The details of his “Final Conflict” didn’t go as planned, but St. Joseph boxer Rob Calloway still ended his career the way he wanted: with a knockout.
Calloway claimed a technical knockout of heavyweight Clinton Boldridge in the fifth round Saturday at Civic Arena.
Calloway, the 40-year-old St. Joseph fighter who planned Saturday’s card as his retirement bout, originally planned to fight Darrin Humphrey. But Humphrey didn’t show up for the Friday weigh-in, so Calloway turned to Boldridge as a late replacement. Boldridge (9-14) is a heavyweight who weighed in at more than 240 pounds. Calloway fought at 204.
Despite being a late addition, Boldridge gave Calloway a fight early. He opened the first round by going after Calloway, trying to connect. But Calloway just danced.
In the third, Boldridge briefly trapped Calloway in the corner. However, Calloway busted free with one huge blow that nearly floored Boldridge.
Calloway took control in the fifth and punished Boldridge before the fight was called by TKO.
In other fights, Tyler Ziolkowski and Travis Hartman battled six rounds to a decision.
The biggest round was the last. Ziolkowski forced Hartman to the ropes and kept him trapped there. But Hartman kept to his feet, denying Ziolkowski the knockout.
The judges, however, awarded the fight to Ziolkowski, who improved to 12-9-0. Hartman is 10-14-1.
Another fight featured a rematch and some bad blood.
Light heavyweights Brian Bernard and Tyler Seever — both fighting out of St. Joseph — fought to a draw in February 2007. They exchanged threats at the weigh-in.
But when the fight started, Seever seemed to have the most to prove. He came out aggressive and overwhelmed Bernard.
Seever earned a technical knockout in the first round. Seever improved to 10-11-1, while Bernard fell to 8-6-2.
In other fights, middleweight Sean Oliphant knocked out Aaron Boldridge at 1:50 in the second round.
Reymundo Hernandez earned a technical knockout of Chris McDaniel at 2:24 in the first round.