Friday, June 15, 2001
Among fighters on the card are Youngstown's James McClendon and Warren's E.T. Whittaker.
By SAL MARINO
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
NILES -- Whoever thought of mixing baseball and boxing together? There are several persons who think it can happen and are making plans for a June 24 event at the Eastwood Expo Center.
The bouts will follow the Mahoning Valley Scrappers game against the Williamport Crosscutters at 2 p.m.
Tickets are $30 for ringside seats and $20 for general admission. Scrappers patrons will receive half off a general admission ticket by showing their game ticket stub at the gate.
"It should be an excellent boxing show," said boxing matchmaker Gregg Augustine. "We have a seven-bout card and a total of 42 rounds of boxing."
There will be two eight-round main events. They will be shared by John "Macho Midget" Bailey, a former West Virginia toughman champion. Bailey, now of Calcutta Ohio, just missed winning the IBC America's title, when he fought a 12-round draw with Frank Houghtailing in the junior welterweight division.
Bailey (17-7-2) will meet John Scalzi (10-10), a veteran from Scranton, Pa., who has fought, among others, Hector Camacho Jr.
In the other eight-round co-main event, Lou Bizzaro Jr., who is coming off an impressive decision over Anthony "Showtime" Shuler at Mountaineer Park, will face James Merriweather (5-4).
One fight that should generate interest is a six-round bout featuring Cedric Johnson (3-2), formerly of Indianapolis, and Marc Norge (6-6) of New Castle, Pa. One of Johnson's losses was to Kelly Pavlik.
"I will be fighting a tough kid, but I really don't care. I am here to do business and let's take it from there. I am ready for a fight and I will be there," said Johnson.
In four-round fight, Youngstown's James McClendon (2-1) will meet Paul Neveles of Akron. McClendon was once ranked third in the world as an amateur.
A junior welterweight, McClendon said, "I am very anxious to get back in action and prove to the people I can fight. I want to get back in action because I do want to get more fights. I have trained hard for this and am going to use this fight to move forward."
Warren's E.T. Whittaker (19-4), scaling around 170 pounds, will meet a tough banger in Kevin Vining (10-6) of Monroe, Mich.
"I am ready for this fight" said Whittaker. "After this fight I have two offers. One is a 10-rounder on ESPN, or a 12-round USBA title fight. I do want the belt. You are going to hear about me with a belt."
Super middleweight Sam Hawkins (1-0) of Toledo will face Micah Acord (0-1) from Huntington, W. Va., in a four-round bout.
Another junior middleweight who sports a lot of ring savvy is Grelton, Ohio's Charlie Howe (10-3). He will meet Bryan Thatcher (5-3) of Huntington, W. Va., in a six-round bout.
The card is sponsored by Cummins Productions and Double G Productions, in conjunction with Superior Beverage, The Radio Center, Scottish Inns, West Side Bakery, Antone's, Jolly Joe's and TR Party Centre.