It wasn’t a good night for the three hometown favorites in the Naval Academy’s Brigade Boxing championships, but it was an outstanding evening for Mids Clint Chlebowski and Marvin Reed. Each of the local products, Mike Huber from South River High, Dan Holsberg of Broadneck High and Tom Shanley of St. Mary’s High lost decisions.

Reed and Chlebowski, however, each won their third Brigade Championship as Classmates and townies alike cheered wildly throughout the 11 fight card. Chlebowski, the winner of the 172 # championship, was named the recipient of the coveted Spike Webb Trophy as the outstanding boxer of the tournament. Reed, who has his sights set on a National championship after coming close twice before, made short work of his 165 # opponent Chris Browning. The referee stopped the fight midway through the first round after Browning went to the canvas and took his third eight count of the round.

Huber was the first of the home grown products to get into the ring and he ran into a plebe buzzsaw named Roy Pickett from Frankfurt, KY. While Huber tried to use his boxing skills, Pickett relentlessly bored in, throwing an endless string of punches that count the most in amateur scoring system. The standing room only crowd was in a frenzy throughout the three action-packed rounds.

Holsberg was beaten in another crowd-pleasing bout that showed more classic style. The defending 156 # champion stayed toe-to-toe with the Tulsa, OK senior, Mike Schoffman throughout the bout.

Shanley started out like a house afire, but seemed to burn himself out as Tom Scheer, a sophomore from Detroit, came on strong in the last two rounds. Scheer was given a 4-1 decision over Shanley. Although he wanted to win in the worst way, Shanley was able to laugh outwardly after his bout. “I gave it a good shot,” the senior said.

Reed, who won the 165 # title as a sophomore and the 172 # crown last year, said he watched the decisions of the judges in the bouts before his and didn’t want to take a chance with their scoring. “The judges decisions seemed to be going either way, and I didn’t want to leave it up to them.” Reed said, “I went out and focused on combination, combination, and combination. I went straight at him to try and get it over before it went to the judges.”

For Chlebowski, who won titles as a frshman and sophomore, the win and the award are the climax of a comeback that kept him out of boxing last year. “Clint got knocked down at the end of his sophomore year, but still went to regionals,” Navy boxing Coach Jim McNally said. “Then he went down again early last year, so we made the decision to hold him out.” “He wanted to fight this year so we made him get a complete medical clearance, which he did, but we told him if he went down, that would be the end of his boxing. He didn’t go down.” Chlebowski, from Bridgeport, CT, recorded a unanimous decision over Troy Turner, a junior from Cleveland, OH. He displayed the skills he had in his first two years of boxing at Navy to get the decision. “Clint deserves the Spike Webb Award. He fought very well all the way through the tournament.” McNally said.

Chad Burke, a sophomore from Detroit, started the evening with a 4-1 decision over Kirk Loftus, a junior from Kelso, Wash., in a battle of lighting-quick 119-pounders. In a rematch of last summer’s 125 pound Plebe Smoker bout, Dallas’ Eric Stenzel captured the 4-1 decision over Ocean City’s Don Savage. The matter was the winner of their earlier bout. The 132 # contest pitted a pair of former Brigade Boxing champions. Craig Rogerson, senior from Bangor, Me., was last years 125-pound champ, while Shane Voudren, a sophomore from Turners Falls, Mass., was the 132-pound titlist. Voudren got a 3-2 decision in the slugfest.

In the 147-pound bout, sophomore Matt Watt from Warren, Pa., pounded out a 3-2 decision over senior Matt Sexton of Newberry, S.C. Dirk Cooper, a lanky 180-pound senior from Tulsa, Okla., took that weight class title with a decision over Scottsdale, Ariz. Junior Andy Bartle. And in the 190-pound bout Bill Jewett, a junior from West Palm Beach, FL. earned the victory as Alexandria, VA senior Gerald McMurray retired from the competition in the third round.

“This was an outstanding tournament,” McNally said. “There were a lot of close decisions; some I guess that could have gone the other way. But it was good boxing and I’m very pleased the way it went off.”