|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Lewiston, Maine (September 2, 2016) – The 3,800-square foot warehouse in Woburn, Massachusetts, is known simply as “The Way.”
No coincidence, since the proprietor who lives out his passion as a personal trainer under its roof, Brandon Montella, has found a way, in his own unique way.
From a turbulent childhood in North Anson, Maine, to four years of meritorious service in the United States Marine Corps, to the mixed emotions of staying ahead in the professional rat race, to intense personal tragedy, Montella, 36, has endured what most would consider a lifetime’s worth of challenges.
Yet he perseveres, finding strength and clarity in a life devoted to helping others. And he stays sharp, counter-intuitive as it may seem to the uninitiated, by letting other people punch him in the face.
“On a personal level it helped me so much. I had a lot of fear, maybe a little lack of confidence, due to some of the abuse in my past,” Montella said. “Boxing helped me so much with that. It made me a more complete person. I’m a better husband, a better businessman, a better man since I started fighting.”
A late bloomer who didn’t fully immerse himself in the fight game until his 30s, Montella (4-0, 3 Kos) will put his undefeated credentials on the line against Tollison Lewis (2-1, 1 Ko) at “NEF 25: Heroes and Villains” on Saturday, September 10 na Androscoggin Bank Colisee na Lewiston, Maine, the venerable boxing venue that in 1965, when it was known as “St. Domenic’s Hall,” played host to the infamous Muhammad Ali-Sonny Liston II world heavyweight title rematch. (Ee, the same boxing bout that spawned rumors of the “phantom punch,” and produced the most iconic image in the history of sports photography.)
Montella was born in Massachusetts but spent much of his childhood in the Western foothills of Maine, where he graduated from Carrabec High School. He describes those formative years as “a tough time, a little bit of a struggle,” and says fighting was both a means of both self-defense and a way of compensating for that lack of self-esteem.
“I wouldn’t change it for the world now,” Montella said. “It helped shape who I am. I tell everybody the Marine Corps started the process of my becoming a man, and boxing helped finish it.”
He spent four years in the service before receiving an honorable discharge. Along the way he met his wife, Tonya, and settled into the comfortable habit of seeking significance through work.
Fatefully, and admittedly on a lark, he accepted a military buddy’s challenge to enter a Toughman contest. It was the amateur, brawling, distant cousin of boxing that Eric “Butterbean” Esch made famous.
“I was a 240-pound meathead. Three one-minute rounds; that seemed like it was right up my alley,” Montella said.
In the process, Montella discovered that getting back in shape, setting goals and chasing intangible successes that were larger than wins and losses suited him, kwa.
“That was a turning point for me. Corporate America, I just wasn’t into it,” Montella said. “I couldn’t lie to people and take advantage of them. I couldn’t deal with it morally. I had to turn my back on that. The Marine Corps taught me a different code. I cashed in my 401(k), moved to Massachusetts, became a personal trainer.”
Ọfọn, it wasn’t quite that easy. He had to sell Tonya, whom he describes as “the major breadwinner in the house,” on the merits of such a change. She already had politely proclaimed Maine a great vacation spot but not a place she cared to settle down, for professional reasons.
Na 2008, work took Tonya to Boston.
“It was when the Celtics were getting ready to win the championship. She got caught up in the atmosphere and came home and told me, ‘I would move to Boston.’ I said OK,” Montella recalled with a laugh. “I didn’t let her take that back.”
Montella started his gym in a 10-feet-by-10-feet basement of a townhouse. He took up amateur boxing, na akụkụ, to set an example for his clients.
“I decided I couldn’t train athletes if I’m not doing the (stuff). I want to wear the boots before the suits, ị mara?” Montella said. "Six months later I was the No. 1 ranked heavyweight in New England. It blew my mind. I found a place that was home.”
He won 14 nke ya 21 na-amu amu ịlụ ọgụ, including a novice heavyweight championship in Golden Gloves.
Montella’s trainees have watched him conquer adversity in the prize ring and fight through tragedy in his personal life. Tonya and Brandon’s first child was stillborn on Christmas 2015.
Boxing, and the wilderness in the shadow of Sugarloaf Mountain that holds so many contradictory memories for Montella, are part of his healing process.
“I’m here in Maine now getting ready, diving off 40-foot cliffs, doing hill sprints up 100-foot sand dunes, training like a savage,” Montella said. “We used to go up there to drink. All the crazy stuff I did as a kid, now I use it to make myself the best I can be.
“I preach it all the time at my gym: See the world as your training facility. What someone else sees as a cliff, I see as place to work on my focus and mental control. Where they see nothing but trees and open space, I see as a place to go and meditate. In my 30s, I don’t need drugs or alcohol now to be open with my emotions. Boxing has given me the strength to be who I always wanted to be.”
The oghere mgbịrịgba na September 10 a na-setịpụụrụ 7 p.m. The current docket for “NEF 25: Heroes and Villains” includes three professional boxing matches, five pro mixed martial arts bouts and six amateur MMA scraps. Tiketi na-amalite mgbe $25 na dị na www.TheColisee.com ma ọ bụ site akpọ Colisee igbe ọrụ na207.783.2009, ndọtị 525.
Maka ozi ọzọ na ihe omume na-alụ ọgụ kaadị mmelite, biko gaa na nkwalite si website na www.NewEnglandFights.com. Na mgbakwunye, i nwere ike na-ele NEF vidiyo na www.youtube.com/NEFMMA, na-eso ha na Twitternefights ma sonyere ukara Facebook otu "New England ọgụ."
Lewiston, Maine (August 12, 2016) - New England alụkarị ọgụ (NEF) laghachi Lewiston on September 10, 2016 with the fight promotion’s next event, “NEF 25: HEROES & VILLAINS.” The fight card will feature both mixed-martial-arts and professional boxing bouts. Earlier today, the fight promotion announced the first pro boxing bout signed for the event. Brandon Montella (4-0, 3 Kos) ga-on Tollison Lewis (2-1, 1 Ko) na a anọ-gburugburu ìhè-Heavyweight zoo.
Montella graduated from Carrabec High School in North Anson, Maine in 1998. Soon after, Montella joined the United States Marine Corps (USMC). He served in the marines until 2003 when he received an honorable discharge. After spending the better part of a decade in Virginia, Montella moved with his wife to the Boston, Massachusetts area in 2011. He owns and operates The Way, LLC boxing gym in Woburn, Massachusetts. Montella has been on a tear in the boxing ring of late, scoring three knockouts in an eight-month period.
Tollison Lewis cut his teeth in the NEF MMA cage. He has found more success, Otú ọ dị, in the boxing ring. Lewis took a fight on one day’s notice against veteran John Webster (8-7-1, 6 Kos) in the fall of 2014. He would dominate that fight and win by decision. Lewis followed up that performance with a stoppage of Zenon Herrera (0-2) afọ gara aga, earning himself a crack at Brandon Berry’s (11-2-1, 7 Kos) Northeast Junior Welterweight Title earlier in 2016. Lewis predicts nothing short of an all-out slugfest with Montella on September 10.
“I’m expecting a battle,” kwuru Lewis. “I know I’ll be prepared for one. Expect a war! I’m not going to talk about it – I’m going to show it, and losing isn’t an option.”
New England alụkarị ọgụ 'esote omume, "NEF 25: HEROES & VILLAINS,” takes place on Saturday, September 10, 2016 na Androscoggin Bank Colisée na Lewiston, Maine. Tickets start at just $25 na ndị na ere ugbu a na www.TheColisee.com ma ọ bụ site-akpọ Colisée igbe ọrụ na207.783.2009 x 525.
Maka ozi ọzọ na ihe omume na-alụ ọgụ kaadị mmelite, biko gaa na nkwalite si website na www.NewEnglandFights.com. Na mgbakwunye, i nwere ike na-ele NEF vidiyo na www.youtube.com/NEFMMA, na-eso ha na Twitternefights ma sonyere ukara Facebook otu "New England ọgụ."
Hyannis, Massachusetts (Ka 15, 2016) - New England alụkarị ọgụ (NEF), America nọmba-otu mpaghara agha nkwalite, ẹkenịmde ya kacha-adịbeghị anya ihe omume, “NEF 23: CAGE THE CAPE” on Saturday n'abalị na Hyannis Youth & Community Center (HYCC) in Hyannis, Massachusetts. The HYCC bụ na ike nke mbụ kwadoro mbuaha-mara-nkà (Emmanuel) egosi mgbe ẹkenịmde ke Cape okporoko. The ebe mgbakọ meghere elu-eje ije track inye guzo-ụlọ-na-Fans ọzọ ikiaka ụlọ. The ìgwè madu electric niile abalị maka asatọ agha kaadị n'ihu site NEF.
Team Juniko, dabeere si Hyannis na Hanover, Massachusetts, bụ a zuru okè 5-0 n'abalị. Fabian Miranda (3-0), Thomas Lee Davis, Obere. (2-0), Ed Forlenza (1-0), na Kylie O'Hearn (1-0) niile ekemende Enwee Mmeri maka otu na-amu amu òkè nke kaadị.
Ọ bụ O'Hearn si n'obi na Angela na-eto eto (1-2) nke Young si Emmanuel ke Bangor, Maine na a ga-echeta maka afọ na-abịa site na ndị nile bịaranụ. Ụmụ nwaanyị abụọ ahụ agha azụ na-apụta maka atọ grueling agba tupu O'Hearn e kwuru na-eto eto site na olu mkpebi na ndị ikpe’ scorecards. The agha ga-enwe a oké njọ contender maka “Ọgụ nke Year” na n'ebe ugwu, site na oge 2016 abịa na njedebe.
Team Juniko so Brendan Mgba (1-0) akakande na isi ihe omume nke mgbede via technical knockout n'elu Mike Hansen (4-4). The n'obi bụ pro mpụta mbụ maka nwa afọ nke Eastham, Massachusetts na standout mgba si Nauset Regional High School. Mgba rebounded si n'oge flurry site Hansen na-refirii stoppage at 1:46 nke mbụ gburugburu.
Zuru pụta “NEF 23”:
ọkachamara-akpata ịlụ ọgụ
Brendan Mgba def. Mike Hansen via TKO, gburugburu 1
Mat Denning def. Derek Shorey via n'ikiri ụkwụ nko, gburugburu 1
Crowsneck Boutin def. Ruben Redman via TKO, gburugburu 1
amu amu-akpata ịlụ ọgụ
Kylie O'Hearn def. Angela-eto eto site etebe
Ed Forlenza def. Frank Johanson via dọkịta stoppage, gburugburu 3
Victor Irwin def. Tracey Schryba via ko, gburugburu 1
Thomas Lee Davis, Obere. def. Anthony Spiers via ko, gburugburu 1
Fabian Miranda def. Steve Bang via armbar, gburugburu 2
NEF alaghachikwuru Androscoggin Bank Colisée na Lewiston, echin June 18, 2016 na “NEF 24: Ala Nkwa ahụ.” Tiketi maka "NEF 24" na-amalite mgbe ọ dị nanị $25 na ndị na ere ugbu a na www.TheColisee.com ma ọ bụ site-akpọ Colisée igbe ọrụ na207.783.2009 x 525.
Maka ozi ọzọ na ihe na agha kaadị mmelite, biko gaa na nkwalite si website na www.NewEnglandFights.com. Na mgbakwunye, i nwere ike na-ele NEF vidiyo na www.youtube.com/NEFMMA, na-eso ha na Twitternefights ma sonyere ukara Facebook otu "New England ọgụ."
Banyere New England alụkarị ọgụ
New England alụkarị ọgụ ("NEF") bụ a ọgụ ihe n'ọkwá ụlọ ọrụ. NEF ozi bụ ike ndị kasị mma ihe n'ihi Maine si agha na Fans myiri. NEF Executive otu nwere ọtụtụ ahụmahụ na ọgụ egwuregwu management, ihe mmepụta, media mmekọahụ, ahịa, na iwu na mgbasa ozi.