Meridian's McNeil wins in weekend boxing showdown

By By Don Hill / EMG sports writer
Feb. 16, 2004
LAUREL In all the excitement of boxing in front of the hometown crowd, Kenny Craven jumped over the top rope and into the ring.
When the Mid-South Heavyweight champ hit the ring, he sprained his ankle badly. But no one really knew, because Craven spent the next five rounds beating up on Elvin Evans of Memphis and then knocked him to the canvas 1:30 into the sixth round.
That was the feature fight during Friday's Night of Championship Boxing at the Magnolia Center.
A large crowd was on hand to watch the event, which saw Craven retain his Mid-South crown and obtain the North American Boxing Council (NABC) title.
The fifth round saw Evans get caught by a flurry of shots that rocked him, but he retaliated with a few of his own.
Midway into the sixth, Craven connected on a right-hand upper cut, then blasted Evans with a hard left hook. Evans, laying flat on the ground, was counted out.
In the NABC middleweight fight, Laurel's Bo Skipper took on Meridian's Clint McNeil.
In the first round, Skipper got a shot in to knock down McNeil, but the Meridian boxer jumped up quickly, and then went to work. In the fourth, Skipper got a standing eight count and again in the fifth. With the round almost over, McNeil knocked Skipper to the canvas and McNeil retained his title.
In the special feature match that featured Dana Kendrick of Hattiesburg and April Wiggington of Laurel in a super bantam weight competition, Kendrick beat up on Wiggington until she gave up 1:07 into the third round.
Chris Smith of Laurel took on Greg Davis of New Orleans in a heavyweight bout, and Davis made short work of Smith. Davis knocked Smith to the canvas a couple of times before Davis won on a TKO 1:26 into the first round.
In the closest match of the night, Rodney Phillips of Laurel took on George "The Player" Burrage of Meridian in a heavyweight match. That bout went all four rounds, but Phillips had enough of the Player's' tune to take a scorecard win, 40-36, 39-37, 39-37.
In a junior welterweight bout, Laurel's Gabe Bozeman took on Michael Winslow of Tuscaloosa, Ala.
Williams scored a TKO 1:04 into the fourth round after Williams landed several punches in a row. That, and a cut over Bozeman's eye, was enough for referee Fred Steinwinder III to stop the fight.