Bruce “Pretty Boy” Boyington, the Old Town product who won two regional mixed martial arts championships in 2014, will make his 2015 debut in the main event of NEF XVII scheduled for April 11 at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee in Lewiston.
Boyington, 10-7 and the winner of five of his last six fights, will defend his New England Fights lightweight crown against Windham native Jamie Harrison (5-1) in a five-round battle.
Boyington, who fights out of Young’s MMA in Bangor, is coming off two straight victories over Auburn’s Jesse Erickson, last September for the vacant NEF crown and a second stoppage of “The Viking” in their November rematch at NEF XV, also in Lewiston.
“I’m feeling on top of the world,” said Boyington in a press release. “The break has served its purpose, and although I feel I have strengths such as a well-rounded MMA game, more professional fights, more experience with top-level opponents and comfort in this arena, I know that it’s all irrelevant because the high that I’m on right now and the eagerness to get in the cage and have fun, along with a strict conviction with myself not to lose and to entertain the crowd, makes me more confident than ever to get the job done.”
Harrison wrestled at Windham High School and the University of Southern Maine before relocating to Orange Park, Florida, where he coaches and trains.
Harrison went 4-0 on NEF cards in 2012, then returned last November with a first-round submission victory over Tollison Lewis at NEF XV to set up his title opportunity.
“He is tough and presents challenges, and I’ve had my sights on him for a long time, studying him and knowing we would cross paths eventually,” said Boyington. “Lucky for me, I’m a hell of a wrestler. I see what’s coming.”
Big night for Young’s
The state’s first card of the new year represented a breakout night for Young’s MMA of Bangor.
All eight of Young’s amateur combatants who were part of NEF XVI last Saturday in Lewiston earned victories, six by stoppages, beginning with Josh Harvey’s first-round TKO of Caleb Hall in a featherweight match of former Maine high school wrestling standouts.
Jimmy Jackson, Rob Kiah, Fred Lear, Mike Peitersen and Aaron Lacey also didn’t need to go the three-round distance to secure their victories, while Bill Leahy and Carl Langston won by unanimous decision.
The only Young’s MMA-connected fighter not to win his bout during the show was Ray “All Business” Wood, who lost via submission to WEC and Bellator veteran Anthony “Cheesesteak” Morrison in the fifth and final round of their NEF featherweight championship bout.
“It would have been better if Ray had won, but 8-1 is unheard of,” said Young’s MMA co-owner and trainer Ernie Fitch. “And we don’t take easy fights. There were a lot of fights that we were looking at on paper that could go either way, but the guys performed unbelievably.”
Boetsch remains in UFC top 15
Despite a second-round loss to Brazilian Thales Leites at UFC 183 in late January in Las Vegas, Nevada, Lincolnville native Tim “The Barbarian” Boetsch remains ranked among the promotion’s top 15 middleweight contenders.
The former four-time state wrestling champion from Camden-Rockport High School in Rockport dropped just one spot, from 13th to 14th, after an exciting bout with Thales that earned both combatants a $50,000 Fight of the Night bonus. Leites also earned an additional $50,000 Performance of the Night bonus.
Boetsch used his heavy-handed striking game to win the first round with a late knockdown and continued to pound Leites early in the second round before Leites took the battle to the mat and ended the fight with an arm triangle submission at 3:45 of the period.
The 34-year-old Boetsch (18-8), who trains out of Marcus Davis’ Team Irish MMA Fitness Academy in Brewer, has fought ranked fighters in each of his last eight bouts spanning three years.
He’s scored wins over Yushin Okami, Hector Lombard, C.B. Dollaway and Brad Tavares during that time frame while suffering losses to Leites, Luke Rockhold, Mark Munoz and Costas Philippou.
All of those fighters remain ranked except Okami, who was rated fifth in the division when Boetsch beat him with a come-from-behind, third-round stoppage in Tokyo. Okami was released by the UFC last year.
Leites, 25-4 after scoring his eighth straight win overall and fifth since returning to the UFC in August 2013, moved up from 11th to 10th in the UFC middleweight rankings after his win over Boetsch.
The return of Raio
Popular lightweight John “First Class” Raio of Topsham will come out of retirement at NEF XVII to face Derek “Shatterproof” Shorey of Dover-Foxcroft for the third time.
Raio retired last September after losing to Shorey by a first-round submission. But with a new job that provides him more time to spend with his family, the former postal worker is looking forward to his rubber match with Shorey to be fought at a catchweight of 150 pounds.
“I was not happy with the way my last fight ended, and when the opportunity to compete against Derek Shorey again presented itself, I couldn’t turn it down,” said Raio, who defeated Shorey in 2012 when both were amateurs.
Shorey, who recently started training at Young’s MMA, said he hopes to have an advantage when he fights Raio at 150, compared to the 145-pound featherweight limit used for their earlier bouts.
“I’m excited to fight John again,” said Shorey. “There’s almost no weight to cut for a fight at 150, so I’ll be fighting him at full strength, and ultimately as the best version of myself that I’ve ever known. I’m very confident that I will be in the best shape of my life.
“John is a really good wrestler and a lot stronger than me, but no one has ever seen what I know I’m capable of, and I plan to change that,” he added.
