PHILADELPHIA (DECEMBER 30, 2013)–On Friday night, January 31st, Joey Eye Boxing Promotions will present a great night of championship boxing at Harrahs Philadelphia.
In the main event, it will be a battle of two of the most popular fighters in the Philadelphia area as Tony “Boom Boom” Ferrante takes on Anthony Caputo Smith in a ten round battle for the Pennsylvania state Cruiserweight championship.
Ferrante of Philadelphia has a record of 12-4 with 7 knockouts and at age 29, he has a lot to prove.
He won his first nine bouts which included a 5th round stoppage over Anthony Pietrantonio (6-1).
After suffering his 1st two defeats to Chuck Mussachio (15-1-2) and Ronson Frank (15-0. Ferrante went on to score three consecutive stoppages before dropping fights to former world title challenger Omar Sheika and Dhafir Smith.
In his last bout, Ferrante knocked out previously undefeated Isa Akberbayev (10-0) in the 10th round of their January 19, 2013 at The Theater at Madison Square Garden.
Unfortunately that bout was controversially changed to a no-contest.
This will be Ferrante’s 5th appearance at Harrahs
Caputo Smith of Kennett Square, PA has a record of 14-2 with 10 knockouts.
Caputo won his first 13 bouts while building up a large fan base in the Philadelphia / Delaware area. After suffering his 1st defeat, Caputo won the Pennsylvania State Light heavyweight championship with a 10 round majority decision over Dhafir Smith on May 4, 2013.
That win facilitated a high profile fight that saw Caputo get stopped in 3 rounds against undefeated Seanie Monaghan (18-0) on October 12, 2013 as part of the Timothy Bradley – Juan Manuel Marquez televised Pay Per View undercard in Las Vegas.
In the exciting eight round co-feature, currant Pennsylvania Lightweight champion and undefeated Naim “The Dream” Nelson will take on battle tested Christian Steele in a non-title bout.
Nelson of Philadelphia has a record of 10-0 with 1 knockout.
The 23 year old Nelson has quality victories over Korey Sloane (1-0); Esteban Rodriguez (5-1-1).
On September 14, 2012, Nelson had to get off the canvas to come back and win the Pennsylvania Lightweight title with a thrilling ten round unanimous decision over Victor Vasquez. Since that fight, Nelson has 8 round unanimous decision wins over Osnel Charles and Georgi Kevlishvili.
Steele of Philadelphia has a record of 4-7-1 with 1 knockout.
He has faced 7 undefeated fighters and has had good recent success.
The 25 year-old turned pro in 2011 and has been in the ring with top prospects Jared Robinson (7-0); Anthony Young (4-0); Jose Peralta (9-1-1); Michal Chudecki (5-0) Tyrone Crawley Jr. (3-0) and Rickey Edwards (2-0)
Steele has a draw with undefeated Bobby Hornsby (8-0) big wins over Juan Rodriguez (4-1-1) and undefeated Lonnie Jackson (3-0-1) on December 21st, 2013 in Broomall, PA.
In a six round bout undefeated Super Featherweight Anthony Burgin (5-0, 1 KO) of Philadelphia will see action against an opponent to be named.
In four round bouts:
Anthony Prescott (2-2-1, 1 KO) of Cherry Hill, NJ battles Jose Javier Calderon (4-3-1, 4 KO’s) of Puerto Rico in a Welterweight bout.
Robert Irizarry (0-1) of New Jersey will take on Arthur Parker (1-9-1, 1 KO) of Lancaster, PA in a Featherweight bout.
Fred Jenkins Jr. (6-1, 2 KO’s) of Philadelphia will take part in a Middleweight bout against an opponent to be named.
More bouts will be announced shortly.
Tickets are now on sale for $100 (VIP); $75 (Ringside) and $50 (General Admission) and can be purchased at the Harrahs Philadelphia Gift Shop; By calling Joey Eye (267-304-9399); David
Feldman (610-291-0806); 800-480-8020 or on http://www.webtix.net/
For media credentials and more information, contact:
Marc Abrams at 856 287 7611 or phillyboxing@gmail.com
As in September, I once again ran out of gas in the 10th & 11th championship rounds of October & November with this column, but I recovered to complete them and will unleash a few more flurries to close out the 12th and final round.
In the first week of October, Hassan N’Dam won a UD over Curtis Stevens in an eliminator for the right to challenge Jermaine Taylor who defeated aging Sam Soliman to regain the IBF Middleweight title. How Taylor even earned this title shot is another story altogether, but it is all irrelevant as he is now the champion. However he will not have too much time to savor his victory as he has assault and battery charges pending against him and an upcoming court fight that may turn out to be the toughest fight of his life, just when things started to look up for him in boxing, we wish him luck.
