Stonewalker punches way to title

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Hobbema boxer Danny Stonewalker punched his way to the top, grabbing the Canadian light-heavyweight title Jan. 29.

The 28-year-old Metis won a unanimous decision over Dave 'Machine Gun' Fiddler of Edmonton for the vacant title before 1,600 spectators at Red Deer's Westerner Exposition Altaplex.

Three judges awarded Stonewalker a unanimous decision in the 12-round bout, one of five on the card deemed 'Judgment Day.'

"I was unloading my arrows a little too fast for the Machine Gun," boasted a stiff and sore Stonewalker, who now has a record of 15-4-1.

"I pretty well had him figured out. He was no threat, really. I controlled the fight."

But cuts above each eye proved otherwise. A head butt in the second round opened up old scar tissue and a "legitimate punch" in the third opened up the second wound, according to Ray Rutler, Stonewalker's chief second and cut man.

Stonewalker denied being staggered, but admitted to being "disoriented" from a left hook to the eardrum.

"The cuts weren't a big factor in the fight at all," he said.

But Rutter viewed them differently.

"When you're cut that badly you have to be very careful," he said.

The cuts made Stonewalker a defensive fighter. He stayed on the outside protecting his cuts later in the fight when he normally would have countered Fiddler's low approaches and wide "haymakers" with an uppercut, Rutter explained.

"Had it not been for those cuts he would have dropped Fiddler in six or seven rounds," predicted Rutter.

Even then, Stonewalker punished Fiddler, knocking him down twice in Round 6 with a left-right combination and some hard punches to the body.

Recovering in Wetaskiwin from the 12-round bout, Stonewalker is reflection on his future.

Winning the title is the "biggest thing of my career so far," Stonewalker said.

"It was finally my time and nobody could take it away."

But there are bigger events on the way.

Upcoming bouts may see him defending his title against top Canadian contenders Roddy McDonald from Toronto or Jimmy Gradson.

He's also looking at possible title shots in the World Boxing Organization (WBO) and the World Boxing Associations (WBA).

"There are a lot of fighters that have been in the (WBA and WBO) top 10 for the last 10 years. They're ready to go," Stonewalker declared.

"They're not rally big punchers. That division is wide open for me right now."

It will probably be "early summer" before Stonewalker can fight, Rutter said. There is a mandatory 45-day layoff for his cuts to heal and then another 90-day wait before he can fight again.

Stonewalker grew up in Fort McMurray and began boxing when he was 10 years-old, getting instruction from his uncle, Mike Woodward who was a Canadian Forces heavyweight champion for eight years.

Stonewalker's first professional fight saw him knockout Minnesota's James Mitchell in Round 2 on April 22, 1985.

>From there it has been all uphill, until now.

In an undercard fight, O'Chiese Indian Stan Cunninham lost by a point to southpaw Ray Collins of Detroit.

Cunningham's record now reads 8-2-1 while Collins' record has been boosted to five wins in the welterweight (136-147 lbs.) category.

The fight was stopped in the fifth round when Cunninham developed a case of bronchitis which has plagued him in the past.