Moreau keeps on winning

Maybe Thomas Moreau should try a career in baseball. After all, he’s pretty good at dealing with curveballs.
For the third fight in a row Moreau’s opponent was changed at the last minute, this time giving him less than two days to prepare for his bout. And for the third time in a row the Derry Native was victorious, scoring a unanimous decision over Robert Conner during the main event during Combat Zone 32 at Rockingham Park Friday night.
“I can’t make a career of backing out of fights,” Moreau said. “I had to take it on short notice.”
Moreau, 29, needed all of his skills to beat the 22-year-old from Virginia, who was a last-minute replacement for Marcos Maciel of Brazil. Moreau improved his record to 6-1 and got a rousing cheer from about 150 people in attendance to support him as he made a curtain call after the fight. Conner dropped to 7-2.
The fight didn’t go the way Moreau would have liked. Most of it was spent on the mat as Conner kept going for takedowns and tried to tie Moreau up.
He was successful for the most part, but Moreau still managed to get on top a few times and land some good blows.
The Pinkerton grad landed a huge blow that knocked Conner down at the beginning of the second round. Conner settled down, however, and managed to get Moreau down on the mat with him. He had Moreau in a tough situation as time expired in the period.
After apparently wining the first two rounds and having the upper hand in the third, Moreau made a dangerous move and went for a takedown with less than a minute left in the bout. The move backfired as Conner countered and got Moreau in a pretty-good choke hold against the cage.
Luckily, Conner wasn’t able to lock on until there was only 10 seconds remaining and Moreau held on.
“If he could have had maybe 20 or 30 seconds more he may have won,” Moreau said. “But if I had 20 or 30 seconds more I may have been able to knock him out too.”
Moreau was one of only four New Hampshire fighters to win during the 13-bout card and the only local pro that was victorious. In the amateur ranks, Wayne Ahlquist won by referee stoppage, Taylor Trahan won by submission and John Santos scored a technical knock out.
Santos, also from Derry, listened to some good advice from his corner and was able to shake off a couple of punches from yet another Derry resident, Jesse Menize, mount his opponent and pound away for the win 2:21 into the first round.
“I just listened to my coach,” said Santos, a 22-year old father of three who is now 2-3. “You listen to your coach and do anything he tells you.”
It was the sixth fight in less than a year for Trahan, an 18-year-old who trains out of Lisbon. He has now won three in a row and is 3-3.
“I do it for experience,” Trahan said. “They’re only amateur fights and they don’t count on my (professional) record. And it’s fun.”
In other amateur action, Logan Moore (0-2) of Kingston lost to George Lynch (2-0) by unanimous decision, Kris Kloetz of Gilford (0-1) lost to Peter Wellman (1-0) by ref stoppage, Ahlquist (1-1) of Meredith beat Keith Nelson (0-2) by ref stoppage, Lamont Milton (3-0) beat Adam Toussaint (3-3) by unanimous decision and Peter San Antonio (2-1) beat David Spero (1-2) of Atkinson in a split decision.
In the pro ranks, Mike Winters (1-0) beat Keaton Van Thof (0-2) of Salem by ref stoppage, Jesse McElligott (1-0) beat Jamie Fellows (1-3) of Meredith by ref stoppage with just four seconds left in the bout, Steve Butler (1-3) beat John Levasseur (1-2) of Hooksett by submission, Anthony Kaponis (2-0) beat Adam McQuaid (1-1) of Manchester by technical knock out and Chandler Holderness (8-2) beat Brent Kinberger (5-2) of Manchester by unanimous decision.