Bruce Boyington retained his New England Fights MMA pro lightweight crown Saturday night and stretched his winning streak to four fights.
Neither achievement came easily.
The reigning champion was taken to the limit by fellow Brewer resident Jon Lemke during their five-round title bout as the main event of the NEF 21 MMA-boxing show at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee in Lewiston before emerging with a split-decision victory in a fight billed as “The Battle for Bangor.”
Boyington (13-8) left the cage with injuries to both hands and a toe but won 48-47 on two of the three judges’ scorecards. The third judge had Lemke winning 48-47.
“Hat’s off to Lemke, he came to fight and gave me my toughest fight to date,” said Boyington in a Facebook post Sunday. “It’s no secret, the fight could have gone either way and that’s the way wars like that go.
“Win or lose, I’m honored to be in a fight like that and he should be, too.”
The 37-year-old Lemke, fighting for only the second time since 2014, had his chances throughout the fight. WesternMassMMA.com observers at cageside scored the bout 49-46 in his favor.
“I felt like I hit him with some good shots,” said Lemke (5-4) to the Lewiston Sun Journal. “Sometimes it goes your way and sometimes it doesn’t.”
The bout was reportedly the last for the 36-year-old Boyington under his current NEF multifight contract, but the product of Young’s MMA in Bangor did not rule out a rematch with Lemke, who trains with rival Team Irish MMA Fitness Academy in Brewer.
But he did say in his Facebook post that he plans to take an indefinite leave of absence until “I’m either healthy again or maybe that was it.”
Northeast junior welterweight champion Brandon “The Cannon” Berry of West Forks improved his record to 11-1 with a technical knockout of Tollison Lewis (2-1) in the pro boxing main event. The scheduled eight-round bout was stopped at 1:51 of Round 2.
Three inaugural NEF champions were crowned on the 16-fight amateur MMA portion of the card.
Bangor’s Ricky Dexter, in his second bid for a promotional title, scored a first-round technical knockout of previously unbeaten Caleb Farrington of Farmington to win the NEF 170-pound title.
Dexter (5-2) had lost by first-round armlock to Josh Harvey in a bid for the NEF amateur lightweight title in June 2015, but found more success in his move up to the welterweight ranks. He stopped Farrington (3-1) with a series of strikes at 2:20 of the opening round.
Ryan Glover (3-1) of Rumford won the promotion’s 205-pound amateur MMA belt with a second-round stoppage of Mike Williams (1-1), while Johnny Crafts (4-0) of Lisbon scored a third-round TKO of Henry Clark (4-1) to win the NEF amateur bantamweight championship.
NEF MMA will return to the cage on April 23, again at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee in Lewiston.
