Tacoma, WA (March 24th, 2012) – Recently signed Halquist Productions’ fighter, Zahir Raheem fought for the first time in two years in Tacoma, WA in the Main Event of Battle at the Boat 91 at the Emerald Queen Casino. Raheem went up against a tough Santos Pakau (28-7-2, 11 KO’s) training out of the Round 3 Boxing Gym in Toppenish, WA.
The main event featuring Raheem (31-3-0, 18 KO’s) was scheduled for ten rounds, but the king only needed less than six minutes to get what he came for.
Raheem shook some rust off in the 1st round, getting a feel for the ring and getting to know his opponent. In the second round, Raheem turned up the aggressiveness and threw a flurry of powerful liver shots that had Pakau on watch. Shortly after, Raheem landed a hard right hook to Pakau’s temple that fazed him and left him fighting to stay alive. While trying to back up and get some space, Pakau was hit again with a left that dropped him to the canvas. Pakau was able to get back up, but Raheem wasted no time in continuing the pressure and dropped him for a second time. After getting up for the third time, Raheem threw one more hook that put Pakau through the ropes and ending the fight via TKO 2:20 into the second round.
“Zahir Raheem is back! The northwest fight fans liked Zahir and I couldn’t be happier with how he looked. We plan on getting Zahir back in the ring on June 1st in Tacoma, WA to once again headline Battle at the Boat 92,” said promoter, Brian Halquist, after watching the newly signed boxer out of Atlanta dominate in his comeback fight.
In the Semi-Main Event, Virgil Green (5-1) and Dave Petryk (3-3-1) battled it out to the end for the scheduled six round bout. Petryk showed a good abilty to land clean shots, while the lean Green was relentless throughout the fight, taking big shots and firing right back, showing no signs of being rattled. At the end of the fourth round it looked like a knockout was coming as Green and Petryk were in a war exchanging big shots and not slowing down a bit. At the end of six rounds, the fight went to the judge’s scorecards where one scored it a draw, and the other scored slightly in favor of Petryk, improving his record to 5-2 with a majority decision victory.
The undercard was filled with local talent that provided the fans in attendance a show to remember. Fan favorite, Zach Cooper pleased his fans in attendance with another KO victory, defeating Josh Solis in the 3rd round. Antonio Neal, Kelvin Medley, and Ricardo Maldonado all earned victories in their professional debuts. Neal started the show off fast defeating Robert Yager landing a knockout 1:28 into the 1st round. Medley had a close four round fight defeating Julian Dutkel via majority decision. Maldonado started his boxing career off fast with a unanimous decision victory over Dex Montenegro.
Halquist Productions’ next event, CageSport XXIV is scheduled for April 27th. Fans are encouraged to buy tickets early due to the large growth and demand of CageSport. Battle at the Boat 92 is scheduled for June 1st where fans can expect to see Zahir Raheem take on an opponent soon to be named in his journey to become a world champion!
