slideshow

Normally, area boxing fans have just one event per year to attend.

The annual Coal Area Toughman each November.

But in recent months, the fledgling Black Eye Promotions out of Boone County has treated Loganites to a pair of boxing events.

The latest was “King of the Coal Fields II,” a two-day event, which took place on Friday and Saturday nights at Logan High School’s Willie Akers Arena.

Action got under way on Friday night as four professional bouts and five amateur fights dotted the card.

The pro main event, also the last fight of the night, pitted Warren “The Hitman” Browning of Dingess against Jason “The Mason” Pauley of Charleston, who has fought in Logan before as part of the Toughman card. Browning, entering the match with a 14-2 professional worksheet, including nine knockouts, had no trouble at all as he knocked out Pauley in the first round. For Pauley, it was his 12th pro fight of his career.

The best fight of the night was the seventh match — a back-and-forth battle between Austin “Speedy” Marcum of Dingess and Nathan Butcher of Huntington. For Marcum, it was his first-ever win in the professional ranks as he won in a four-round decision to even up his career record at 1-1. Marcum, a former Toughman and Rough and Rowdy champion, was 10-1 as an amateur fighter.

In one of the other two pro fights, Coy Witt of Richlands, Va., won in a second-round TKO at the 1:40 mark over Beckley’s Dustin Carroll.

The first professional bout of the night pitted Keith “No Holds” Barr of Beckley against boxing veteran Cullen Rogers of Akron, Ohio. Barr improved to 9-1 in his career with a four-round unanimous decision against Rogers, who a few years ago had previously had a pro bout in Logan on the Toughman card. Rogers has more than 40 pro fights under his belt.

There were also five amateur bouts on Friday night in Logan.

In the first, Nick Hunt of Cabin Creek won via TKO over Justin Lee Sparks of Gilbert.

In the second amateur fight of the evening, K.D. Tabor of Danville scored a TKO over Josh Stowers of Madison.

Huntington’s Don Pennington also scored a TKO in a win over Chapmanville’s Jason Hanes.

Chandler Blankenship also took a three-round decision over Roger Runion of Julian.

The last amateur fight of the night was a highly entertaining but brief grudge match between Jake Robinson, a former Chapmanville Regional and Scott High School football standout, and Ryan “The Rock” Price. Robinson, aka “The Punisher,” was disqualified in the first round by the referee for repeated rules infractions.

Robinson is known best for leading the 2010 Chapmanville Regional High School football team to the Class AA playoffs and for being in the hunt for the Kennedy Award, given to the top football player each year in the state. During the ‘10 season, Robinson scored a school record seven touchdowns and rushed for 408 yards in a 69-66 home win over the Poca Dots.

King of the Coal Fields II was scheduled to wrap up on Saturday night at Logan with a triple main event, featuring the pro matches of Daniel Hensley, Jordan Moore and Zach Kuhn. Moore, a Logan High School graduate, is 1-0 as a pro. Hensley is coming out of retirement and hasn’t had a pro match in 12 years.

The promoters began the “King of the Coal Fields” series back in March with KOTCF I at Logan.

A third event is reportedly in the works for September.