Page 27 - French and Electric Blue - Winter 2017-2018

Patrolman Rich Allen from the Kingston Police effort, his experience, and ability will determine
Dept. was then up against the Garda’s Timmy the outcome, as long as he or she has been evenly
Lehane in the 145 lb. division. Yes, I did say 145 matched. Tino could not have had a more evenly-
lbs. Patrolman Allen has had some experience and matched fighter than Mass Correctional Officer
it was needed for this fight against Lehane, who Travis Brodeur. Both fighters had weighed in at
over 245 lbs. for their first fight.

The first round proved to be a headhunting
experience. If any of those bad-intentioned
punches had landed for either fighter, we would
have had to send them with the EMTs who were
standing by. Through the 2nd round, in my

had won a novice national tournament in Ireland
back a few years. Allen made this a war but used
his skills and defense to secure a win for the home
team against a national champion. To the winner
circle, in a very entertaining fight, walked Allen.

opinion, Degisi had drawn the short straw. It
seemed that he was trying to land the big punch
and in doing so was getting beat to the punch and
taking too much heavyweight punishment. In the
3rd round, however, the young Trooper turned
it all around during a rather heated exchange
that left both fighters exhausted. Tino landed a
punch that ended the exchange, the debate, and
any doubt. This one punch crumpled Brodeur up
against the ropes and was immediately stopped
and in his debut, Degisi leapt to victory.

Patrolman Rich Allen (L) and Ireland Guarda’s The Denver Fire Department then sent
Timmy Lehane Firefighter Tony St. Germain against the Garda’s
Mark Garrant in the 172lb division. Both fighters
Trooper Tino Degisi, who was making
his MSP boxing debut, had me guessing at times,
and concerned at other times. The biggest issue
I have is matchmaking with opponents that we
have never competed against. I never got to see
Tino spar or workout and relied on other fighters
and my conversations with Tino to get this match
done. It is the team’s goal to insist with other
teams that we engage with fair fights, so that
each fighter heading into the fight knows that his

F r en c h·a n d·E le c t r ic·B l ue·W in t er·2017/2018·p a g e·27