ATLANTIC CITY, New Jersey, June 3 — Taking an early lead over the Maurice Smith (Pictures)-led Tiger Sharks Saturday evening at Trump Taj Mahal’s Mark G. Etess arena, Pat Miletich (Pictures)’s Silverbacks never looked back en route to capturing the International Fight League’s first tournament crown.
Surviving early trouble, McGivern (8-1-0) slugged his way forward. After his opponent complained of a questionable low blow, the former University of Iowa wrestler scored with a mean shot to the midsection that could be heard ringside.
Looking winded after just four minutes, Hallman (36-12-2) endured a tough middle period in which he was hurt on the feet and floor.
Briefly it appeared like Hallman, who Smith said was ill heading into the bout, might be the “nightmare” Miletich had twice seen submit UFC welterweight champion Matt Hughes (Pictures). But when the 31-year-old fighter went after McGivern’s leg, the wrestler moved smartly on the mat, effectively working his way out of danger.
The Yelm, Washington middleweight was forced to fight in spurts. By contrast McGivern, a workhorse in his Bettendorf, Iowa gym, kept up the pace during the 12-minute fight, which saw judges Frank Fitzgerald (30-27), Douglas Crosby (29-28) and Ray Martin (30-27) rule with one voice.
Rory Markham (Pictures), who stunned Mike Pyle (Pictures) in April with a leaping right hand during a 4-1 Silverback victory over Bas Rutten (Pictures)’s Anacondas, felt his power would be enough to get past Brad Blackburn (Pictures). And though the 24-year-old welterweight had to walk through hell to find out, he turned out to be correct, helping his team to a comfortable 2-0 lead.
Blackburn, 29, jumped on Markham from the opening bell, connecting with a hard shot before driving him to the canvas. Upon returning to his feet the hard-hitting Markham (7-1-0) absorbed stiff jabs to his stationary head, and as round one came to a close the Chicagoan’s slowing punches had little effect.
“I wasn’t making adjustments quick enough,” Markham said after the fight. “So for him to dominate the first round played into my head quite a bit.”
Hoping that he could regroup between periods, Markham walked into yet another jab from the Seattle, Washington-based Blackburn as action resumed. But unlike the opening stanza, Markham responded, connecting with a fight-changing left hook.
The Silverback took the opening and burst through it, throwing two good knees before putting Blackburn (8-8-0) on the canvas with a chopping right hand 23 seconds into the second round.
“He came out a lot hard and a lot crisper than we expected,” Miletich said of Blackburn. “He’s definitely improved and he was lighting Rory up a little bit.
“We just had to get into Rory’s head between rounds and say, ‘Listen, we know how heavy-handed you are. Go out and put your hands on people and they’ll fall.’ That’s the thing; we had to make Rory believe in himself a little bit again.”
Putting Miletich’s crew on the board first, Bart Palaszweski stalked 24-year-old Staten Island native Steve Bruno (Pictures), peppering the Tiger Shark lightweight with leg kicks before the decisive end at 1:48 of the opening period.
“Bartimus” moved fluidly in the large ring, changing directions as he pressed forward. Bruno, who was not a member of the Tiger Shark squad that won in April, had little answer for Palaszewski, now 2-0 in the IFL. “It was a tactical fight, both were fighting well,” Miletich said. “We just asked Bart to get off, make him miss and come back with good combos.”
When Bruno (8-3-0) reacted to the pleas coming from his corner asking him to move forward, the large lightweight, who looked terribly dry at Friday’s weigh-in, ate counter shots, including a neat left hook that spun him around in a neutral corner. One more hard shot from the 23-year-old Palaszewski followed and the referee called the contest.
“Bart had an injured right hand, so if you notice that’s why he wasn’t throwing it,” Miletich said of the 21-7-0 fighter. “So we were a little nervous going into the fight — at least I was. But he made the left hook work, stepped his angle and caught him coming in, put him down. It was a great job on his part.”
With McGivern, Markham and Palaszweski sealing the best-of-five team battle, Miletich’s Silverbacks and Smith’s Tiger Sharks were left with two remaining fights.
“The only thing that I would say that we need to change about the IFL is not celebrating a team victory until after all the guys have fought,” Miletich said. “I don’t want to take that away from these guys that still have fights coming up.”
It felt that way when Reese Andy (Pictures) faced Mike Ciesnolevicz (Pictures) and Devin Cole (Pictures) took on Travis Wiuff (Pictures).
Both the light heavyweight and heavyweight contests went the distance and saw the Tiger Sharks walk away with decision victories, making the finally tally appear much closer than it actually was.
After two slow periods, Andy and Ciesnolevicz, first-time fighters to their respective IFL squads, finally got to it in the third.
Exchanging takedowns and strikes in front of a fairly empty arena, which by now had seen the team title sewn up along with five single bouts, the 33-year-old Andy (3-0-0) was awarded a split decision, spoiling any shutout hopes the Silverbacks may have had as well as handing Ciesnolevicz his first loss in five fights.
The team heavyweight contest pitted the only Miletich fighter to lose in April, Travis Wiuff (Pictures) (40-9-0), versus Devin Cole (Pictures), who put the Tiger Sharks in the finals with his decision victory over the Pitbulls’ Carlos Cline (Pictures).
In a competitive and at times compelling match, Cole’s scrappy style proved to be too much for the 28-year-old Wiuff, who just three weeks ago was scheduled to fight at 205, but replaced Ben Rothwell (Pictures) when the heavyweight injured his back.
Splitting the first two rounds, Cole, 30, took the edge in the third. Big takedowns followed by superior mat work gave the now 6-1-0 fighter the edge on each judge’s score card, 29-28.