Lynn probation officer recalls boxing Marathon bombing suspect

LYNN – In fall 2003, a 23-year-old amateur boxer named Jonathan Blodgett stared across a Somerville boxing ring at a tall, young fighter named Tamerlan Tsarnaev.?I didn?t know him from a hole in the wall. He looked big and he was a couple of inches taller,” Blodgett recalled.Before dying in an April 19 armed confrontation following his identification by law enforcement officials as a suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings, Tsarnaev was a former amateur boxing champion recognized by USA Boxing.Blodgett had only been boxing competitively as a 178-pound light heavyweight for six months that year, but his skills earned him a fight in the New England amateur championship novice finals leading up to the Golden Gloves – the biggest national amateur boxing tournament.?John was a very good boxer,” said Blodgett?s coach, John Dullea.At the outset of the Somerville fight held in an arcade called Good Times, Blodgett and Dullea decided to exploit Blodgett?s body punching skills to counteract Tsarnaev?s height and long reach. The strategy worked in the fight?s first round with the referee stopping the fight and giving Tsarnaev a standing eight count.?Jon had hurt him,” Dullea said.At the start of the second round, Tsarnaev landed a blow that cut the bridge of Blodgett?s nose. The referee let the fight continue but at the end of the round, he checked the cut again and stopped the fight, awarding a “technical stop” to Tsarnaev.Blodgett, now a Lynn juvenile probation officer, said the two shook hands and Tsarnaev spoke briefly.?He said, ?really good fight,?” Blodgett recalled.Blodgett said Tsarnaev?s trainer later expressed hope the two fighters would meet again in the ring. The rematch never occurred, but Blodgett went on to beat two Golden Gloves champions. Tsarnaev won the 2009 and 2010 New England Golden Gloves championships and contended in the 2009 National Golden Gloves championship, according to USA Boxing spokeswoman Julie Goldsticker.She said Tsarnaev was a registered fighter with USA Boxing in 2003 and 2004, and 2008 to 2010. Blodgett was registered from 2003 to 2010, said Goldsticker, who added that fighters have to register to box in sanctioned fights.Goldsticker said USA Boxing does not keep fight records and Blodgett said he does not have a record of the Tsarnaev bout.On April 19, as radio broadcasts linked Tsarnaev?s name to the shooting death of college police officer Sean Collier and wounding of transit officer Richard Donahue, Blodgett recalled the 2003 fight.?On the way to work, I kept thinking, ?Is there a connection??” he said.Later on that eventful Friday, Blodgett and Dullea shared recollections of Tsarnaev and drew similar conclusions: “He had accolades in the ring that spoke for him but in light of the kind of acts he committed, I refuse to give him credit for anything,” Blodgett said.Although he is not currently boxing competitively, Blodgett works with young fighters at Dullea?s Peabody gym to help them build self-confidence. He called his fist-to-fist meeting with Tsarnaev “surreal.”?It puts in perspective how anybody can rub shoulders with someone who is capable of anything,” he said.Thor Jourgensen can be reached at [email protected].