ARGUSLEADER.COM

Abell defeat incites boos from crowd

Underwhelming boxing event draws about 1,000

Nestor Ramos • nramos@argusleader.com • November 29, 2008

      Even after a 20-year absence, the return of professional boxing to Sioux Falls was enough to leave some fans wondering what the rush was.
      Without landing a single solid punch, heavyweight Jason Nicholson scored an unlikely and anticlimactic upset victory by disqualification over Joey "Minnesota Ice" Abell in the main event at the Sioux Falls Convention Center on Friday night.
      Abell, a former South Dakota State football player and the 172nd-ranked heavyweight in the world according to online boxing magazine BoxRec, pounded Nicholson for about two-and-a-half minutes and kept right on pounding him after Nicholson fell to one knee in the corner.  Nicholson, from Tulsa, Okla., collapsed to the canvas and could not continue.
      Because the injury was the result of an illegal punch, referee Mark Nelson disqualified Abell and awarded Nicholson the victory. His record improved to 18-24.  "He hit him when he was down intentionally - I have no choice, my hands are tied, he's DQ'd," Nelson said at ringside. When the result was announced, the crowd of about 1,000 booed loudly and filed out. None of the six professional bouts had lasted past the second round.
     Jerry James, a Sioux Falls trainer and former boxer, said the return of professional boxing to Sioux Falls was welcome. But he was skeptical about the sport's long-term future here.
     "They're going to have to have a good show tonight for this to take off," James said early in the evening.  To Jeffrey LeMair, the show was something less than good.
      "I was hopeful," LeMair said, "but I'm disappointed.  " LeMair is one of the great boxers in South Dakota history. He lost a close split decision to Sugar Ray Leonard in 1974 in a fight in which LeMair knocked Leonard down.
"I'm enthused that there is an attempt made to bring boxing back," LeMair said. "I'm hopeful that whoever put this charade together will learn from it."
     Local realtor Ted Thoms was one of the people who "put this charade together."  "I guarantee you this was not what we expected," Thoms said. "The whole fight card was mismatches."
     Thoms said the night's top two highlights included the ring announcer and "some guy who spilled beer in the first row."  "This kind of show would make it tough to bring any kind of boxing back to Sioux Falls," Thoms said, adding that he's now interested in bringing mixed martial arts to town instead.
     Abell seemed poised to at least bring the night of mismatches between marginal prospects and overmatched journeymen to a thunderous end. The southpaw was making quick work of Nicholson with a sharp jab and a straight right hand behind it, and dropped Nicholson with a flurry of punches.
     Abell said he couldn't tell whether he'd struck Nicholson while he was on the canvas, though it appeared that at least one and possibly two hard shots landed after Nicholson had deliberately taken a knee.

Abell, whose record fell to 20-4, said one of his earlier losses came to a much shorter man whom he'd taken too lightly. He said he'd vowed not to underestimate anyone again.
     "I remember thinking to myself, 'He's low,' " Abell said after the fight. Indeed, Abell, at 6-foot-4, was about 7 inches taller than Nicholson, whose strategy consisted of backing away and catching sharp jabs and straight left hands with his face. But sometimes the best offense is nothing at all.

Fight headliner was defensive end for Jackrabbit

From football field to boxing ring, Abell a tough foe

Joey Abell's impact on South Dakota State football can be seen on a highlight reel that Coach John Stiegelmeier regularly shows his team.  Every season, a senior who epitomizes tough, physical play and a hard work ethic is added to the mix.  Abell is one of the 15 players on that tape.  "It's nothing specific; it's the way he plays every play," Stiegelmeier said. "Every play could have been a highlight for him, because he is always doing his best." 

Abell has brought that same work ethic to pro boxing, where the former Jackrabbit defensive end is 20-3 and ranked 72nd in the United States in the heavyweight division, according to boxrec.com.  The 6-foot-4 Abell will headline a Nov. 28 boxing card at the Sioux Falls Convention Center against Jason Nicholson (17-24).  Just four years after playing his senior season for the Jacks in 2004, Abell is making a name for himself in the boxing ring.
Although he has lost two bouts in a row, Abell has knocked out 19 opponents since turning pro in 2005 and is ranked as one of the region's top heavyweights.  Yet, for five years during college, he all but gave up the sport he grew up loving, in the name of SDSU athletics.  Stiegelmeier wanted Abell to commit to football, not boxing.   As a result, the two mutually decided that fighting would be out of the question during college.  "I still worked out, I still trained, I kept involved with it," says Abell, a 27-year-old native of Champlin, Minn. "I didn't forget how to box, but I kept my commitment with the coach. I didn't do anything to take away from football."  SDSU wasn't the only football program that initially recruited Abell.  He admits he didn't take his ACT tests seriously, sleeping through part of the college entrance exam and getting a 12. That scared some potential suitors away.  But Stiegelmeier stuck with Abell, encouraging him to go back and get a better grade, which he did.  He finished with 184 career tackles - tallying seven sacks in 2003 and five in 2004 - and earned a spot on the all-Great West first team as a senior.  But what stands out in Stiegelmeier's mind is Abell's ability to play through pain - and inflict it on his opponents.  Abell didn't miss a game when he had a hip flexor, which Stiegelmeier says usually sidelines players for three games.  "Every chance he got was a chance to be physical," Stiegelmeier said. "It goes back to boxing - you don't shy away from being hit. He 'boxed' his way through his football career, because he literally played like he was trying to knock people out every time he hit them."  Boxing beckoned when NFL teams passed on Abell after his playing days at SDSU ended. Abell said he felt slighted after teams went with other players who had lower scouting combine scores.  So the former Golden Gloves champion went back to the ring and turned pro in 2005, rather than accept an offer to play indoor football with the Sioux Falls Storm.  This way, Abell figured, he could vent his frustrations against one opponent, not 11.  His first bout ended in a "no decision" after opponent Ritchie Goosehead fell through the ropes and landed on the cement.  Abel won 20 of his next 21 bouts, becoming well-known on the Philadelphia boxing scene by fighting in the historic Blue Horizon. He also fought in the first professional match in Sweden in 37 years.  But two recent defeats, including a technical knockout to underdog Andrew Greeley (13-20-2), has slowed Abell's ascent to the top.  He attributes the setbacks partly to losing his trainer, Ron Lyke, for a few fights and bouncing from city to city in a short period of time.
Philadelphia Daily News reporter Bernard Fernandez, who covers boxing in the city, sees it as a lost opportunity.  "There is no shame in being a main-event guy at a place like the Blue Horion; a lot of fighters never even make it that far," he said. "But it is a venue you graduate from if you want to make it big, not stop at."  It's been more than a month since his last fight, and he feels ready for his homecoming of sorts in November.  "It's nice to get back to my second home," says Abell, adding that he still follows the Jacks and often checks in with Stiegelmeier. "I spent five of the most important years of my life in South Dakota.  "I've been training really hard, and I am not taking anything lightly. You guys should see the best of me."