The evening card of another Granite Chin day-night doubleheader (separate admissions) is headlined by the 10-round main event for the vacant NABA United States Heavyweight Championship between Vukosa (13-1, 5 คอส) who will possibly be fighting for the final time – win, สูญเสียหรือวาด — and reigning New England heavyweight champion Marshall.
Vukosa, fighting of out Quincy, แมสซาชูเซต, is a former WBC U.S. Heavyweight Champion, which he captured in 2019 when he won an 8-round unanimous decision against Joe Cusumano (18-2, 16 คอส). During his 20-year pro boxing career, Vukosa’s gained invaluable experience sparring at the famed Wild Card Boxing gym in Los Angeles as a sparring partner for world champions เจมส์ Toney, Evander Holyfield และ Wladimir Klitschko. He’s also driven a bus for the past 15 years for the Mass Bay Transportation Authority, เริ่มต้นที่ 4 p.m. and finishing around 2 เอเอ็ม, after which he does his run in. But he’s now 44 with a wife and three children and his boxing clock is ticking.
“I’m still fighting because I love it,” Vukosa explained. “It’s hard to walk away from something you’re good at. This one fight and it could be the end. My wife will be happy. My body is starting to fall apart: มือ, back and knees. They’ve been killing me. I used to be quick and fast, now I’m slow. I just want to have a good fight, ชนะ, or lose, but I want to win. I really enjoyed by days at Wild Card, those sparring sessions were like real fights, and my amateur days with trainer Jimmy Farrell.
“I saw my opponent when he won the New England title, I was impressed. (โปรโมเตอร์)คริส (Traietti) called asking if I’d fight him, I accepted because I like to fight and a good challenge. I’m looking forward to the fight.”
The 36-year-old Marshall, fighting out of Danbury, CT, has won his last two fights, both on Granite Chin shows at the same venue as his upcoming match with Vukosa, including his N.E. title-winning performance last November against Justin “Crazy Train” Rolfe. Marshall isn’t looking at his opponent as over the hill because of Vukosa’s advance age, but he does plan to make a statement that, หวังว่า, will get him positive exposure outside of New England.
“I know he’s a veteran pugilist, a pupil of Hall of Fame trainer แมลงสาบเฟรดดี้, who was an awesome fighter in his own right,” Marshall remarked. “This is boxing, อะไรจะเกิดขึ้น. My job is to prepare for anything. I’ve had the best quality sparring in house with the No. 1 amateur heavyweight, Fernely Felix, จูเนียร์. My team works very hard, My manger, A.J. Galante, asked me to be sharper in my last fight (3-round KO of Tracey Johnson this past April), so I did what he asked me to do. My cornerman Austin Ampeoquio keeps me sharp with the mitts, and my head coaches David McDonough และ Bennie ‘The Jet’ Little do a good job pushing me as well.
“I know Steve comes to fight and I’m looking forward to an exciting night of boxing. We are two warriors going toe-to-toe in the ring, putting on a show for boxing fans who really enjoy the sport of boxing, not this YouTube celebrity garbage that’s going on right now.”
“Steve ran into some bad luck after the Cusumano win,” Granite Chin president Chris Traietti commented. “A few fights fell through, then the COVID-19 pandemic hit. We literally had a fight in Germany fall out the day we were set to leave for the airport. After that we lost a lot of the steam from the Cusamano fight and kind of had to reassess. He picked up a tune-up fight a few months ago, but we now have to either regain some momentum by winning a fight like this or finally have Steve ride off into the sunset. This fight with Marshall will be no picnic. He has burst upon the local scene with some impressive performances.
“Like many coming to the fight, I have no idea how this fight shakes out, which makes for a great main event. One thing I will say, despite what Steve like to make people believe, in the event he wins this fight, it won’t be his final fight. Zero chance of that! If Marshall wins, I have no doubt he will get a television fight in the very near future on a major network.”
In the 8-round co-featured event, former N.E. heavyweight champion Rolfe (5-2-1, 4 คอส), แฟร์ฟิลด์, ผม, will takes on Mexican challenger Jose Humberto “Olimpico” Corral (20-26, 12 คอส) for the vacant ABF Atlantic heavyweight title.
New England welterweight champion Mike “Bad Man” Ohan, จูเนียร์. (12-1, 6 คอส), fighting out of Holbrook, แมสซาชูเซต, will defend his title in an 8-round match against upset-mindedTyrone“ Hands of Stone” Luckey (13-14-4 (9 คอส).
Undefeated Holyoke, แม่น้ำหนักนักมวยปล้ำ Denzel “Double Impact” Whitley (4-0, 3 คอส) will be in his first scheduled 6-rounder versus Anthony Andreozzi (0-1), of Swansea, แมสซาชูเซต. Indianapolis junior welterweight Dewayne Wisdom will be in his 66th pro fight against เนลสัน "ชิโน" เปเรซ (2-0, 2 คอส) in a 6-rounder.
Also slated to be in action on the undercard, all in 4-round bouts, is Weymouth, แม่น้ำหนักนักมวยปล้ำ Eric “Gladiator” Goff (1-0) vs. Aquilando Brandao (0-3), Holyoke junior middleweight Carlos Abel Castillo (1-0, 1 KO) vs. Jay Gregory (0-3), วูเบิร์น, MA middleweight Julien “Black Dragon” Baptiste (2-0, 2 คอส) vs. โรดริโกอัลเมดา (2-10, 2 คอส), รามิงแฮม, MA รุ่นไลท์เฮฟวี่เวท Saul “Spider” Almeida (0-13-4) vs. โปรเปิดตัว Steve Sumpter, อเรนซ์, MA junior lightweight Kevin Rodriguez (0-1) ใบหน้า Ryan Venable (2-4), พ่ายแพ้ Puerto Rican ซูเปอร์มิดเดิ้ Jelame การ์เซีย (7-0, 6 คอส) vs. Larry “Slo Mo” Smith (12-47-2, 8 คอส), and Worcester’s (แมสซาชูเซต) 3-time New England Golden Gloves champion Demek “Hightower” Edmonds (1-0, 1 KO) vs. โปรเปิดตัว Wallace Nass Silva.
The pro segment of the afternoon’s Pro-Am card will be headlined by ABF Atlantic Cruiserweight Champion Yan “Wild Thing” Pellerin (11-1, 5 คอส) defending his title against Lewiston, ME challenger Cristiano Pedro, fighting out by way of Angola, in an 8-round fight.
Other pro fights, all 4-rounders, include Canadian heavyweight Alexis Barriere (1-0, 1 KO) vs. New York’s pro-debuting Andrew Nolan, Methuen (แมสซาชูเซต), มวยรุ่นไลท์Andrew Perez in his pro debut vs. Jesus Cintron (1-18-2), สปริงฟิลด์ (แมสซาชูเซต) ที่มีน้ำหนักเบาสุด Ian “Dinamite” Garcia (0-0-1) vs. Andy Aiello (1-4-1), of Bridgewater, แมสซาชูเซต, New York light heavyweight Scott Lampert (1-2, 1 KO) vs. Yhago Goncalves (0-3), of Portsmouth (ผม) by way of Brazil, and Springfield’s pro-debuting super middleweightLaurent Humes vs.pro-debuting Philipe Martins, of Marlborough, แมสซาชูเซต.
The inaugural “Granite Chin Invitational” tournament, pitting some of the best amateur boxers in New England in the semifinals round, in the USA Boxing-sanctioned event during the afternoon portion of the day-night doubleheader. The semifinals winners will advance to the tournament’s championship final August 28th at New England Sports Center.
Some of the top N.E. amateur boxers expected to compete include 2021 USA National Championships gold medalist Arika Skoog, N.E. 2 สมัย. Golden Gloves champion out of Newton (แมสซาชูเซต); 2-time N.E. แชมป์นวมทอง Tashawn Ward, a featherweight from Providence (RI); และ Middleweights James Maner, 2019 ทั้งคู่. Golden Gloves champion from Providence, and 2-time N.E. แชมป์นวมทอง Mike Fontanez, of Nashua (N.H).
ตั๋วมีการขายและมีราคาอยู่ที่ $25.00 (Day Show) / $40.00 (Night Show) for general seating (unassigned). Unassigned ringside seating will be available at $35.00 per seat during the day show. The night show will offer ringside tables (assigned and seats 4) สำหรับ $300.00 and are available to purchase online at www.ticketriver.com(ค้นหา: Granite Chin Invitational for the day show, Breakout for night show).
ประตูเปิดเวลา 12:15 p.m. AND และ 7:15 p.m. และ (คืน) with the first bouts, ตามลำดับ, ที่ 12:30 p.m. AND และ 7:30 p.m. และ.
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