FRIDAY OCTOBER 24
WEB EXCLUSIVE: Winners Of Wall Street Fight Night

Copper River Management's Andre Ameer wins Best Boxer award and shares Best Bout with Cantor Fitzgerald's Patrick Mitchell. MSCI's Cecilia Aza defeats ICAP's Kelly Vergamini in first ever Wall Street Boxing women's bout. Auction proceeds benefit Tuesday's Children and the Agahozo Shalom Youth Village in Rwanda. Read on for all the highlights.

By: Chris Gillick
October 2008

As if the regular work day on Wall Street wasn't tough enough these last few months, a handful of finance junkies were also training for last night's 2nd Annual Wall Street Boxing Charity Championship, presented by Turks and Caicos Islands and hosted by Trader Monthly and Dealmaker.

As the market turmoil comes to a head, and blood continues to run through the Street, roughly 1,000 Wall Street professionals packed New York's Hammerstein Ballroom for some much needed relief and to joyfully witness their colleagues spill some real blood in the ring -- all for a good cause.

Taking the term blood sport to a new level was Copper River Management's Andre Ameer. After losing a close decision to Goldman Sachs analyst and southpaw Andrew Myerson at the Wall Street Boxing Summer Showdown four months ago, the 29 year-old trader refocused his training regimen. While his gym routine remained constant, his conditioning needed a boost. So since his loss to Myerson, Ameer has hit the road running most mornings at 5:30 AM, and his wind proved to be the difference in his decision over Cantor Fitzgerald's Patrick Mitchell.

"Training definitely kept me out of the bars the last few months," he told Trader Monthly before the fight. "And what do you know? I'm fighting another southpaw [in Mitchell]."

Mitchell, a former quarterback for Fordham, came out throwing haymakers in Round 1, knocking Ameer cold to the canvas in the first 30 seconds. Mitchell even got a shot in while Ameer was on his knees, which would have normally led to a disqualification.

If that wasn't enough, Ameer took a standing eight count a minute later, and was lucky to get out the first segment without a stoppage. But unlike some fund managers who are simply rolling up the tent and quitting, Ameer regained his ground and then some in the second, consistently landing combinations and wearing down the exhausted Mitchell. In the third and final round, with his arms and legs now nice and warm, Ameer pounded the now-sanguine face of Mitchell, earning the victory and the respect of everyone in the room.

"I read somewhere that courage is not the absence of fear, but acting despite it," Ameer said after the fight, which was voted by the judges as Best Bout of the evening. He added "I suppose if you want a better quote, email me in the morning when my head is a bit clearer." And if one accolade wasn't enough, the judges also voted Ameer the evening's Best Boxer.

Ameer and Mitchell's fight was not the only crowd pleaser of the evening. In the first ever women's bout in the history of Trader Monthly Boxing, MSCI's Cecilia Aza and ICAP's Kelly Vergamini went to toe-to-toe for four rounds. Evenly matched at 5'4" and 130 pounds, the two boxing babes exchanged constant blows, with Aza's consistent jabs proving to be the difference. Despite a furious surge by Vergamini in the fourth, the judges gave Aza the decision.

Also making history were heavyweights Ben Sadgrove and Will Brazier, who had the distinction of being the first duo from the same company to square off against each other. The two brokers from Tradeview Forex settled whatever office disputes they might have old fashioned way...by pounding each other into submission.

Giving up at least 10 pounds and 5 inches, Brazier relentlessly went to the body early, tiring Sadgrove quickly and not flinching on the receiving end of his colleague's devastating jab. But Sadgrove, nicknamed "Bonecrusher" for a reason, had too long a reach and too strong a jab in the end, as the referee called the fight in the third round.

"I'd like to think I'm the only one with the nerve to fight him," said Brazier, who is also a rugby teammate of Sadgrove's with Old Blue Rugby Club in New York. "He had the height and reach advantage, but I don't back down from anyone."

Says Sadgrove, "Will is a great friend, but I've played competitive sports my whole life, and I don't like to lose."

In other action, Popeye-armed Bill Monzolillo of Deutsche Bank needed two rounds to knock out Hedgeserv's Andrew Regen, while NYMEX's Craig Capurso, defeated Oppenheimer's Ken Cunningham in roughly the same amount of time.

Earning decisions were Lord Abbott's Khoung Chau, who outboxed Signature Securities' Justin Pagan, who had been a winner at the Summer Showdown, and BGC Partners' Ricky Smith, who outdueled a vicious-hitting Devin Darcangelo of Morgan Stanley.

And wrapping up the fight card, with a rematch from the Summer Showdown, Citigroup's Evan Odim knocked out Liquidnet's Tim Nursten in the first round.

Needless to say the veterans of past events got the fighting bug back. "While it's nice to be on the other side of the ropes this time, you might see me inside there yet again," said Jay Neu of T3 Capital, a veteran of the Trader Monthly circuit who instead ate dinner at a ringside table this time around. It's also worth nothing that since winning his Summer Showdown fight against ITG's Scott Bauer, Neu's trading P/L has gone through the roof.

"I can't give you details," Neu says of his newfound trading success. "But yes that's true."

If only making money in this environment could be as easy as winning a boxing match.

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