Anyone who argues that the heavyweight division in boxing is the glamour group of the sport can decide for themselves after watching the Naval Academy’s Brigade Boxing Championships.

Todd Alexander highlighted the title card held last night in front of a raucous crowd at Halsey Field Hosue when he immediately went after his 156-pound opponent Grant Flynn and came away with his third staright brigade boxing title. The bout ended midway through the first round with Flynn grimacing in pain after a second standing eight count.

In the 165-pound contest that followed, J.J. Puga, another defending champion who had finished second and third in the last two national championships, chased a retreating Josue Diaz around the ring. He repeatedly landed short, hard, scoring punches to win the bout. There were other action-packed bouts that saw Cy Mellet win at 172 pounds and defending Brigade Boxing and national champion Jon Bradley pummel Jarrod Donaldson at 180 pounds. That bout was stopped after Donaldson’s nose was broken.

And the crowd cheered as Jon Ohman, still another defending champion, came within seconds of having his 190-pound bout with Jim Masterson stopped after the latter had absorbed a series of combinations, staggered and appeared to be on his last legs when the bell sounded. All of that action came out as secondary to that of the heavyweight championship bout won by former Navy basketball player Kico Eaton over Derrick McCoy. The crowd went wild when McCoy hurt Eaton with a first round blow to the face then rushed his taller opponent hoping to end the contest with one more flurry of punches. But Eaton escaped. He regained his composure and held McCoy at bay while landing several solid scoring shots. The crowd exploded with excitement when Eaton was announced as the winner. The noise and the bedlam reached another plateau when Eaton was named winner of the Spike Webb Outstanding Boxer Award.

The latter announcement even took Eaton by surprise. “I couldn’t imagine anything like this in my wildest dreams,” Eaton said. “This is my first year of boxing aside from having the classes in my plebe year. I’ve worked real hard but this is just amazing to me. This is so different from basketball where you have the team concept; you have the support of your teammates and you all work together. But I felt really alone up there in the ring,” Eaton said. “This was my one night to shine,” said the thrilled Eaton, who lost a decision to McCoy in the intramural phase of the boxing program.

Jason Lavarias started off the evening with an upset of 125-pound opponent Will Bonifant, who had finished third in the 1993 nationals. The first match left both bloodied by smiling because they knew they put on a good show.

John Shepard used a series of roundhouse punches to get the nod in a decision at 132-pounds, defeating Blair Stevenson.

The 139-pound bout started slowly but built up as Matt Andrews delivered a series of carefully aimed blows to the head of Sebastian Pacheco. The late bevy of punches led to Andrews’ split decision victory.

Mike Francis, who came to Navy after starting college and boxing at Penn State, had beaten Navy’sBrigade Boxing champion Liam Hulin in the semi finals of the national tournament last year. Last night, Francis pounded Hulin with solid shots that would have put most opponents to the canvas. Hulin, however, responded to each blow with his own flurry. But that just wasn’t enough to get the decision.

All of the champions received plaques honoring the memory of Jack C. Renard, who was a member of the Naval Academy’s 1928 intercollegiate national championship team.