Championship bouts set in tourney
There will be 45 bouts Thursday and Friday at Struthers Fieldhouse.
By GREG GULAS
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
STRUTHERS -- With four weeks of competition now a fading memory, the championship and consolation pairings are set in the 19th Annual K.O. Drugs Boxing Tourney.
Forty-five action-packed bouts are slated for Thursday and Friday at the Struthers Fieldhouse.
Twenty-two will be decided Thursday in the upperclass and female divisions with the rest in the underclass and female divisions set for Friday.
"We're obviously pleased with the tournament to date," said Chuck Nelson, tourney director and founder. "We've had the highest turnout of fighters taking part, fans in attendance and sponsorships this year and that really pleases us.
"With over 40 champions and runners-up yet to be decided, we're quite pleased that there hasn't been any serious [injury] en route to these final two nights of competition.
"The stage has now been set and we believe that the best fights are yet to come," Nelson said.
Of note is the fact that the rounds for championship fights have been increased from 45 seconds to a minute in duration, and from 35 seconds to 45 seconds for bouts in the female division.
All consolation bouts will remain 45 seconds in length.
A championship belt will be awarded to the winner with a trophy to be presented to all runners-up.
Thursday
There will be five consolation bouts Thursday in the super flyweight, middleweight, welterweight, super welterweight and super middleweight classes.
The first title fight of the night will take place in the female division where Sara Fusco (2-0) of Keystone will take on Lynne Copanic (1-1) of Struthers for the featherweight crown.
In upperclass division action, the '05 underclass lightweight champion, Don Zarbaugh (2-1) of McDonald will meet Jimmy Nelson (2-0) of East Liverpool for the lightweight crown while last year's underclass champs, Bryan Chaidez (2-1, Chaney) in the welterweight class and Jeremy Keffer (3-0, Boardman) in the super middleweight class, will do battle for this year's super welterweight title.
Bryan Pegues (3-0) of Ursuline will battle Derek Hedrick (2-1) of East Liverpool with the hopes of defending his super middleweight crown of a year ago.
Paul Perry (2-0) of Girard, the reigning cruiserweight champ, is set to take on South Range's William Bowden (2-0), last year's underclass heavyweight titlist as they battle for this year's cruiserweight belt.
In junior cruiserweight action, last year's upperclass middleweight titlist, Travis Smith (2-2) of Salem, will take on Don Holovatick (1-1) of Poland.
Last year's underclass super heavyweight champion, Jarrod Reynolds (2-0) of Liberty, is set to battle Dan Anness (2-1) of Struthers for this year's heavyweight belt.
Also from Struthers, Mike Duponty (2-0), the 2004 Underclass Division light heavyweight champ, will meet Robbie Porter (2-1) of Niles for this year's super cruiserweight crown.
Friday
Action will continue in the female division where nine champions will be crowned while in the underclass division, 14 belts are set to be awarded to individual champions.
In the female division, last year's featherweight titlist and Tri-County champion, Stephanie Sahli (2-0) of Struthers, is set to take on Miranda "Boom Boom" Spottleson (2-0) of Cardinal Mooney for this year's lightweight crown.
Last year, Sahli defeated Spottleson for the featherweight crown.
Other belts to be decided in the female class include flyweight, bantamweight, super bantamweight, super lightweight, welterweight, middleweight, super middleweight and cruiserweight classes.
In underclass division action, Keith Nunez of Campbell Memorial and Eric Ocheltree of Mathews will put their unblemished 2-0 marks on the line when they battle for this year's super cruiserweight title.
Doing the same will be Josh Hertel (Columbiana) and Mike Peters (Mercer) in the super middleweight class, Andrew Fricker (Girard) and Nick Elmo (Boardman) in the junior middleweight class and Chris Lorimer (Boardman) and Jordan Johnson (Austintown Fitch) in the featherweight class.
Also 2-0 is Chris Nicopolis (Champion), Colby Clayton (Boardman) and Dave Nehlen (Brookfield) as they go after light heavyweight, welterweight and cruiserweight crowns respectively.
In addition to awarding 40 title belts and five consolation crowns, a "Most Promising Boxer" award will be presented in all three divisions.
The fights each night will begin at 7 p.m.