Officials made B.J. Lacy take off his red friendship bracelet before his bout against Fargo’s Ryan Schmitz on Saturday.
The bracelet was a gift from his sister, Patricia, who died from brain cancer in 1999.
It wasn’t the only thing he got to put on after the bout, as he earned the Dakota Fighting Championship middleweight title when the referee stopped the fight after the second round.
“I’ve never had to take it off before, and I told myself that if I had to take it off, somebody was going to pay,” Lacy said.
In front of roughly 600 people at the Fargo Civic Center, Lacy used a flurry of kicks early in both rounds, and then used his quickness to get Schmitz on the ground.
“That’s one of my strengths,” Lacy said. “He’s a strong guy, so I had to chop his legs off and get him down.”
Schmitz managed to reverse the tide a few times, but couldn’t get to his feet after the horn to end the second round, giving Lacy the title.
His nickname may be “The Beast” but the first thing he did upon getting back to his locker room was call his mother to wish her a happy Mother’s Day.
Detroit Lakes’ Brian Heden drew one of the more thunderous cheers from the crowd – and all he had to do was toss 263-pound Demian Decorah like he was a sack of potatoes.
Then Heden tried to pound Decorah’s noggin into mashed potatoes until the bell rang to end the second round.
The toss and the ensuing pummel job caused enough damage to force the doctor to stop the fight after the second round to give Heden the victory.
“I was trying to set it up the whole time, but I didn’t want to force it,” Heden said of the throw. “I thought I was in control the whole fight, but I was looking for that opening and I got it.”
Heden wasn’t the only local fighter to earn a victory.
Fargo’s Kyle Olson needed one kick to knock down Andy Stock of Oskaloosa, Iowa – and then Olson promptly pounded his way to a 55-second TKO win.
Grand Forks’ Kelly Stenstrum earned a tight unanimous decision against Zack Schroeder of Gwinner, N.D., and Kent Nathe of St. Cloud, Minn., scored a TKO at 2:46 of the first round over Adam Saunders.
St. Cloud’s Nathan Schut spoiled the pro debut of Mike O’Gorman, forcing the Fargo fighter to tap out early in the first round. Brian Kraemer of Cold Spring, Minn., won his pro debut in similar fashion, forcing Tyler Lane of Iowa to tap out in the second round.
Devon Green of Fort Dodge, Iowa, also earned a submission win, forcing Moorhead’s Zack Schumack to tap out at the 3:13 mark of the first round.
The quickest bout of the night was Shane Wessels’ 39 second TKO of Sam Jackson in a battle of Iowans.
Readers can reach Forum sports writer Kerry Collins at (701) 241-5548. Collins’ prep sports blog can be found at www.areavoices.com
