Tahlequah fighter is tops

By Kenton Brooks
Phoenix Sports Writer

June 28, 2009 01:06 am

— Bryan Porritt held his breath when the ring announcer mistakenly announced his opponent had won the Heavyweight Division in the Toughman Contest at the Muskogee Civic Center on Saturday night.
“I was about to walk out of here,” the Tahlequah resident said, albeit a bit more disgusted than he expected to.
But the announcer quickly corrected himself and the casino security guard was the winner, taking the decision against Tulsa’s Michael Ottomonelli.
“I was proud he got it right,” Porritt said after being rewarded his $1,000 and Toughman champion jacket for winning the division. “(Montonelli) and I talked the whole time during the fight. We talked about how we thought it would come down to us.”
Porritt, nicknamed Huggy Bear, was the fan favorite during the three-round bout. He now looks to the future.
:”I’m going to talk to my trainers (Arlow Jumper and Tyrell Brown) and see what they think and we’ll go from there,” he said.
Porritt, a Sperry High School graduate, has plans for his money.
“I’m going to go out and celebrate and then pay my bills,” he said.
Meanwhile, Eric Wallace knows exactly what he’s going to do with the $1,000 that he won for taking the light heavyweight title.
“I’m going to spend it all with my friends as I’ve got just the one week left,” the Owasso native said.
Wallace, the youngest of the fighter in the contest at 18 years old, is heading to join the Marines Corps a week from today.
“I’ve never done anything like this but I love to fight,” Wallace, who graduated from high school in May, said. “I’ve done some street fighting and I lifted weights on my own to get ready for the Marines.
“I’m joining the Marines because of the tradition behind it.”
Among middleweights, David Myers of Independence, Kan., won the title against John Hulse of Longdale. after the fight was stopped in the second round when Hulse hurt his shoulder.
Myers receives $250 and the champion Toughman jacket and Hulse gets $100 and a plain jacket.
Myers didn’t mind making the four-hour trip to Muskogee for the Toughman.
“I called them up and they said they were having my division,” he said. “I wanted to try this. I’ve never done it before. Now that I’ve done it, I’m in love with it and I want to it again.”
Myers trained a whole two weeks for the competition.
“I punched the bag to get my cardiovascular going,” he said.

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