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KO Drugs championships set for Thursday night
By Greg Gulas
NORTH LIMA
The 27TH annual K.O. Drugs High School Boxing Tournament concludes Thursday with 27 fights on tap at the Shops at North Lima Business Complex, the former South Range High School.
“All of the hard work, training and courage will be on display this week as roughly 50 high school hopefuls climb back into the ring for the last time in this year’s tournament,” tourney founder and director Chuck Nelson said. “As the best meet the very best Thursday night, we greatly look forward to crowning dozens of young men and women as champions in the Mahoning Valley.”
A total of 11 underclass and 10 upperclass titles will be on the line with three female championships also up for grabs.
Three consolation match-ups will get the evening competition underway.
Sixteen fighters will be looking for their third consecutive tournament win; eight in each division with Dominic Martucci of Nechannock and Colten Nitzsky of Jackson-Milton eyeing the upperclass heavyweight belt.
Also sporting two straight wins in upperclass action are Davonte Gist of Beaver Local and Eric Liston of South Range, who will battle for the super middleweight title; junior middleweight Gavin Clark (Lakeview); welterweight Riquan Jones of Farrell and Addison Richards (Youngstown Christian) and Austin Gibson (home school), who will meet for the division’s lightweight crown.
Underclass action will feature three, two-win pairings with bantamweights Portez Smith of Farrell meeting his cousin, Re’yan Hammonds, also of Farrell in the night’s opening title bout.
“It will be a very different feeling going up against my cousin, but we both know what needs to be done if we expect to win a championship belt,” Smith said after last Thursday’s semifinal win over Colin Razor of South Range.
“We both knew this could eventually happen so it’s really no surprise to either of us that we will meet with the title on the line. I’m not looking forward to it, but will continue to work as hard as I have for my first two fights and give it my all,” Hammonds added after scoring a unanimous decision in his semifinal pairing with Youngstown Christian’s Emmanuel Padilla.
Featherweights Kyle West (Canfield) and Jonathan Swoboda (South Range), also 2-0 will follow with the other two-win match-up featuring Devan Treharn of Liberty as he goes up against Richard Palmer of Niles McKinley for the super flyweight belt.
Lightweight Terrance Holloway (Farrell) and David Scyoc of Leetonia, a welterweight whose wins have come by TKO, are also 2-0 in the underclass division.
The two upperclass female battles will feature Alisa Hutter (Boardman) and Amy Scarnecchia (Hubbard) as they go after the welterweight title and Anissa Givens, also of Hubbard when she squares off against East Palestine’s Tori Ward for the featherweight belt.
In female underclass action, Haley Hall, also of East Palestine takes on Nicole Rodriguez of Youngstown Christian for the flyweight crown.
The three-week event, which was open to high school boys and girls in Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties in Ohio, and Lawrence and Mercer counties in Pennsylvania, attracted over 100 entrants with 40 different high schools represented.
Championship bouts are comprised of three, one-minute rounds with a one-minute break between rounds.
The winner receives a championship belt while runners-up in each weight class receive trophies.
Tickets are $9 for students and $15 for adults and will be available at the door the n night of the fight.
Doors open at 6 p.m. with the first bout hitting the bell at 7 p.m.
Further information can be obtained by calling Nelson at 330-423-2203 or his son, Pat, at 330-727-0932.