Geraldton mayor Shane Van Styn loses heavyweight clash in Kalgoorlie fight night

City of Greater Geraldton mayor Shane Van Styn travelled to Kalgoorlie last Saturday with James Butson, making his boxing debut, to fight on the Red Dust Fight Show. Hosted by Pacific MMA Promotions, the sixth instalment in the Red Dust Fight Show series featured a range of disciplines including boxing, kickboxing, mixed martial arts and muay Thai across 10 fights. The main event saw Shane ‘Stone Cold’ Van Styn against Pacific MMA’s Tomana Wijohn in a rematch of last year’s Fists of Fury 2 bout. Wijohn put on a powerful display to claim a win over the Geraldton mayor, who finished the fight on his feet, losing to a split decision. The fight started in explosive fashion, with Wijohn rushing Van Styn in the opening seconds, who was giving up a significant weight advantage to his opponent. His coach Paul Barrett said “from our view, it appeared to be a body slam by a 150kg giant” as Van Styn appeared to slip, but the referee saw it as a knockdown. Van Styn then boxed with skill and finesse for the remainder of the fight, controlling the round with his jab and superior foot work but was unable to make up the points lost due to the knockdown. Van Styn was disappointed with the result but remained optimistic. “I feel like I just wrestled with a rhino for three rounds,” he said. “He was a very hard hitter, I think he had about 13kg on me but I managed to get out with no injuries, which is always good.” “It’s been incredibly fun, I love going out their entertaining the crowds and testing my physical abilities, and everyone at Geraldton Boxing Centre has been very supportive.” Geraldton’s other fighter, James ‘Twinkle Toes’ Butson, made his boxing debut and put in a good performance, with his coaches feeling he won both the first two rounds. Round 3 went to his opponent, who landed some heavy combinations, with the referee giving Butson an eight count with 10 seconds of the fight remaining. It was a fantastic match by both boxers but unfortunately Butson lost on a points decision. Coach Barrett was optimistic about both boxers’ futures. “Next is Fists of Fury 3, on August 13 for us,” he said. “Kalgoorlie was great preparation, it was a cage match, so it was good experience. We are sparring eight rounds and training techniques when we are not sparring.” Fists of Fury will take place at Activewest Stadium on August 13. Van Styn will take on Scotty Grieves in his third bout and Butson will be fighting again at light heavyweight level, facing Adam Bennett. Van Styn is looking forward to the bout, which was originally supposed to take place in April. “It will be a very different fight but it will be nice to fight someone around the same size as me for once,” he joked.