By Jeremiah Short

Special to Dispatch

Friday night was a special evening in Columbus, as boxing returned to the city again as part of a eight-fight card presented by 0-1 Productions and the Columbus Convention and Visitors' Bureau.



The show was held as part of a series of event to honor Columbus' Henry Armstrong, who was the world champion of three weight classes simultaneously back in the late 1930s.



Deontay Wilder, the only American to medal in boxing at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, was also on hand as a special guest. He signed autographs for fans and posed for pictures through out the course of the night.



The hometown fighters produced mixed results for the crowd, as Demetris “Big Worm” Nicholes won and Billy “Steel Bill Cunningham lost.



“Big Worm” was matched up against a familiar opponent: Demarcus “Bull” Milton. He fought Milton two months earlier in a mixed martial arts competition. The bout between the heavyweights did not last long, as Nicholes disposed of Milton 50 seconds into the first round.

“I'm glad I was able to get early win and get a good knockout for the crowd,” Nicholes said. “It was a big day for the city considering it was Henry Armstrong Day.”



The referee stopped the fight to a chorus of boos from the crowd.



“I wanted to put on bigger show for the crowd,” Nicholes said. “Anytime you get an early win that's great.”



Cunningham was not as lucky, losing in the third round to Tyrone Dowdy. The fight was action packed from the beginning, as Cunningham and his opponent were in attack mode. Cunningham eventually scored a knockdown in the second round when he caught Dowdy with a right cross.



Dowdy recovered to finish the round, and in the third round he caught Cunningham with a punch and knocked him out.

“I just got caught with a lucky punch,” Cunningham said. “I was trying to knock him out and go for it all and let my hand down would love a rematch, but I don't think he wants to do a rematch. I don't think he could take it again.”



Gundrick King beat Billy Outlaw in the 155-pound bout in the first fight of the night.



Aaron Norwood defeated Phillips Hammac in the second bout.



Anthony Doughty showed tremendous power, knocking out Earnest Parfet in the first round.



Johnny White knocked out Timothy Burton in the first round in heavyweight action.



Leon Dukes knocked out Heath Collett in the first round in the fifth bout of the night.



The last undercard fight featured Olympic trial fighter Keandrae “Speed Demon” Leatherwood, who knocked out Paul Frost in the first round.