The Red Deer Boxing Club held their annual Rumble In Red Deer last Friday night at Westerner Park where boxers from across Alberta gathered.

The annual event is the Club’s biggest fundraiser of the year, with this year’s funds going towards the opening of their new location and to help their members with equipment and travel costs.

The Fighter of the Night title went to local boxer Louie Cudillo for his win against Blake McPhee out of Sweet Science in Fort McMurray. Although McPhee is several years Cudillo’s senior, Cudillo secured a strong win via split decision by the judges.

Other notable fights of the evening included that of former 1984 Canadian Olympian boxer Rick Duff who came out of retirement to take on Calgary’s Dale Belcher. Belcher fought his first boxing match in the Rumble In Red Deer ring six years ago and was eager to mark a win on the scorecard.

Belcher stated in an interview prior to the match how he and Duff had attempted to arrange a fight in the past but the opportunity had never worked itself out so he was excited for the chance to get in the ring with the former Olympian.

Unfortunately eagerness was not enough for Belcher despite coming out of two fresh wins in Miami over the weekend, as Duff took home the belt via a split decision by the judges after three rounds of back and forth action.

Louie wasn’t the only Cudillo to take the ring Friday night as his twin brother Lester, the younger of the Filipino-Canadian twins, took on Morwat Sirkhan out of the Calgary Boxing Club.

Lester took the win against Sirkhan via split decision by the judges .

Other bouts from Red Deer boxers during the event included Brian Samuels of the Red Deer and District Boxing Club who lost against Edmonton’s James Jung, Dave Polutnik out of Red Deer who lost against Calgary’s Ryan Broadhea and Brett Salomans of Red Deer who lost against Calgary’s Shaiq Mohammed.

jswan@reddeerexpress.com