By Stephen ‘Darkness’ Johnson

Last night the ‘2015 St. Paddy’s Day Punch Out’, DAC (Denver Athletic Club) and Poor Boys Boxing (Jim ‘Smitty’ Smith) annual fundraiser benefiting Mile High Squash (Eric Eiteljorg, 720-323-3608 or eric@milehighsquash.org), once again put on a fantastic show, the boxing was another deal all together, with former Denver City Councilman Ed Tomas leading the way as Master of Ceremonies.

The entertainment portion of the night began with a featherweight bout where David Escamilla (7-0, 5 KO’s) and Martin Quezada (4-9, 3 KO’s) got things off to a bang with intense fight action from the opening bell of round one having fans on their feet.

Following a great exchange early in round two, Escamilla caught Quezada with a perfect right hook for the one punch KO at 1:06 of the second, this leading to the undefeated David Escamilla receiving the Larry Martinez, ‘Fighter of the Night Award’.

There is absolutely no doubt that David Escamilla is one of Colorado’s most talented, young professional boxing stars and boxing under the guidance of Delgado Boxing (Henry Delgado) this youngster is ‘One to Watch’.

Bout #2: Junior middleweight Carlos Chaparro-Chavez stops Juan Medina (1-2) at 2:19 of round 1.

Bout #3: Lightweight Tommy Atencio (7-8-1, 4 KO’s) stops Paul Whiteface (0-2-1) at 2:36 of round 2.

Bout #4: Heavyweight Hugo Arceo (5-1, 4 KO’s) stops John Montgomery (2-2, 1 KO) (Montgomery a light heavyweight who stepped up to the plate as a late replacement) Montgomery down three times, at 2:05 round 1.

Bout #5: Junior middleweight Daniel Calzada (11-13-2, 2 KO’s) won a unanimous decision (40-35, 39-36 and 38-37) over a game Julio Lanzas (8-21-6, 1 KO), ending the evening.

Corporate sponsors for this years’ event were: Diamond Cabaret, Matthew Wimmer, DMD, and the Denver Petroleum Club.

Boxing night corporate tables: Ed Thomas, Larry Martinez Family, Denver Sheriff FOP-Lodge #27, Egan Printing, Cherry Creek Mortgage Co., The Sawaya Law Firm, Centric Elevator, A to Z Roofing, Hercules Industries and Canopy Airport Parking.

The evening began with a delicious romaine and mixed field greens with roasted beets, goat cheese, bacon crumbles, tomatoes, shredded carrots, shredded cucumbers and balsamic vinaigrette salad.

The mouth watering entree of herb crusted flat iron oscar and shrimp en chemise with sautéed green beans and baby carrots, mashed potato castle with baby red and yams, forced you to loosen your belt a notch.

If you had any room left, a triple chocolate mousse tart with raspberry sauce garnished with fresh berries, completed an awesome meal.

LIVE auctioned items offered between each of the 5 professional boxing matches (benefitting Mile High Squash) had the hundreds of DAC supporters in attendance not bashful in opening their wallets.

Gale Sayers autographed jersey, Joe Frazier autographed photo, Ernie Shavers vs Muhammad Ali autographed fight poster, Yogi Berra (with Babe Ruth) autographed photo, Jake LaMotta autographed photo, Bobby Hull and Tony Esposito autographed photo, 1960 New York Mets autographed photo and a Chauncey Billups autographed photo, each auctioned photo beautifully framed. Ending the LIVE auction was a round of golf at Meridian Golf Club for four, cart included.

Thanks to Bill Egan (Egan Printing) and the Egan Family along with Katie Walters (Denver Athletic Club Marketing and Event Coordinator) for another great evening, their continued support of the underprivileged youth in our Denver community something special.