Bruce Boyington truly does adhere to the moniker “mixed martial artist.”
The 38-year-old fighter operates a taekwondo school in Bangor, is a former regional MMA champion who has competed in such venues as Madison Square Garden in New York City and Penza, Russia, and he also dabbles in boxing.
Boyington will shift his focus from the cage to the ring for the third time in his professional career on Saturday, April 28, when he faces “Irish” Tommy O’Connell of Haverhill, Massachusetts, in a four-round welterweight clash as part of a boxing card set for the Castleton Banquet and Conference Center in Windham, New Hampshire.
Boyington, who is 15-11 in MMA after a third-round submission victory over Taylor Trahan in the main event of New England Fights’ NEF 32 card in Lewiston on Feb. 3, is 1-0 with one no contest in the boxing ring.
The U.S. Marine Corps veteran, who trains out of Young’s MMA in Bangor, made his boxing debut with a four-round decision win over Nate Charles in 2014. He returned to the ring last June against former New England middleweight champion Russell Lamour Jr. of Portland in a fight that ended in a no contest due to an accidental head butt that forced a stoppage of the bout in the second round.
“Bruce Boyington is as tough as they come and an incredible athlete on top of that. I’ve never known him to say no to a fight or say no to a challenge,” said Peter Czymbor of Boston Boxing Promotions, which is staging the April 28 show.
O’Connell, a former basketball standout at North Andover (Massachusetts) High School and a U.S. Coast Guard veteran, made his pro debut for Boston Boxing Promotions in January with a unanimous-decision victory over New York’s Bryan Abraham after going 12-12 in the amateur ranks.
“From the video I’ve seen, O’Connell comes to fight and comes to engage,” said Boyington. “That’s exactly what I like.”
Sanders drops welterweight bout
Another Young’s MMA fighter, “The” Ryan Sanders, recently returned to the cage after a nearly eight-month hiatus and lost a hard-fought decision to hometown favorite Jon Manley in the main event of AMMO Fight League 4, a mixed martial arts show held at the Big E in West Springfield, Massachusetts.
Sanders moved up from the 155-pound lightweight division to challenge Manley, one of the region’s top-ranked welterweight (170-pound) competitors, and fought competitively but ultimately had his five-fight winning streak halted.
“It was a battle and I came up short,” Sanders said in a Facebook post after the bout. “I’m disappointed in the outcome and with my performance because I know I am better than what I showed. I also hold myself to a higher standard and I know I can do better.”
Sanders now is 8-2 in his last 10 fights and 15-9 overall. Manley, from Adams, Massachusetts, is 11-4.
“I made a bad decision to move up a weight class (but) a little lightweight gave a top-five welterweight hell for 15 minutes,” said Sanders. “Where do I go from here? I will go back down to lightweight where I belong and I will start a new win streak and get to the next level.”
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