Fairfax native Jimmy Lange upset by Tony Jeter in ten rounds at Patriot Center

Tony 'Mo Better' Jeter lands a punch on Jimmy Lange in Saturday night's main event fight at the Patriot Center (Photo courtesy of Mike Greenhill)

On the eve of Hurricane Sandy, a hurricane of upsets and knockouts swept through the Patriot Center as professional boxing returned to the venue. The show leading up to the main event was not a letdown, as the Beltway Brawl was. The night that would be capped off with Jimmy Lange (38-5-2 25 KO’s) taking on Tony “Mo’ Better” Jeter (15-3-1 10 KO’s) included a streak of three straight first-round knock outs.

The first knockout came courtesy of super middleweight Antoine “Action” Douglas over Valdez Eason (0-7), proving that Douglas was not playing it safe in his professional boxing debut. The fight following Douglas’s victory saw another first-round knockout, this time by way of welterweight David Huffman (2-8 1 KO’s) over Joseph Rector (1-1 1 KO). Another super middleweight rookie and top prospect Jerry “The King’s Son” Odom knocked out Darryl Fields (5-12 4 KO’s) just one minute into the bout.

The Co-Main Event featured “Lightning” Harry Joe Yorgey (25-1-1, 12 KO’s) fighting an injured right shoulder to attempt a comeback against a young Zain “Tiger” Shah (5-1, 3 KO’s) in a middleweight bout. Yorgey, coming out of Bridgeport, Pa., came back with a vengeance. After a couple questionable protests from Shah, Yorgey made his statement by quickly knocking out Shah at the 2:48 mark of the first round.

The Beltway Brawl pinned Lange, hailing from Falls Church, Va., against Jeter, representing Stevensville, Md., in what was the main event for the night. After the fighting Jeter had displayed, it was no surprise he handed Lange his first loss in over two years in a split decision (91-94, 94-91, 93-92).

Jeter came out swinging from the start to open the bout against Lange. Continuously backing Lange up against the ropes, while connecting on several uppercuts and jab combinations, Jeter took the first round decisively. The second round was Jeter’s to lose. This time Lange retaliated after being backed down again and knocked Jeter down at one point.

“He just caught me,” Jeter said after the fight, “the thing is, I got up.”

And got up he did as he jumped all over Lange after the knockdown until the referee docked Jeter a point for a blow below the belt. This gave Lange the only clearly won round out of the ten. The third round had no arguments that Jeter bested Lange on multiple landed combinations of uppercuts and hooks. The next two rounds could have gone either way, as Jeter backed Lange up against the ropes once again; this time Lange would fight off and land jabs of his own. Jeter was once again warned for low blows, but never was deducted points.

Jeter then came out for the sixth round by loudly growling at Lange in the ring.

“He hit me,” said Jeter, “I said, ‘Good shot,’” as he viciously smiled at Lange from across the ring, who at this point was clearly beaten up, with blood dripping from an open cut above his temple.

Lange was once again easily overwhelmed heading into the seventh round, knowing that he needed to make a statement in the last few rounds. Jeter was not having any of Lange’s aggressiveness, connecting on multiple combinations and drawing blood out of Lange’s head off of a right hook. Jeter just proved to be too powerful, but also maybe too powerful for his own good. In the eighth round, the judge again deducted a point from Jeter for another low blow. Jeter, knowing that he could only kill himself with deductions, did not slow up. He continued to beat and back down Lange in the ninth round. Jeter went into the final round looking for the kill—you could see the fury in his eyes, as he continued to beat a bloodied and swollen Lange to a pulp.

Jeter’s coach said after the fight, “Prepare to fight, and fight to win.”

That mantra is exactly what Jeter displayed all night. If Jeter had not had so many deductions on his card, he could have won in a landslide, but because of the number of low blows and a head-butt, the Lange family questioned the score.

“I’m not no rocket scientist, but I guess I can’t add points either,” said Johnny Lange, Jimmy’s father and coach after Jimmy declined to attend the press conference. When asked who he is going to fight next, “Mo’ Better” Jeter said, “I just want to chill for a while, then I’ll think about boxing.”

Could this be the end of Lange’s long and storied career? Fans at the Patriot Center sure hope not, cheering for a rematch after the decision. One thing is for certain, Jeter is looking forward to advancing his career after a monumental victory.