Two local boxers win in tourney

Fountain Lake’s Russell Wade, a defending champion in the tournament, won by split decision over Matthew Pruitt in the TITLE Boxing National Championship Friday night at Hot Springs Convention Center.

Fighting in the junior division, Wade fell back to the ropes several times before rolling out to send a driving Pruitt to become entangled in

the empty ropes.

The 2016 TITLE champion stepped away from Pruitt’s first punch in the third round before responding with a flurry of jabs capped by a right hook. The referee stopped the bout three times in the final round when Wade became bloodied, which Wade’s coach Chad Wade, from Off the Hook Boxing, felt led to the split decision.

“I was disappointed,” he said. “Whenever you have a referee stop that many times, that’s what the judges remember. We had it under control.”

The slow start by the boxer is not unusual, his coach noted.

“He usually starts out slow and sees what he’s facing,” he said. “This guy was all bull rush and putting him in the ropes. Once he kept him to the center, it was a complete domination.”

* Hot Springs’ Antonio Rookard won a decision Missouri’s Aryn Pajak in a peewee bout.

The 9-year-old boxer is fairly new to the sport, taking it up a year ago, said coach and event organizer Willie McCoy.

Rookard came out strong against Pajak, leading with a left jab before switching to a jab-hook combo late in the first round. He showed impressive footwork, feinting and dodging body shots by Pajak.

In the final round, Rookard came out fast and strongly, showing his domination before tiring late.

“He did it the way I wanted,” McCoy said, illustrating the jab-jab-uppercut that Pajak primarily used. “Antonio would take the one-two, but he’d be gone before the third punch.”

The tournament continues today with the championship bouts starting at 3:30 p.m.