by (Photo Courtesy of Minnesota Fight News and MinnesotaBoxing.com)
Hinckley, Minnesota , January 28, 2020– Minnesota’s longest running professional Boxing series, Grand Casino Friday Night Fights concluded its most recent event on Friday, January 17, 2020. The news of the impending blizzard was not enough to keep the capacity crowd of over 2000 people from attending Friday’s event.
The Main Event featured Minnesota crowd favorite, Phil “The Drill” Williams drop a hard fought decision to Duluth’s Al “The Hattian Temptation” Sands. Afterwards, Williams gave a heart felt speech and announced his retirement from Boxing. He added that he will still be very active with kids at his home gym.
However, a vast majority of the fans where present to see Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe Member and Hinckley High School Alum, Matt Hatfield’s professional boxing debut. Matt and his younger brother Cayman have made a name for themselves as mixed martial arts combatants having competed in local and national events. After the construction of the Mille Lacs Band’s Meshakwad Community Center, which boasts a 3500 square foot state-of-the-art boxing gym, Matt decided to start training exclusively for Boxing.
“The Facilities that we (Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe) have are second to none. With the type of investment our Band has made into our community, I wanted give them a great return on investment. That’s what drives me. The future, our kids…” said Hatfield.
Matt works for the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe – Department of Natural Resources in the Aazhoomog community on the Mille Lacs Reservation. A caring father and spouse with 4 children Matt is a great example of someone living a positive life.
“Matt trains with community. He literally comes to work out with members of our community. It’s not everyday you see you a professional athlete training alongside 8 year old boys and 60 year old women. Of course, our private work outs are much more intense. You can certainly see why the community supports him.” Said Ryan O’brien – Meshakwad Boxing Coach
On this cold, snowy night Hatfield lit up the undercard and whipped the crowd into a frenzy as he made easy work of fellow debut fighter Heavyweight Tyler Prokop. Hatfield showcased his devastating power as he dropped Prokop several times ending with a soul crushing knockout at 1:55 in the second of four scheduled rounds.
Matt Hatfield joins Minneapolis’ Van “The Native Warrior” Goodman as the second Professional Heavyweight Boxer to come out of the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe Reservation.
Grand Casino Hinckley’s next boxing event will feature ShoBox live on the Showtime Network on March 13, 2020.
If you would like more information about this topic, please contact Matt Roberson at 405-623-4191 or email at Matt.roberson@millelacsband.com.
Yay! Alright Matt! Way to show yourself! Proud of you, man!