Giuriceo on fight card at Cleveland State tonight

YOUNGSTOWN — Campbell light-welterweight Jake Giuriceo, now of Struthers, will be one of the two swing bouts scheduled on tonight’s pro boxing card at Cleveland State University.

The main event on ESPN2 will be a 10-round junior middleweight fight between Akron’s Shawn Porter (12-0) and Russell Jordan.

Keith Burnside, Giuriceo’s trainer, said his fighter may make the TV portion of the card, which begins at 9 p.m.

“Hopefully, we’ll get on,” Burnside said of the TV opportunity, whether before or after Porter-Jordan. “If Porter wins by KO, we’ll be on after that.”

Giuriceo (5-0-1) is listed as the first of two swing bouts, his trainer said.

“He’s 145 pounds now and in great shape,” Burnside said of Giuriceo, who will fight James Ventry (8-10-1) of Canada in a six-rounder in the range of 140-143 pounds.

“He’s had a lot of sparring,” Burnside said of Giuriceo’s rounds with Campbell’s Chris Hazimihalis of Southside Boxing and Tommy Joseph of the Downtown Gym.

Hazimihalis was slated to fight tonight, but a bout didn’t materialize.

Giuriceo was supposed to meet Sam Gibson of Indiana before Gibson dropped out.

Burnside said that Ventry has fought in Madison Square Garden as well as several times in California.

“He’s a rugged kid and it’ll be a good test,” Burnside said. “They wanted good fights for ESPN, so they weren’t picking easy wins.”

Burnside said that Ventry has been knocked out twice, but he’s more likely to go the distance.

“They found Ventry for us on Monday night,” Burnside said of the fighter from Niagara Falls.

Jake’s last fight was two months ago — on the Kelly Pavlik-Miguel Espino undercard at Beeghly Center in mid-December.

At that time, Giuriceo drew with Henri White of Cleveland.

“He had a tough fight with White, which I felt Jake won,” Burnside said of the majority draw outcome that was scored even by two judges and in Giuriceo’s favor by the third judge.

White, who was 4-4-2 at the time, beat Pavlik as an amateur.

“Jake doesn’t want to go through score cards again,” Burnside said. “He’s trained hard. He wants to leave no doubt this time.”

Tickets, ranging from $28-$103, are still on sale. The first fight is scheduled to start at 7 p.m.