Melson Battles to Draw; Frustrated with Decision and Performance

New York, NY (October 24, 2012) – Although he’ll go down in history as a member of the first fight ever at the Barclays Center in his native Brooklyn, NY, Captain Boyd “Rainmaker” Melson left the ring last Saturday night a frustrated fighter.

“I won this fight at worst 4 rounds to 2 with the mutual knockdowns canceling each other out,” the West Point graduate said of his six round junior middleweight bout with rugged veteran Jason Thompson. “I got caught early on in a round that I was winning before I got knocked down and won the rest of after. Additionally, I controlled the ring generalship.”

With close to 300 fans cheering him on, Melson got off to a rough start, suffering a knockdown during the first stanza. After retaking control in the second round, Melson stormed back in the third, decking Thompson with a hard hook immediately followed by a straight left, but was unable to finish his game foe off. During the final three rounds, Thompson landed a few hard clean punches each round while Melson continued to connect with a significantly higher volume of more visibly effective punches. He also demonstrated a better level of conditioning down the stretch by finishing strong.

Thompson continued to fight Melson hard despite receiving more punishment as the final round came to a close for the two New Yorkers. Virtually all of the ringside media members believed Melson’s consistency in pressing the fight and landing significantly higher visibly effective blows throughout the bout clearly earned him the victory.

After six exciting rounds to kick off a historic evening of boxing, all three judges scored the bout 56-56.

“I’m very upset with the decision,” stated Melson, who fought three times since August, all while working a fulltime job for Johnson&Johnson and serving as an Army Reserve Officer. “There was maybe one round outside of the first that I could’ve given to him, so that’d make it 4 rounds to 2 in my favor. This is one of my most frustrating moments in professional boxing, but I am sure I will have more. Most important, I need to keep working harder to ensure I am doing all I possibly can to not leave any doubt in the judges eyes as to my earning a clear victory.”

Even with the draw, the popular Brooklynite recognized there were some good things that came out of the evening.

“On the contrary, there were many positives tonight. I was blessed with the opportunity to be a part of history and there were a lot of people who wanted to speak to me about what I fight for. Oscar De La Hoya and Golden Boy Promotions were extremely generous to not only allow me to fight on their card, but to match my purse by personally donating to Justadollarplease.org. I loved fighting at the Barclays Center and hope to be on another card in the near future. I also had one of the most special moments of my life when my best friend Christan Zaccagnino, who is my inspiration for what I do, wheel in her chair down the aisle with me as I walked to the ring for my bout. I will never forget that moment.”

Melson, one of the most popular local fighters in the New York area, will take a brief break from boxing after fighting seven times since October 2011.

In association with the 501 (C) 3 nonprofit Justadollarplease.org, Melson and his best friend Christan Zaccagnino created Team Fight to Walk, whose mission is to raise awareness within the boxing community as well as the entire nation about the importance of bringing Clinical Trials to the United States to help cure Spinal Cord Injuries. Team Fight to Walk is comprised of Melson, Zaccagnino, former Rutgers football player/ESPY honoree Eric LeGrand, two-time cruiserweight champion Steve “USS” Cunningham, title contender DeAndre “The Bull” Latimore, Edgar “El Chamaco” Santana, Hector “Machito” Camacho Jr., 2008 US Olympians Demetrius “Boo” Andrade and Shawn Estrada along with prospects Sid “The Messenger” El Harrak, Jeff “TNT” Spencer, Denis “Da Momma’s Boy” Douglin, Will “Power” Rosinsky, Floriano “Italiano” Pagliara, Danny “Little Mac” McDermott, Vinny “The Lion” O’Brien, Ahmed “Prince of Egypt” Samir and Delen “Sniper” Parsley.