|
Pawtucket's Soto fights for EBA title on Feb. 6 |
|
|
Friday, 16 January 2009 |
By ERIC BENEVIDES
Sports writer
PROVIDENCE --- Eddie Soto is looking to make up for lost time. A championship belt would certainly be a step in the right direction.
The Pawtucket resident and talented lightweight will fight Sean Eklund of Lowell, Mass. in a six-round showdown for the EBA (Eastern Boxing Association) New England title on Friday, Feb. 6 on the undercard of Classic Entertainment & Sports, Inc.’s “February Frenzy” show at the Twin River Event Center.
The eight-round main event features Providence light heavyweight Joey “The K.O. Kid” Spina (23-1-1, 16 KOs) taking on Missouri native Steve “The Spoiler” Walker (22-19, 16 KOs), but there promises to be plenty of interest among area fight fans in Soto’s quest for his first championship.
The 32-year-old Soto, who last fought last Nov. 29 at Twin River and recorded a four-round unanimous decision victory over Blake Franklin of Shreveport, La., will take a 10-0 (4 KOs) record into this clash against Eklund, who is 6-2 (1 KO) and trained by his uncle, former WBU (World Boxing Union) light welterweight champion “Irish” Micky Ward.
“I’m very excited and I can’t wait for Feb. 6,” Soto added at Thursday’s press conference at Dave & Buster’s inside the Providence Place Mall. “It’s always good to fight near your hometown and show my people what I have. I’m pretty sure he’s going to come over here and try to upset me in front of my crowd, but it’s not going to happen. No one’s going to knock on my door and do that.”
“I’m training hard and I’m expecting a really tough fight from Eddie,” said Eklund. “He’s 10-0, so he’s got to be doing something right.”
While no one has been able to stop Soto in his 3½-year pro career, some bad luck outside the ring was able to slow him down and allow him to step into the ring only three times in the past two years.
Two summers ago, shortly after winning a four-round rematch with Felisberto Fernandes of Brockton, Mass., Soto fell 40 feet off a roof he was trying to help fix, and while the injuries from the fall weren’t severe (“I ended up breaking three of my ribs and I was on crutches for a long time.”), they were bad enough to sideline him for the rest of 2007.
But Soto was able to bounce back in time for a Feb. 15 fight at the Mohegan Sun Arena against veteran Jason Jordan of Akron, Ohio. Soto wasn’t 100 percent for the fight, but he was still able to win a four-round majority decision by scores of 36-40, 37-39, and 38-38.
“I always say that God’s my creator, and He was there and stood up for me when I had that accident,” added Soto. “I don’t know how I healed so quickly, but I was very excited that my ribs recovered that fast. I went back to the gym and did some sparring to test my ribs, and they felt pretty good.”
Soto had another bout lined up for the summer at Twin River, but he had an illness weeks before the fight that wiped out those plans. He eventually came back to fight Franklin and put on an impressive performance that helped land his upcoming title bout against a very tough customer in Eklund.
“From what I’ve heard about him, he’s a great fighter,” said Soto. “I heard he’s very fast, he has a very good jab, and he likes to move around. It’s going to be a tough fight, but I feel very good and I’ve been training very hard for it. This is a brand new year and this is a year for me to shine.”
Soto won’t be the only local fighter in action. Junior welterweight Jesus Caro, a native of Providence and a product of Manfredo’s Gym in Pawtucket, will take a 3-0 (3 KOs) mark into a four-round test against Olade “One Shot” Thomas (1-3) of Brooklyn. N.Y.
Caro is hoping to build on a very successful ’08 debut that saw him turn pro in the spring, score opening-round TKOs of Levaniel King on May. 17 and Clarence Smith on Aug. 22, and cap the year with a second-round knockout of Jose Velazquez on. Nov. 13.
Cano’s stablemate at Manfredo’s Gym, middleweight Edwin “La Bomba” Rodriguez of Worcester, Mass., will take an 8-0 record (5 KOs) into his first eight-round fight against Brad Austin (8-5, 2 KOs) of Johnson City, Tenn. on Saturday at the Beau Rivage Resort Casino in Biloxi, Miss.
Rodriguez, a former two-time national amateur champion who turned pro last January and kicked off his career with a first-round TKO of Samuel Ortiz Gomez on Jan. 26, will contest Austin on the off-televised HBO undercard that is headlined by the Andre Berto-Luis Collazo WBC (World Boxing Council) welterweight title fight.
In another Feb. 6 battle at Twin River, Providence fan favorite Bobo “The Bull” Starnino (9-4-2, 2 KOs) will renew acquaintances with Lowell’s “Irish” Joey McCreedy (9-2-1,
5 KOs) in the eight-round co-feature for the EBA super middleweight championship. The two fought to a spirited draw last Aug. 22 at Twin River.
Also on the undercard is a six-round cruiserweight contest between Adam “The Hitman” Harris (10-0, 7 KOs) of Worcester and David Williams (5-2-1, 2 KOs) of Philadelphia and a four-round super middleweight fight between Brian Macy (5-0, 2 KOs) of Ledyard, Conn. and Steve Detar (8-9-1, 1 KO) of Brockton.
Warwick super middleweight Keith Kozlin (2-0, 1 KO), Worcester heavyweight Rashad Minor (1-0, 1 KO), and Providence cruiserweight Jay Holland, who will make his pro debut, will also appear in four-round bouts against opponents to be determined.
Tickets for the show are priced at $25 (standing room only), $35, $45, $65, $100, and $150 (Jimmy’s Platinum Club) and available by calling CES (724-2253/2254), going online at www.cesboxing.com or www.twinriver.com, or visiting the Players Club booth at Twin River or any TicketMaster location.
The door open at 5:30 p.m. and the first bout is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Twin River has also waived its 18+ rule for the show. Anyone under the age of 18 must be accompanied at all times by an adult and enter through the West entrance.
|
|
Last Updated ( Wednesday, 21 January 2009 )
|
Best wishes to the Tigers tonight in the SuperBowl! - Celeste Swaim-Black
Good Luck to the Woodlawn basketball teams in their CYO
games this weekend!! - From all the coach's I wish the best to the Warriors on Saturday game keep up the
great work team. George Carle auntie Ne-Ne is proud Happy hoildays from The Carle &
Pettaway Family........
Good Luck Girls Basketball Tolman Tigers lets kick some
courts... YEA JENNA !!!!!Keep it going!! - Carols Ayala go sentinells THE CHAMPIONS ON ICE DIVISON 2 VINNIE (TEDDY
BEAR) TUDINO.LOVE POPA - Anthony Paolino
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Horoscope
