By Mitch Abramson
Somewhere between the bright lights of Las Vegas and the historical influence of Madison Square Garden lives the club boxing show. On Sept. 23, a trio of promotional outfits will continue that club tradition with a boxing card at the Cordon Bleu catering hall in Woodhaven, NY, showcasing a string of reclamation projects, up-and-comers and guys who are just trying to prolong their careers. These are fighters who have had trouble landing fights with some of the sports bigger promoters and are desperate to showcase their talents, according to Moises Roman, a trainer/advisor involved with the card.
“We’re trying to put these guys in the limelight,” said Roman of the Universal Boxing Gym, one of the show’s promoters. “The fighters on this show are all based out of New York, but the New York promoters aren’t giving these guys a chance, so that’s where we come in. We’re not trying to make millions of dollars by doing this show. We’re just trying to help these guys.”
The main event features a rematch between Martin Wright and Mike Ruiz for Wright’s N.Y. State welterweight title. Wright (10-1-2) won the title in May by split decision; since losing that fight, Ruiz, a tough, hard-nosed, all-action fighter from Long Island, has won three straight fights against opponents who have a combined record of 5-100-1, which is either a misprint by boxrec or an incredible case of matchmaking on the part of Ruiz’s handlers. In any event, that’s the main event.
The card, promoted by Universal Boxing, Old World Boxing, and New Legend Boxing, with matchmaking by Felipe Gomez, is also a vehicle for a number of young fighters hoping to make a name. Joe Smith Jr., the former NY Golden Gloves champ, who suffered a broken jaw in August of last year in a loss to Eddie Caminero, is hoping to win his second straight fight since that disappointment. Smith (7-1, seven knockouts) is a highly entertaining fighter with power in both hands and is being matched against an opponent that has yet to be determined. Also on the card is a rematch between Jonathan Cuba (5-3-1) and Ariel Duran (7-2-1) for the vacant NY State 135-pound title.
They fought to a draw for the vacant NY Title in June of this year, and their rematch is the show’s co-feature. The undefeated junior middleweight, Kevin Rooney Jr. (2-0) has also been added to the card.
For Roman, who trains both Cuba and Ruiz, the motivation for doing such a card is simple:
“We’re trying to bring boxing to how it used to be here in New York,” he said. “There aren’t any fighters coming out of New York anymore. These guys are all coming out of Las Vegas, so we're trying to build these guys to be good pros and bring back boxing to New York.”
Mitch Abramson covers boxing for the New York Daily News and BoxingScene.com.