Thursday, August 26, 2010
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BOXING - Ryan Forbes of Cleveland lands a body shot on Arron Defoor during their fight Wednesday night. - Special to The Vindicator/Nick Mays
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BOXING - Jasmen Guerro (red) gets a face full of Shanatia Evans during their bout Wednesday night. - Special to The Vindicator/Nick Mays
By JON MOFFETT
Niles
It wasn’t your average entrees and desserts being served at McMenamy’s Restaurant and Banquet Center on Wednesday night.
Instead, the open-faced roast beef was replaced with knuckle sandwiches to the face. And the ice cream with a dab of whipped cream were replaced with an ice bucket and a jab. And waltzing on the dance floor was replaced with going toe-to-toe in the squared circle.
More than 30 local amateur boxers competed to raise money for the United City Boxing Club in Youngstown. The club was formed last November by former boxer Sam Calderon. The club promotes boxing as a healthy activity to keep inner-city kids off the streets.
Several boxers represented a handful of local gyms. In addition to United City, members of the Warren Athletic Club, Salem Boxing Club and Jack Loew’s South Side Boxing Club. Boxers also came from Cleveland, Akron and Philadelphia.
There were 17 bouts on the card, including two women’s matches. The event was a great way to raise the money, but also to show off for the crowd of several hundred.
Struthers native Frankie Donadio was involved in the first match of the night. He fought Johnny Lowendowski of the Pittsburgh Athletic Club. A member of United City, Donadio had Calderon in his corner for the fight.
But Donadio wound up on the short end of the stick. He lost in a unanimous decision. And while disappointed with his performance, the 42-year-old said he had a good time and was happy to fight for a good cause like Calderon’s gym.
“I think things like this are a good thing,” he said. “They help kids stay out of trouble, and it helps keep me in shape. And it’s a fun thing for the community, too.”
Donadio said he doesn’t even want to think about what kind of trouble some of the younger boxers could get into if they were out of the ring. At least the fighting is controlled within the ropes.
“They get good structure,” he said. “I’ve seen kids come in, and you can just tell they’re from the street. But they start to get more organized, and they start to become a lot different.
“They hold themselves a lot differently, and they’re basically just trying to fit in with everything. And when they do, they find a home there, and that’s a good thing.”
Several of the United City fighters earned the respect of their peers. In perhaps the most controversial match of the night — if that can exist at a charity event — was between a United City fighter and one from South Side Boxing Club.
South Side’s Ronnie Haymel, a Campbell native, fought Youngstown’s Julius Thomas in the event’s 150-pound division. Haymel and Thomas went punch-for-punch in the first round. But it appeared as if Haymel controlled the remainder of the fight. But it was Thomas’ glove that was raised, bringing about the ire of Loew.
Aside from those fireworks, the only other fighting words came from the referees themselves.
One of the more entertaining fights pitted a pair of Campbell fighters. United City boxer Danny Infante defeated Downtown Boxing Club fighter Darrian Reveria in the 201-pound weight class.
The two exchanged punches, with the crowd cheering for every blow to the head and body shot. But it was a stiff left hand from Infante that jettisoned Reveria’s mouthpiece across the ring and dizzied him. The referee stopped the match and declared Infante the winner.
“I feel great. I was just trying to work on my technique at first and see what his weaknesses were,” Infante said. “Once I saw that his left side was his weakest, I hit him with that left hook.”
Infante too said the event was a good thing for the future of the sport. He said he wants to act as a role model for the younger fighters.
“We’re trying to avoid little kids being out in the street selling drugs,” he said. “We’re trying to avoid that situation. So we bring in these kids and we teach them how to box. And we hope they like it so they can do that instead of get into trouble.”