More than 3,000 people showed up to watch Pat Miletich fight in an Iowa parking lot

Monte Cox’s “Clash of Legends” event on Saturday was just the third sanctioned combat sports event to go down with a crowd.

More than 3,000 people showed up at a parking lot outside the Mississippi Valley Fairgrounds in Davenport, Iowa, on Saturday (July 18, 2020) to watch Pat Miletich kickbox former two-time boxing champ Michael Nunn in what’s being reported as the third combat sports event in the United States to be held in front of an audience since the Coronavirus pandemic shut down the world as we know it.

Old school mixed martial arts (MMA) fans are going to recognize a lot of names in this story about the “Clash of Legends” event. The show was organized by Monte Cox. Jeremy Horn competed on the undercard boxing a 50 year old opponent. Former champions Tim Sylvia and Matt Hughes were in attendance to watch. The whole thing was a strange mish-mash of Quad City fighters of all stripes boxing and kickboxing in special four-round fights, made all the stranger by COVID restrictions.

While photos of the event showed few to no attendees wearing masks, the event did seem to follow some guidelines. Seats were clustered in groups of 10 that were spaced out six feet apart. With an estimated 3,500 people showing up, some fans found themselves ridiculously far away from the action. But I guess it still beats sitting at home being bored during lockdown.

As for Pat Miletich’s fight? He ended up losing a split decision (39-37, 40-36, 37-39) to the 57-year-old Nunn on the scorecards. The one judge who scored the fight for Pat was apparently being pretty generous.

“I looked like a catcher’s mitt,” Miletich declared ruefully after the fight.

The Quad City Times has a pretty detailed breakdown of the show, including a ton of photos from the event. Veteran commentator Ron Kruck was also in attendance and shared these moments on social media:

Here’s the full results from the event:

• Roberto Negrete, West Liberty, 4-round decision over Daniel Buenaventura, Chicago
• Mitchell Leconte, Cedar Rapids, 2nd-round TKO over Tony Crowder, Des Moines
• Devoniere Jackson, Cedar Rapids, 4-round decision over Ryan Rutherford (kick boxing)
• Terrance Walker, Minneapolis, 2nd-round TKO over Ryan Antle III, Davenport
• Pachino Hill, Davenport, 2nd-round TKO over Will Omar, East Moline
• Jason Medina, Moline, 4-round decision over Sean Huffman, Knoxville, Tenn. (kick boxing)
• Jeremy Horn, Sandy, Utah, 3rd-round TKO over Marty Lindquist, Blaine, Minn.
• Junior Hernandez, Bettendorf, 4-round decision over Jeremy Castro, Clinton
• Donovan Dennis, Davenport, 3rd-round TKO over Anthony Williams, Whitesville, W.Va.