Kalispell's Bonbrest, Reed capture state boxing belts

Kalispell’s Julian Blake Bonbrest and Taylor Reed won championship belts last Saturday night at Majestic Valley Arena at the Hard Knocks State Championship.

Billy Wagner of Great Falls, Billy Henderson of Missoula and Killian Estes of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, were the other three boxers to win state championship belts.

Bonbrest had to work the hardest of all the champions, beating Mozi Gerber of Missoula and Brandon Scholz of Spokane, Washington, on his way to the title in the 135-pound weight class. He won both fights by close decisions.

At 175 pounds, Reed faced an inexperienced opponent, Ryan Watkins of Kalispell, in the semifinals. He stopped Watkins in the second round. Then in the championship match, he stopped an experienced, but undersized Erik Lopez of Bozeman in the second round.

Wagner, in the 155-pound weight class, knocked out Paul Spain of Kalispell and won by TKO in the title bout against Cody Woslager of Helena.

Henderson was overmatched against Tim Dick of Kalispell and Jason Lopez of Great Falls, stopping both fighters in the first round at 195 pounds.

Estes scored a first- round knockout against a much larger, but inexperienced Brian Hukalowicz of Billings. Estes then used his superior conditioning against veteran Anthony Sullivan in the final to win a split decision.