Corrections Officer Tommy Howell represented CCI and Tehachapi in boxing match for charity
Battle of the Badge
By: Matthew Chew
Description: Corrections Officer Tommy Howell represented CCI and Tehachapi in boxing match for charity
Topics: boxing
Posted by editor Tue May 1, 2007 10:15:03 PDT
Viewed 725 times
0 responses 0 comments The Dome, a sports and concert venue in Bakersfield, resembles a place where gladiators might do battle. A high domed wooden ceiling and cement seats surround, at least for the evening of April 14, a boxing ring. It is a gritty, dark and alluring place for those wishing to view a boxing match. An appropriate venue for the Battle of the Badge, an annual event where law enforcement officers don boxing gear and wage battle to raise money for the Police Athletic League, a law enforcement charity that works with youth to keep them out of trouble.
Tehachapi’s lone participant this year was Tommy Howell, a corrections officer at CCI, who fought in the heavy weight division. It was Howell’s first boxing match ever.
“I was excited and had some butterflies,” Howell said about his pre-fight feelings.
He said all those pre-fight feelings turned into focus once he entered the ring.
“You can’t see the crowd and everybody cheering just kind of goes into an echo. Everything is focused out and you just see one guy,” explained Howell, “I’d do it again.”
Howell isn’t a stranger to the sport of fighting, he’s trained three years in mixed martial arts and kick boxing, but this was his first venture into the ‘gentlemen's sport.’
“He’s young and full of it,” said Fred Hamilton, of EMB Martial Arts, who trained Howell along with his partner, Bill Lanoninovich.
Hamilton said the training they put Howell through at the West Park gymnasium was intense. He said Howell had attained some boxing skills through his martial arts training , still he needed work on the movements inherent to boxing, like bobbing, weaving and finding the openings, both in his defense and his opponent’s defense.
One of the main things Hamilton said they worked on with Howell was endurance.
“You may be a fantastic fighter but if you don’t have any gas in the tank, your ride is short,” Hamilton said. “We worked him on sprints until he could hardly see and then returned him to the gym to resume bag work.”
Howell was set to fight in the tenth bout of the night. He knew his opponent was a CHP officer.
“Tommy responded really well to the training. The more we trained him, the harder we trained him, the more he responded,” Hamilton said.
“Man his hands were looking good before the fight, he looked awesome.”
Hamilton said about 30 seconds into the fight Howell landed a punch that dropped his opponent to the canvas.
“He hit hard,” said Howell, “when he hit me he jarred me but when he hit me I stepped back and hooked him with the left and it dropped him.”
The opponent stood to finish the first round but in less than one minute into the second round, Howell dropped his opponent once more and the referee stopped the fight, giving Howell a technical knockout.
“He was a good dude,” said Howell “and as for the fight itself, I had a ball and it was great to win.”
Before beginning his training for the Battle of the Badge Howell trained regularly on Tuesday and Thursday nights in mixed martial arts, but had to increase that training time much of the week to prepare for the boxing charity event.
Still, Tommy Howell said, “If I have something that I need to do with my girls [family] I’m always going to put them first.”
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