Alaskan boxer dies outside Saginaw-area tavern
Posted: Monday July 27, 1998 03:15 PM
SHIELDS, Michigan (AP) -- An Alaskan boxer died following a weekend
confrontation outside a Saginaw County nightclub, police said.
Cody Koch, 25, Anchorage, was in line to fight for the World
Boxing Organization heavyweight championship next month. The man known as the "Alaskan Assassin" was found lifeless at the Shooters Bar by Saginaw County sheriff's deputies early Sunday.
"I really had high hopes for this guy," said Art Dore, a Bay
City man who managed Koch. "I was grooming him to be somebody.
"He had all the tools to become the heavyweight champion of the
world -- no question about it. He was right in his prime," Dore
told The Bay City Times.
Koch was living at Dore's home while training for an August 22
bout at the Tropicana Hotel in Las Vegas, Dore said.
The 6-foot-2, 240-pound Koch gained fame in 1996 after he
won the Dore-promoted World Toughman Championship. He was featured
in a Showtime cable documentary about the amateur tournament.
"Cody was a horse, a big, strong guy," Dore said. "I know it
would take a lot to restrain him. He was a nice guy who wouldn't go
around picking fights, but who you wouldn't want to pick a fight
with either because he wouldn't back down. He was a fighter's
fighter."
Koch and a woman had been arguing at the bar, then took the
dispute outside, said Sheriff's Capt. Robert Rae. When Koch tried
to get back inside, bouncers kept him out, Rae added.
But "he could have died of natural causes, for all we know,"
the captain said. An autopsy was scheduled for late Monday
afternoon.
Koch's August fight was to be a rematch against California boxer
Ed Mahone, who defeated Koch in February.
Copyright 2003 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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