Wounded Phillips gets by Welliver

WORLEY, Idaho – Cool never goes out of style.

Former world junior welterweight champion “Cool” Vince Phillips scored an unpopular unanimous decision over Spokane’s Dewey Welliver in a shortened main event Thursday in the Coeur d’Alene Casino’s House of Fury.

Phillips, from Las Vegas, and Welliver were scheduled for 10 rounds in the sixth and final bout on the card.

Phillips was cut over his left eye by what was ruled an unintentional head butt by Welliver with about 20 seconds remaining in the eighth round. The ringside physician, Dr. Jim Mullan, ruled the cut too severe for the former champion to continue.

By Idaho Boxing Commission rules, because the fight was more than half finished, the decision went to the scorecards. Two judges scored the fight 78-74 for Phillips; the third 76-75.

Phillips’ camp was understandably grateful and a bit shocked by the decision, not believing they could get a fair decision in Welliver’s backyard.

“I was surprised,” Phillips’ trainer, Cassius Greene, said. “It was a fair decision and I wasn’t expecting it.”

In the opposite dressing room, Welliver was understandably disappointed.

“I thought it was bull,” he said. “Both the decision and the reason they stopped the fight. He didn’t cut his eye on a head butt, he cut it on a punch because I saw it split with my own eyes.

“My plan was to go hard those last two rounds. I was ready to go.”

“(Welliver) is a very good fighter,” Phillips said. “If he has the motivation and the discipline, he can go a long way in this business. He definitely has a hard jaw.”

Welliver and his brother, Rick, who worked his corner, both said they wanted a rematch.

In the first of two main events, Spokane’s Luke Munsen snapped a two-bout losing streak when Winnipeg cruiserweight Peter “House of Pain” O’Kane retired after two rounds.

Munsen (17-3-1), who was knocked out by Arthur Williams in the main event of the last House of Fury card, bloodied O’Kane in the second round and staggered the Canadian at the bell to end the round. O’Kane (14-5-1) slid along the ropes into his corner and was unable to respond to questions by his cornermen, who waved the fight over.

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