The 2003 WBC Title Bout tournament gained another participant for a total of 15 this year. With some old-timers missing we're hoping to get to 16 next year for a full bracket.

The tournament started with Cleveland Williams (Dennis Nicholson) taking on Jack Johnson (Chris Palermo). Williams was the big underdog but after six rounds his aggressive style was helping him with the judges and had the fight tied. But in the seventh round Johnson came out and landed a big shot right to Williams' jaw and put him down for the count. Next up were Gene Tunney (Jim Bell) and Sam Langford (Ray Stakanes). After being floored but surviving in the second, Tunney was put down again in the third. This time though Langford finished him off for the win. The next fight in the first round was Peter Jackson (Terry Coleman) vs. Bob Fitzsimmons (Dan Dolan). After splitting the first two rounds, Jackson pummeled Fitzsimmons in the next two rounds, then finished him off in the fifth. Up next was Max Schmelling (Ken Gutermuth) against Mike Tyson (Andy Joy). Schmelling controlled the fight form the beginning and forced the referee to stop the fight in the third round. The fifth fight in the round was Ezzard Charles (Chris Bauch) vs., Jack Dempsey (Steven May). Charles surprised Dempsey by wining the first two rounds. This just made Dempsey mad and he knocked Charles around the ring so bad that Charles wasn't able to answer the bell for the fourth round. The next fight in the round was Rocky Marciano (Mike Destro) and Joe Jeannette (Jonathan Lockwood). This was the only fight to go the distance but the outcome was never in doubt as Marciano got the unanimous decision 79-75, 79-73, and 79-75. The last fight on the card was Sonny Liston (Lisa Gutermuth) vs. Jim Jefferies (Jeremy Billones). Liston controlled the fight from the start but couldn't finish off Jefferies. All he had to do was get through the round and he would have advanced. But late in the final round Jefferies was able to land one big punch. Liston went down and didn't get up. Later there were some that claimed that Liston really didn't get hit but they didn't have any proof.

The second round started with Jim Jefferies and Peter Jackson going at it with Jefferies coming out on top. Next up were Rocky Marciano and Jack Johnson. After six rounds Johnson had the fight won. Realizing that he would lose on the cards, Marciano went for the KO. He bore in and knocked Johnson all over the ring until the referee stepped in and ended the fight in the seventh round. The next fight was Schmelling against Dempsey. Schmelling won the first round but Dempsey pummeled Schmelling in the second and forced the referee to step in just before the end of the round. The last fight on the card was Joe Frazier (Derek Landel) vs. Sam Langford. Langford controlled the fight from the start, keeping Frazier away. Finally in the fourth round the ref stepped in and stopped the fight giving the win to Langford.

The first semi-final was Langford vs. Dempsey. Unlike his first two fights Dempsey came out strong, winning the first round. Like his other fights he kept on going and crushed Langford in the second and won by TKO at 2:55 in the second. The second semi-final saw Jefferies and Marciano going at it. Marciano won the first round but Jefferies took the second big and had the advantage in the third and fourth rounds. Marciano won the fifth and sixth rounds so it was even going into the last two rounds. The seventh saw both fighters going at it toe-to-toe which.Jefferies got the better of and the referee stepped in to stop the fight at the end of the round.

The final pit Jefferies vs Dempsey. The two fighters cautiously sparred and split the first round. The second saw Dempsey do what he did to the other fighters. He came out and just dominated Jefferies, forcing the referee to stop the fight late in the second round. Jack Dempsey was the champion.

Congratulations to Steven May for winning the 2003 WBC Title Bout championship. Not bad for somebody who hadn't played in a long time. The sportmanship award went to Lisa Gutermuth, who after getting knocked out with 19 seconds left in a fight she was easily winning, didn't complain at all. Did she get that from her dad? Naah ... he never loses.