Nobody likes a tie.
Ask Bud Selig, the much-maligned Major League Baseball commissioner, who declared the 2002 All-Star game a tie after 11 innings because each side ran out of players.
Ask any South Holt alum from the mid-1990s, whose 8-man football team played to a tie twice in the State Championship; once against South Nodaway, and once against North Andrew.
Ask any American sports fan who still doesn’t “get” soccer, partly because of the ever-present tie.
Finally, ask Rob Calloway or Max Alexander, who poured blood, sweat and pain into 12 rounds of boxing late Saturday night at Civic Arena, only to see their hard work washed away by, you guessed it, a tie.
Calloway, who is staring down the barrel of his 40th year, wanted only one thing from Saturday night’s fight.
“Maybe they’ll give me a world title fight after a draw,” he said. But there also was a tinge of doubt in his voice.
When asked if he expected Alexander to last 12 rounds, Calloway flatly replied, “No. That’s why I started loading up and trying to get him out of there.”
Alexander definitely stood his ground. At times, the fighter seemed unbothered by Calloway’s fists, and he appeared cocky. A sneer graced Alexander’s face for the better part of eight rounds, and when Calloway would land a blow to his head, he’d shake that same head back and forth as if to say he was unphased Calloway’s offerings.
Calloway was all business. After it became clear that Alexander wouldn’t go easy, Calloway relied more upon finesse than sheer punching power.
In the end, Calloway and his corner relied on the hopeful strategy of winning more rounds than Alexander. The judges, who each apparently saw a different fight, had other ideas.
Afterward, Calloway was clear about what was next.
“If I don’t get my world title fight by the time I’m 40, I’m done.”
In other late Saturday night action, Damon Antoine (8-21-1) of Akron, Ohio beat Travis Hartman (9-9-1) of Osborn, Mo. in a TKO.
Wendel Heley (2-0-0) of Kansas City beat dustin Huitt-Johnson (2-1) of St. Joseph in a TKO.
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