This will be my 4th official amateur boxers reunion, with the first three having taken place in Las Vegas (డిసెంబర్ 2014), న్యూ యార్క్ సిటీ (జూన్ 2015) and Foxwoods Casino in Connecticut (జూలై 2015).
Boxers who have attended previous reunions include the likes of four-time world champion Roy Jones Jr., three-time world champions Mike “The Body Snatcher” McCallum and Iran “The Blade” Barkley, WBO heavyweight champion Lamon Brewster, former WBC light heavyweight champion Montell “ఐస్” Griffin, 1988 U.S. Olympic coach Kenny Adams.
I’ve had this idea to bring my former amateur peers together for many years and in December of 2014 at the Rival Boxing Store in Las Vegas I finally had my first amateur boxers reunion and it was a tremendous success. Since then I’ve had two more (at Jimmy’s -Glenn- Corner on W. 44వ సెయింట్. in NYC and at Foxwoods Casino in Connecticut)successful gatherings that have seen everyone from local amateurs, regional Golden Gloves champions, National AAU champions, ప్రపంచ ఛాంపియన్లు, Olympians and every other possible level of amateur boxer.
I had originally planned to have boxers from my Olympic trials class (1988)gather for a reunion but changed it to any era or level. On that end we’ve had boxers ranging from 1976 A.A.U. National champion Bret Summers from Washington State and 1976 Jamaican Olympian Mike McCallum all the way up to 2004 U.S. ఒలింపియన్ జాసన్ ఎస్ట్రాడా.
Basically it’s a chance for us to get together, reminisce, tell stories, see old friends, meet people we’ve never met before. Maybe the best example of what my reunions entail came at the 2015 event at Foxwoods when I had Hartford’s Luis Ortiz and Lawrence Clay-Bey meet for the very first time since they boxed each other as young kids at Marc Anthony’s in Hartford way back in 1977!
WHEN: జూలై 23, 2016, 12 మధ్యాహ్నం 4 PM
WHERE: Margaritaville Restaurant inside the Mohegan Sun casino @ Uncasville, కనెక్టికట్.
WHO: Invited and expected guests include, among MANY others:
Two-time welterweight champ Marlon “మేజిక్ మనిషి” Starling
1985 ESPN welterweight champion “Schoolboy” Troy Wortham
WBA welterweight and junior middleweight champion Jose Antonio Rivera
Dickie Ecklund and “ఐరిష్” మిక్కీ వార్డ్ (“The Fighter”)
1984 Olympic Gold Medalist Mark Breland
Comp-U-Box record holder “Sucra” Ray Oliviera
“Contender Star Peter “the Pride of Providence” Manfredo Jr.
1996 U.S. Olympic team captain Lawrence Clay-Bey
Current boxing promoter (Star Boxing in NYC) మరియు 1988 NYC Daily News Golden Gloves 147 pound Champion Joe DeGuardia
మాజీ రెండు డివిజన్లో ప్రపంచ ఛాంపియన్ “Poison” Junior Jones from Brooklyn, NY
WBO World Heavyweight Champion Mike Bentt and 1988 U.S. ఒలింపిక్ ప్రత్యామ్నాయ.
2004 U.S. Olympian Jason “బిగ్ సిక్స్” రోడ్
ICE
Quote: “
The wait in the dressing room before a professional boxing match -that last hour- could be enough to strip a man who never boxed before of whatever pride, desire and heart he THOUGHT he had” –Iceman John Scully, ఏప్రిల్ 2002
“Boxing is a tight-knit fraternity. Everybody knows everybody. But a line in the resin will forever be drawn separating those who step into the square ring and those who DON’T. Many, many people make money on a fight, but when the bell sounds, only two people answer it.” – Randy Smith, ఫిబ్రవరి 2003, Journal Inquirer (మాంచెస్టర్, Conn.) Newspaper
