Irvine Boxing : 7-Footer Decisions Collier : White Overwhelms State Champion in Non-Title Bout

Dee Collier wasn’t knocked out Monday night, but from the first minute of his non-title heavyweight fight with Mike White at the Irvine Marriott, it seemed he was a beaten man.

White, the only 7-foot heavyweight in the world, tossed Collier, 6-3, to the canvas as Collier tried to move inside at the start of the first round to work White’s 279-pound body.

White (17-6-1) then went on to score an easy unanimous decision over Collier, the state heavyweight champion, in front of a standing room only crowd of 1,620.

“I was really worried about him butting me,” White said. “I had to just keep getting him out of there. Every time he stepped inside he would put his head into my chest, so I would push him away.”

Collier (15-5) looked tired from the start of the fourth round and seldom landed a punch with anything behind it. Even when he appeared to have landed a solid blow, White would just shake his head, look down and smirk as if to make sure Collier knew the punch didn’t do any real damage.

White used a series of strong combinations and a solid left jab to score.

“I didn’t think his weight was going to be much of a factor,” said Collier, who had never seen White fight before. “But he just wore me out. I was exhausted trying to get inside on him. Every time I did get inside, he would just toss me aside. I had to keep wrestling to get inside.”

By the eighth round, White was having no trouble stepping to the side of the wild arcs of Collier.

The fight was at first supposed to be a title fight, but Collier decided against it.

“If that is the state champion then I’m not all that impressed,” White said. “He was a strong guy and he didn’t have enough to take me out which is what the crowd wants to see. Everybody wants to see me lose because I’m the big villain, and they all want to see me hit the canvas--bang.”

Boxing Notes In other bouts: Kenny Wyatt of Los Angeles won an eight-round split decision over Henry Lugo of San Jose at 128 pounds. Lugo could have won but lost a point in the the eighth round for locking his arm around Wyatt’s head. Wyatt, who scored a fifth-round knockdown, is 12-1-1. Lugo is 11-4. . . . Mike Reulas of Pomona won a five-round unanimous decision over Fumzi Fujimoto of Huntington Beach. Reulas is 9-3-1 and Fujimoto is 15-6. . . . Raoul Gonzales (1-0-2) of Los Angeles won a four-round majority decision over Francisco Jimenez (0-2-2) of Los Angeles at 138 pounds.

Wyatt will fight Genardo Hernandez (12-0) in the main event on the August 31 card at the Irvine Marriott. . . . The card will also feature the Orange County debut of Marine Corps and former AAU champion Jeff McCracken. . . . The standing-room-only crowd of 1,620 was the biggest of the year at the Marriott.