Truax-George: A Recap

It was another exciting night of boxing at the Minneapolis Convention Center last night. ESPN was in town, and broadcast some of the bouts for its Friday Night Fights program. For us, the highlight was local middleweight Caleb Truax’s fight against Don “Da Bomb” George. We wrote about Caleb most recently here, after he won a thrilling but decisive decision over Matt Vanda, another Minnesotan.

Truax was a heavy underdog last night; Vegas bettors favored George, who fights out of Chicago, by two or three to one. George is a heavy hitter who came into the fight 24-3 with 21 knockouts, and had only been stopped once in his career, by the reigning light heavyweight champion. He had a deal that would gave given him a million-dollar payday if he had won last night.

The Convention Center crowd, with ESPN's camera

But it was Truax from the opening bell. He put on a stunning display, dominating every round of the fight and putting George away in the sixth. Here, Caleb connects with a right, courtesy of Minnesota Boxing.com:

Truax is a smart fighter, known as a canny tactician and an excellent defensive boxer. The knock on him has been that he doesn’t have much power. It will be hard to sustain that critique after last night. He punched with real authority, and George had to be helped out of the ring. It was simply a brilliant performance by Truax, one that undoubtedly put him into the mix for a world championship fight. His record now stands at 22-1-1.

My son bought a table for the event, and my wife and I attended along with our sixteen-year-old daughter. One of Truax’s sparring partners was also at our table; I am pretty sure he gave Caleb more trouble in training than Don George did last night. We are hoping that next time I report on one of Truax’s fights, it will be from the MGM Grand.

UPDATE: One of the fun things about a card like last night’s is that everybody from the world of Minnesota boxing is there. Here is one more photo, of my daughter with the state’s top heavyweight, who is undefeated and ranked:

Nothing in sports is more exciting than a good, live boxing match. If you have never experienced live boxing, it might be fun to check it out.

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