The time of year and the weather outside was actually best suited for baseball and softball.
Inside the Beckley-Raleigh County Convention Center, however, it was fight night.
Friday night the 41st annual Southern West Virginia Budweiser “Original” Toughman Contest made its return to Beckley after the 2020 edition was cancelled due to Covid restrictions.
Although the surroundings seemed strange, the action in the ring was still just as raucous as before with a card full of first-time fighters and some former champions.
The first night of the event consisted of 22 bouts and 13 ended by either knockout or technical knockout.
One of the TKOs came from the fists of former Woodrow Wilson track standout, Chris Barbera.
Fighting in his first ever amateur fight, Barbera made quick work of Logan “The Hammer” Foley.
“That was fun. I love performing in front of a crowd,” Barbera said. “It feels good to be back doing that since it’s been over a year since I have done something competitive. Feels good to be out here and showcasing my skills.”
Aggressive from the opening bell, Barbera blistered Foley with a nasty straight right for a standing 8-count early in the opening round.
Before the bell could sound to end round one, Barbera had nailed his opponent with a barrage of wicked combinations resulting in a second 8-count.
Foley’s doom came early in the second round when Barbera bloodied him and forced the referee to stop the bout with a solid right hook.
“When you get in there, your subconscious kinda takes over and you have to trust the training,” Barbera said of his win. “You have to train for months to get the skills to transfer over. The jab I had tonight, I have worked on that a thousand times. I just took the same approach that I did for running and trained really hard.”
Fighting in the middleweight division, Barbera’s road to the championship Saturday night will not be an easy one.
Of the eight middleweight bouts, five ended in TKOs and two by unanimous decisions.
Fayetteville’s Sammy Pullens had one of the unanimous decisions and looked impressive in all three rounds, battering Preston Sorrell.
Sophia’s Johnnie “Jawbreaker” Lloyd also had a solid opening bout in the middleweight division with a knockout of Eric Promenchenkel.
Beckley’s Shawn “The Rattlesnake ” Blevins won the lightweight title in the last Beckley event back in 2019.
Returning to defend his title, Blevins opened up like a house of fire against Joshua “The All-American” Dasher, earning an impressive first-round TKO.
“I came in with a lot of confidence, but I knew there would be some tough fights. I just wanted to give him a helluva fight,” Blevins said. “I should have been much calmer, but with a little ring rust, I got really excited. I will be more calm tomorrow and be more of a boxer.”
Another former champion was Devon “The Animal” Steele who competed in the welterweight division.
Steele won the 2014 Toughman event in Beckley as a lightweight and the 2015 Rough n’ Rowdy Brawl in Summersville.
A change in the Toughman rules a couple of year’s back that allowed competitors to win as many as three titles, paved the way for Steele to return.
However, Steele had a bigger force driving him to return than just becoming a three-time champ.
“I had a couple of friends that were trying to talk me into it. Then Phillip Dickerson passed away a couple a months ago,” Steele explained. “He always wanted to train with me. I just felt like I had one more in me and I had to do it for him.”
Stepping into the ring amidst incredible crowd support, Steele made quick work of James Copeland in a first-round TKO.
“We train pretty hard, it’s foot on the gas, going 100 percent all the time,” Steele said laughing. “The Hico Psychos get a little wild. Without them I probably wouldn’t have even done this.”
The championship bouts will take place Saturday starting at 7 p.m.
Friday’s results
Men’s Division
Heavyweight
Nathan Glen d. James Toler, split decision
Eli Kerr d. Williams Jamrose, TKO
Aaron Hairston d. Derek Donovan, TKO
Cruiserweight
Sean Carter d. Wesley Carter, split decision
Brandon Bigler d. Sedrice Foster, TKO
Joe Hunt d. Logan Conner, TKO
Marcus McGuire, Bye
Middleweight
Zachary Mills d. Jayson Brown, TKO
Brett Bumar d. Jonah Bender, TKO
Quentin Whitmer d. Dustin Morgan, split decision
Johnnie Lloyd d. Eric Promenchenkel, KO
Chris Barbera d. Logan Foley, TKO
Trae Stout d. Brandon Phillips, unanimous decision
Sammy Pullens d. Preston Sorrell, unanimous decision
Joe Hunt d. Logan Connor, TKO
Welterweight
Lance Tate d. Michael Bennett, unanimous decision
Jade Batross d. Trey Ackison, TKO
Trevore Bell d. Aaron Byrd, TKO
River Simms d. Kenny Meadows, unanimous decision
Devon Steele d. James Copeland, TKO
Dennis Adkins d. Donte Webster, split decision
Lightweight
George Brown d. Kevin Hicks, split decision
Shawn Blevins. D. Joshua Dasher, TKO
Zach Taylor, Bye