the third round to take a unanimous decision.
Another 86-kg showdown pitted Stephen Baxter from United Fighter against yet another rookie fighter in Cole LeBlanc from BAMMA in Brandon.
LeBlanc showed well in the first two rounds—despite losing both 10-9 by the judges’ analysis.
Baxter then brought the thunder in the third, landing a flush right hand that turned LeBlanc’s nose into a gusher.
It was Baxter (2-0) eventually earning an unanimous 30-27 decision from the judges over LeBlanc (0-1).
The other scheduled fight for the night—a 91-kg bout between Matt Veldkamp (Nak Muay) and Jordan O’Connor (United Fighter)—had to be called off when Veldkamp’s blood pressure was deemed too high by medical staff on hand to enter the ring.
Despite the lacklustre attendance of about 130 spectators (the majority of which came in from Kenora and Winnipeg), Zuniga was optimistic Combat Culture would return to this area for at least one card next year.
“It was definitely a risk coming here but I think the event went very well considering there were no hometown fighters to cheer for,” he reasoned.
“The foundation is laid now and I think we’ll get more support from the community if we come back next year.”
Local promoter Dean Bruyere wasn’t overjoyed with the crowd numbers but understood them.
“I think if it was to take place in town, like at the Memorial Sports Centre, more people would come out for it,” he remarked.
“There were also other events going on today [Saturday] and also the fact it was a beautiful day outside killed us,” he added.
“Maybe next year we can shoot to have it in early May before the opening of fishing season or late in the fall.”
