Stonewalker blocked by Stonewall in first Canadian cruiserweight bout

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Danny Stonewalker Lindstom was in for a fight. Of that there was no doubt, and he knew it. All he had to do was look at his opponent's record of 30 wins, eight losses.

When the two finally did square off on February 17 as one of the five bouts leading up to the featured heavyweight title at Edmonton's Convention Centre, Stonewalker knew he was in a for a long night.

His opposition was Toronto's Jimmy "Stonewall" Gradson, a journeyman who dwrives his income by acting as a bouncer at a few Toronto bars. This man was no slouch, and had posted 19 knockouts in 30 bouts.

This particular fitht was the first sanctioned bout in Cnada for the newly-created cruiserweight division which falls betseren the 175-190 pround range. The winer wold then be eligible to fight for the cruiserweight title. The title was not on the line this night becuse Gradson did not have sufficient fights to his credit over the last year, explained judge Lloyd Sutton.

The Stonewalker-Gradson bout proved to be one of the more evently-contested maches that night despite the boos and hisses for th clutch-and-grab stle that ensued throughout the 10 rounds.

Thjere was a lot of heavy hitting but both fighters weatherd the 10 round barrage that would have normally stopped any average boxer well before.

Although neither contestant realy dominated the ring, Stonewalker exhibited superior skills, and did have an opoprtunity in the eighth to put his man away. He fell sort, hwoever, when he failed to follow through after delivering a nice combination that staggered Gradson.

The bout wound up going the distance with the judges scoring it 98-92 for Gradson, 96-94 for Stonewalker, and 97-97. Thus, it would up a draw with neither fighter winning or losing.

In the other bouts, Mertis David Fiddler met defgeat again, this time at the hands of former Olympian Kirk Johnson who opened up a bad cut over his lefgt eye in the first round. The referee wisely stopped the bout. That mismatch had followed one from the previous bout in which Calgary's Forrest Browatzke easily hammered his opponent, Marlon McMillan, into submission within 55 seconds, and after two knockdowns.

The third mismatch came about thwn Canadian Heavyweigfht Champion Tomn "The Bomb" Glesby made absolute believers of the many cuynics and supporters of an aging Ken Lakusta. That bout did not go two full rounds as Glesby decked him twice to win by a knockout. Glesby's co-owner/manager, Walter Twinn, was impressed with the win.

Two other bouts saw Montreal's Cliff Lickness upset Brndon's Roddy Batson in a split decision, and Edmonton's Ron Pasek win unanimously over Brandon's Terry Fowler.

The next fight night is tentatively scheduled for March 17.