Tag Archives: Jose Guzman

Justin Figueroa, Avious Griffin, Dominique Crowder, Donte Layne & Bruce Seldon Jr. Ready to light up The Boardwalk


Streaming live Nov. 16th on DAZN from Tropicana Atlantic City
ATLANTIC CITY, NJ (October 21, 2024) – The next generation of East Coast boxers will be showcased on Boxing Insider Promotions’ November 16th card, streaming live on DAZN from The Showroom at Tropicana Atlantic City.

This knockout card will feature a combination of blue-chip prospects, rising stars, popular local fighters, and a potential women’s world champion in the future.

Two rising stars fighting on the card are Chattanooga (TN) welterweight Avious Griffin (15-0, 14 KOs) and Baltimore (MD) bantamweight Dominique “Dimes” Crowder (17-0, 10 KOs) in a pair of eight-round bouts.

Griffin, 30, is a heavy-handed former Tennessee State Champion presently riding an eight-fight knockout streak. Trained by Brian “Bomac” McIntyre, Griffin will take on Adrian Gutierrez (12-2-1, 6 KOs) in the main event.

The 30-year-old Crowder, the reigning WBA International bantamweight champion, is rated No. 14 in the world by the WBA and a former New York Golden Gloves Champion. Mark Breland and Jose Guzman train him.

Two other boxers to watch closely are Long Island (NY) super middleweight Donte Layne (4-0, 4 KOs) and Paterson (NJ) junior middleweight Dwyke Flemmings, Jr. (8-0, 8 KOs).

Layne faces Shaquille Cameron (7-3, 6 KOs) in a six-round fight presented in association with Overtime Boxing. The 21-year-old Layne is a gifted southpaw who captured gold medals at the 2022 USA National Championships and National Golden Gloves Tournament, as well as at the 2021 USA Nationals and Junior Pan American Games.

Flemmings, Jr. is a 20-year-old up-and-coming prospect who won a silver medal at the 2018 USA Junior Olympics. He will fight TBA in a scheduled six-round match. Atlantic City fighters will keep The Boardwalk lit such as electrifying junior middleweight Justin “Mr. Atlantic City” Figueroa (10-0, 8 KOs), legacy heavyweight Bruce “Atlantic City Express 2.0” Seldon, Jr. (3-0, 3 KOs), and undefeated lightweight hopeful Francisco Rodriguez (5-0, 5 KOs).

Figueroa, 25, is matched against Omar Rosales (9-3-1, 5 KOs) in a six-round match. He was a popular football player at Holy Spirit High School and former member of the famed AC Beach Patrol. Figueroa is riding a 10-fight knockout streak.

The 30-year-old Seldon, Jr. is the son of former World Boxing Association (WBA) Heavyweight Champion Bruce Seldon, Sr. (40-8, 36 KOs), known as “The Atlantic City Express” when he fought professionally from 1988 to 2009. Seldon, Jr., who attended Absegami High School, is matched with Zach Calmus (1-1, 1 KO) in a four-rounder.

Rodriguez, 20, has a perfect pro record to date, five victories in five fights, all ending in a knockout. The southpaw has only fought a total of eight rounds, displaying natural power after fighting in The Combat League (TCL) for the Philadelphia Smoke.

The loaded card will also display a bonafide future female title contender, Hawaiian lightweight Shere Mae Patricio (2-0, 1 KO). The 21-year-old Patricio was a gold medal winner at the 2023 USA Women’s National Golden Gloves and 2022 USA Women’s National Championships. She will fight TBA in a four-round encounter.

Boxing Insider Promotions’ power-packed Nov. 16th event at The Trop also has an international flair, as undefeated Italian junior welterweight Giacomo Michels (8-0, 6 KOs) takes on Ronnell “Punisher” Burnett (11-1, 7 KOs) in an eight-round bout. Michels, who fights out of Roma, Lazio, was a standout amateur in Italy, capturing top honors in the 2021 Italian Elite National Championships and U-22 National Championships.

Boxing Insider Promotions promoter Larry Goldberg, an Atlantic City native, is dedicated to bringing boxing back to The Boardwalk. This event will mark his 12th promotion to date, the third in a row at Tropicana Atlantic City in 2024. After holding six boxing events in New York last year, Goldberg was recently selected as Promoter of the Year by the New York State Boxing Hall of Fame.

“It’s amazing to bring local boxing back to Atlantic City with a strong mix of local and regional fighters,” Goldberg said. “I am excited that once again DAZN will be streaming the event and continue showing its commitment to grassroots boxing.”As always, the card is subject to change.

Ticket prices range between $48.00 and $203.50 and are available for purchase online at  https://www.ticketmaster.com/boxing-insider-live-professional-boxing-atlantic-city-new-jersey-11-16-024/event/02006138C81B4F54?_ga=2.165801022.1645432099.1728316789-537326816.1728316789.

An amateur show will be held at Tropicana Atlantic City the following day (Saturday, Nov. 17 – 1-6 pm ET), sanctioned by USA Boxing. Tickets are $40.00 and 100 percent of the proceeds will be donated to the Atlantic City PAL.

INFORMATION:

Website: www.BoxingInsider.com
Facebook: /BoxingInsider
X: @BoxingInsider
Instagram: @boxinginsidercom

Melson to coach charity game; host boxing clinic for recovering heroin addicts

New York, NY (October 23, 2016) – “The Rainmaker” Boyd Melson, a professional boxer and WBC U.S. Boxing Champion, Captain in the U.S. Army Reserve, West Point Graduate, philanthropist, and humanitarian will serve as a coach in the Team Fight To Walk Celebrity Charity Basketball Game and is also hosting a special event to help young adults with addictions.
The game pits a celebrity team against the North Rockland Volunteer Firefighters and takes place Friday, October 28 at North Rockland Hills High School at 7 pm. Members of the celebrity team include former Super Bowl Champions Odessa Turner, Kevin Dockery and Brandon London all of the New York Giants. Other members of the celebrity team include former Giants running backs RJ Cobbs and Billy Taylor along with Harlem Globetrotter great Derek “The Wizz” Murphy.
Melson will coach the celebrity team, and all of the proceeds will benefit Team Fight to Walk’s efforts to cure Spinal Cord Injuries. Tickets can be purchased by going tohttps://www.eventbrite.com/e/team-fight-to-walk-celebrity-basketball-game-tickets-17808173727. Tickets to an autograph signing session will be available at the event.
Two days later, Melson is volunteering his time by organizing and running a boxing clinic for the charity Big Vision at Mendez Boxing Gym in New York City. Big Vision was established as a 501c3 Non-Profit with the mission of helping young adults with addictions. Big Vision conducts constructive events for their members to participate in pretty much on a monthly basis. These positive events, surrounded by other battling addictions, helps to serve as an escape from the environment that traditionally leads to drug relapses. This past May of 2016, Melson volunteered his time and conducted a boxing workshop for Big Vision at Mendez Boxing Gym.
Last month, Melson told Eve Goldberg, founder of Big Vision, that he wants to help again by conducting another boxing clinic at Mendez for them. Helping Melson with the event will be charismatic heavyweight contender Jarrell “Big Baby” Miller, WBC Women’s Champion Alicia “The Empress” Napoleon and Jose Guzman. The clinic will host 20-30 adults between the ages of 19-30. It will be approximately three hours and include a full workout, workshop, constructive events and motivational speeches. Goldberg, whose son passed away from an overdose, will provide a heartfelt speech to conclude the event.
“I’m extremely pleased to help two causes near and dear to my heart,” said Melson, who returns to the ring November 19 and is donating his purse to help combat the heroin epidemic on Staten Island. “Raising funds and awareness is crucial for the clinical trial. The clinical trial I have fought and risked my life now for almost 6 years is on track receive its FDA approval here in the US sometime next summer. it is that close to happening here in our own country. In regard to helping human beings, especially young human beings, with their battle to overcome their addictions to drugs, I have chosen to take a highly proactive approach.”
“I came out of retirement to use my platform as a professional athlete to bring attention to the heroin epidemic in Staten Island specifically. It is not in my nature nor my character to stand by and do nothing to help fellow human beings when I believe I can help. Heroin seems to be the drug that is killing human beings at the greatest frequency, so that is where I am focusing most of my attention.”
“Staten Island is the borough that is being beaten down the greatest by heroin, and Staten Island is the only borough after Brooklyn that was part of my childhood. I had a meeting with the Staten Island DA last month to discuss bringing Big Vision to Staten Island. The DA shared that 74 people were reported as dead from heroin overdoses in Staten Island since January 1st, and I’ve joined the fight to do whatever I can do to keep former addicts clean while helping those with serious addiction overcome it. I have chosen to now put myself in harms way so that I can bring attention to this plague in Staten Island. I have chosen to literally fight for Staten Island. My family has a history of addiction and finding the cure for paralysis has been one of the most important things in my life for more than a decade.”

Cruiserweight Emilio Salas Ready to Represent New York vs. Detroit in ‘Detroit Brawl’ Main Event this Saturday

After getting knocked out a minute and a half into his professional boxing debut, cruiserweight Emilio Salas had to be wondering if a career change was in order.
But Salas shook off the embarrassment, and when he and now-fiancé Krystal Velez moved to Yonkers, New York, and he hooked up with trainer Jose Guzman, fortunes began to change.
Salas (5-1-1, 3 KOs) hasn’t lost a fight since and is now appearing in his first main event, a six-round cruiserweight main event against Detroit’s Demetrius Banks (6-0, 4 KOs) on Saturday May 14, in Banks’ backyard of the Masonic Temple in Downtown Detroit.
The pair will be headlining promoter Dmitriy Salita’s “Detroit Brawl” event that also features a six-round co-main event between undefeated bantamweight James Gordon Smith (9-0, 6 KOs) and Mexico’s Pablo Cupul (8-19, 5 KOs).
Tickets for “Detroit Brawl” are on sale now and are priced at $28, $38, $63, $93, $100 and $123. They are available at all Ticketmaster outlets, ticketmaster.com, by calling 800-745-3000or by visiting the Masonic Temple box office.
“I have gotten a lot better with the trainers over here and I’ve had a lot more success,” admitted Salas. “I’m a southpaw with fast hands and I move around well and I punch hard with both hands. But one of my biggest things I have is heart. You have to want to fight and have heart and I do.”
Although he says he doesn’t know much about Banks, Salas says it’s ok because he prefers to figure an opponent out in the ring. “Normally once I get in there, I can tell what a fighter’s weaknesses are. He’s undefeated and I’ll be fighting in his hometown, but the people I have fought have almost all been undefeated and I’ve beaten them, so this is nothing different and I am not scared to fight him in Detroit. Most of my fights are in my opponent’s backyard. I really don’t know what to expect. I’m training hard for it and I hope for the best.”
Salas’s nickname in the ring is “El Jibaro,” which is slang for a country hick. “They call me that because I was born and raised in area of Puerto Rico where there is lots of forest and not many houses and people are sort of poor. It means I’m from the jungle. I like to do real Puerto Rican things like working with animals and riding horses. I love Puerto Rico and I dedicate all my; fights to my family and to the people of Puerto Rico. My goal is to win a world title so that I can take it back to my hometown in PR and show that my first fight wasn’t the last one. I want to show them that whatever you want to do in life you can make it happen if you work hard enough.”
Salas caught promoter Dmitriy Salita’s eye early last year, fighting to a draw against one of Salita’s fighters, Ytalo Perea, a former Olympian.
“Emilio is very naturally talented,” said Salita. “He only had about 20 amateur fights and seven as a pro and he’s already a very good fighter. If he continues to develop and improve, he will soon become a force in the division.”
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Also featured that night will be Russian cruiserweight Alexey Zubov (10-1, 6 KOs) will look to bounce back from his first career loss by taking on the capable Ernest Reyna (8-3, 4 KOs) of Corpus Christi, Texas, in a six-rounder. And in four-round welterweight bout between undefeated fighters, Turkmenabat, Turkmenistan’s Serdar Hudayberdiyev (1-0, 1 KO) will face Marco Russell (1-0-1) of Henderson, Nevada.
In a six-round super middleweight scrap, Detroit’s super middleweight James Ballard (6-0, 3 KOs) will face Chicago’s Edgar Perez (6-18, 3 KOs); Detroit middleweight Darrell Van Horn (8-0, 5 KOs) will go against Torreon, Mexico’s Francisco Reza (13-17, 10 KOs) in a four-rounder; East Pointe, Michigan, cruiserweight Clarence Dubose (2-0, 2 KOs) will battle pro debuting Jovan Blakely of Detroit in a four-round battle; and Brooklyn via Georgia super lightweight Giorgi Gelashvili (3-0, 2 KOs) will face Jackson, Michigan’s Alfred Hall (4-11-2, 2 KOs) in a four-round bout.
Fight card subject to change.
Salita is also proud to announce that Detroit’s premier casino has once-again agreed to sponsor, along with some new local businesses including Thomas Magee’s Sporting House Whiskey Bar and its proprietor, Erik Olson.
Your downtown playground, Greektown Casino Hotel is consistently voted Detroit’s Best Casino. Located right in the hub of the historic Greektown district it’s impossible to be any closer to the action. No matter what you want to play, Greektown Casino Hotel has your non-stop gaming action. From the newest slots and table games to live poker, Greektown Casino Hotel has 100,000 square feet of exciting, action-packed choices and so many thrilling ways to win!
Greektown Casino Hotel features a 30-story hotel with 400 stunning guestrooms and suites devoted to your comfort. And for your culinary needs, you can savor eclectic cuisine at one of their outstanding restaurants: Prism, Bistro 555 and The Market District.
For your special event or corporate gathering, Greektown Casino Hotel offers impeccable service in addition to a variety of exceptional spaces to help make your event an unforgettable experience.
Thomas Magee’s Sporting House Whiskey Bar offers patrons an old-school sports and whiskey bar in Downtown Detroit’s Eastern Market district. Thomas Magee’s prides itself on providing every sport, every game, and every fight, plus great beer and whiskey!
For event information, visit themasonic.com  and  SalitaPromotions.com  
On fight night, doors open at 6:30.
 
For more information on the “Detroit Brawl” or Salita Promotions, visit www.salitapromotions.com. The Greektown Casino Hotel is located at 555 E Lafayette Street in Detroit. For more information, visit them online at greektowncasino.com. Twitter: @GreektownCasino.
Thomas Magee’s Sporting House Whiskey Bar is located at 1408 E Fisher Service Drive in Detroit. For more information, call 313-263-4342 or visit their official Facebook page: