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Manfredo pursues NABF title tonight |
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Friday, 22 August 2008 |
By ERIC BENEVIDES
Sports writer
LINCOLN ---- The title belt would be nice. Same goes for a climb in the world rankings.
Peter Manfredo Jr. will vie for the vacant interim North American Boxing Federation (NABF) super middleweight championship and what he hopes will be a boost in the World Boxing Council rankings tonight when “The Pride of Providence” opposes Donny “The Savage” McCrary of St. Joseph, Missouri in the 12-round main event of Classic Entertainment & Sports, Inc.’s “August Annihilator” show at the Twin River Events Center.
"(Winning) a title would be nice," the Manfredo’s Gym product, who is ranked 20th in the WBC, said at Thursday afternoon’s weigh-in at Twin River’s “Catch A Rising Star” club. "It's nice to have for your kids and the fans that come to see you fight, and it shows kids that if you can do anything in life, you can become a champion. It's nice for those purposes, but the bottom line is to get up in the rankings, become a world champion, and make money for your family."
It’s been 4 1/2 years since Manfredo Jr. (30-5, 15 KOs) claimed a championship fight. On Jan. 23, 2004, he recorded a sixth-round knockout of Sherwin Davis in their battle of unbeaten junior middleweights to win the North American Boxing Organization (NABO) title at Foxwoods Resorts Casino.
Five months later. he defended his championship with a convincing 12-round unanimous-decision victory over Anthony Bonsante at the Rhode Island Convention Center, but a month later, he relinquished his belt so he could join the inaugural “Contender” reality TV show on NBC and compete with 15 middleweight boxers for the $1 million grand prize.
Speaking of the “Contender” show, Manfredo will be fighting an alumnus from last year’s “Contender III” series on ESPN and a familiar face in McCrary, who is 24-7-2 (13 KOs) and ranked 13th in the North American Boxing Association (NABA) and 16th in the North American Boxing Federation (NABF) rankings.
Manfredo, who had McCrary as a sparring partner before his fight with Jeff Lacy last December in Las Vegas, was quick to note that McCrary is a tough customer who comes to fight, but also added that he’s in excellent shape and well-prepared for the battle that awaits him.
"I'm in the best shape I could be in," added Manfredo, who weighed in at 168 pounds while McCrary tipped the scales at 166. "I feel real good. I'm real sharp and real strong and I don't think anyone can be in the ring with me right now. Donny's a good fighter, but he's just not going to be good enough tomorrow night."
Manfredo Jr. will be joined on the card by two of his Manfredo’s Gym stablemates, middleweight sensation Edwin “La Bomba” Rodriguez of Worcester, Mass. and junior middleweight Jesus Caro of Providence. Rodriguez will fight Marcus Upshaw (8-2, 3 KOs) of Jacksonville, Fla. in a six-round test, and Caro will look to spoil the pro debut of Clarence Smith of Brooklyn, N.Y. in a four-rounder.
Rodriguez, a two-time U.S. National amateur champion, turned pro in mid-January and rattled off seven straight victories in a five-month span that included five knockouts and an impressive six-round unanimous-decision victory in his last fight on June 28 in Boston over Hector Hernandez (10-2-2). Caro turned pro in the spring and won his debut on May 17 with an opening-round TKO of Levaniel King in Dorchester, Mass.
The co-feature is a six-round super middleweight battle between Providence product Joey “The K.O. Kid” Spina (22-1-1, 15 KOs) and Las Vegas native Jim “Steel Chin” Strohl (27-6, 21 KOs). Spina, who trained in Las Vegas in 2006 and ’07, and Strohl are also familiar with each other, but weren’t cordial with each other at the weigh-in.
Spina, who just turned 31, is a former WBC USNBC (U.S. National Boxing Council) and International Boxing Federation (IBF) Intercontinental champion and ranked 12th in the World Boxing Organization (WBO) and 13th in the IBF, and Strohl is a 36-year-old former heavyweight who won the International Boxing Council (IBC) Americans title in 1998.
Also on the card is a six-round middleweight duel between Angel Camacho Jr. (10-0, 4 KOs) of Johnston and Ariel Espinal (6-3-2, 2 KOs) of Brooklyn, N.Y. via the Dominican Republic. and a six-round light heavyweight battle between Richard “Bobo The Bull” Starnino (9-4-1, 2 KOs) of Providence and “Irish” Joey McCreedy (8-2, 5 KOs) of Lowell, Mass.
CES’s newest female addition, former world featherweight title challenger Sandy “Lil’ Tyson” Tasgouris (7-1, 3 KOs) of Toronto, will also fight Tampa, Fla.’s Adawirky Lopez (1-0), a gold medalist at the Pan-Am Games, and junior light welterweight Omar Pena of Providence, a nine-time New England Golden Gloves champion who is trained by Gary “Tiger” Balletto, will make his pro debut by taking on Rasool Shakoor (1-3, 1 KO) of Jackson, Miss.
Balletto will also be inducted into the prestigious CES “Ring of Honor” during a special ceremony before the main event. Balletto, a native of Providence, fought from 1996-2006 and posted a 31-3-2 (26 KOs) record that saw him capture an International Boxing Union (IBU) lightweight title in 2003 and star on the “Contender II” series in ’06.
CES promoter Jimmy Burchfield noted at the weigh-in that less than 100 tickets are available for tonight’s show. There are $75, $100, and a limited number of standing-room-only tickets on sale and can be purchased by calling CES (724-2253/2254) or visiting the Twin River Events Center or Players Club Booth and any TicketMaster location.
The doors open at 6 p.m. and the opening bout is slated for 7 p.m. Twin River has also waived its 18+ rule for the show, and anyone under the age of 18 must be accompanied at all times by an adult and must enter the Events Center through the west entrance.
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Last Updated ( Saturday, 30 August 2008 )
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