MUNCIE – It was another history making evening Saturday night at the downtown Muncie Horizon Center as Richard Crabtree Entertainment hosted yet another outstanding King of the Ring boxing program.

A large majority of the fine crowd on hand came to witness boxing history.

For the first time anywhere in the history of boxing, the evening saw a father, son and daughter all participating on the same fight card.

(Angela Hughes (L) Mike Collins, Big Al Hughes, Al Hughes III )

Big Al “White Lightning” Hughes along with his daughter Angela (18 at the time) had already made boxing history three years ago when they became the very first father/daughter duo to fight on the same boxing card. That feat took place during the King of the Ring ‘Hoosier Brawl” at the Delaware County Fairgrounds.

Saturday night saw the 57-year old Hughes realize a longtime personal dream when 20-year old Al Hughes III made his long awaited boxing debut to join his father and sister in the record books.

Joe York of HBO and ESPN 2 boxing fame did another great job of announcing the evenings bouts. Joe is from Anderson, IN and has 10 years announcing experience and is “pound for pound the undisputed, undefeated king of ring announcers.”
Match four of the night saw Al III take center stage against 35-year old Muncie challenger Dustin Dawkins. Hughes entered the ring at 171 lbs. while Dawkins came in at 175 lbs.

Despite receiving nine stitches in his right index finger a week ago, Al III was all business when the bell rang. Despite a disadvantage in the height department, Hughes put to good use his long hours of training at the Muncie PAL Club along with some crushing left hooks to the body to score a unanimous decision in his boxing debut.

“I’m just glad it’s all over,” stated the younger Hughes of his first fight. “I have been a nervous wreck for a long time thinking about this fight. It was nothing like I thought it was going to be. When the bell rang for the first round all I had was tunnel vision knowing that I had to slip and move. I hit him with a solid left hook in the second round and he just looked at me with that glazed over look. I trained hard for this fight thanks to my dad but it doesn’t take long before the adrenaline takes over. I got winded a little bit there in the third round so I’m going to work harder on my stamina,” noted the youngster known as Stonewall, The Widow Maker.
What lies ahead for Al III?

“I’ve got to go on a diet and drop a little weight first of all. And I really need to increase my sparring from two days a week to four or five days a week. I’d like to get one or two more fights under my belt in the next two months and then see where I stand for the Golden Gloves.”

The Hughes family had very little time to celebrate Al’s win with Angela “The Wildcat” Hughes squaring off against Muncie’s Monica Brown in the only female bout of the evening.

Angela used her boxing savvy along with her long hours of conditioning to notch a split-decision over the upset-minded Brown to run her record to 2-0.

“I was really nervous at the start of the fight,” said Angela. “She hit me so hard a few times it took my breath away. She was throwing those haymakers all night and by the grace of God I was able to come out on top. This night just meant the world to me. Nobody will ever know how much this means to me. Our family has waiting eight long years for tonight and the pressure just kept building and building. You can never replace a moment like this. All that hard work paid off for me late in the third round and I just refused to lose. I just didn’t want to ruin dad’s big night. I just want to thank God for letting this happen tonight,” noted the tearful youngster with boyfriend Matt Whitmire at her side.

The Main Event of the evening featured Big Al “White Lightning” Hughes going toe to toe with nemesis Ken “The Mad Bomber” Schomber from Montpelier, In.

Hughes, who was a world class middleweight back in the late 70’s and 80’s, dedicated the fight to all of his Vietnam War buddies who did not make it home and to all fellow veterans nationwide.

Throughout his storied career, Hughes has never lost a rematch to any opponent and Saturday night proved to be no exception. Schomber, who weighed in at 218 lbs. to 171 lbs. for Hughes, had scored a narrow decision over Al a few years back and the elder Hughes had but one thing on his mind – to settle the score.

Despite giving up six inches in height along with the huge weight difference, Hughes used his many years of boxing knowledge to pound out a unanimous decision and close out the night with the scoreboard reading Hughes 3 Opponents 0.
“I’m just so relieved and ecstatic about the way everything turned out tonight,” commented the ageless wonder. “I was just worried about the kids more than anything. Thanks to God Almighty I was able to weather the storm but things would have been okay win, lose or draw. I thought little Al did a fantastic job. He has the same style I do and he did all the things that we have been working on. Angela just fought her heart out. She got tagged a couple of times but her conditioning was the difference in her bout. This just feels great. All the worrying is over and I’m just so proud of my kids and everyone like Richard Crabtree that made this evening possibly. With this fight card tonight we are looking to enter the Guiness Book of World Records as the very first father, son and daughter to fight on the same card.”
Yes indeed, Al Hughes Jr. is one proud papa and deservedly so.