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by David P. Greisman - I stood in a Massachusetts concert hall. So did 1,129 others, rising from their seats in response to the action in the ring.
A regular at New England boxing shows might have recognized three of the 12 names on the card. Someone who follows boxing closely might have heard of just one, the headliner, Edwin Rodriguez, an undefeated super-middleweight prospect out of Worcester, who was fighting that night in his adopted hometown. A casual boxing fan not from the area wouldn’t have known of any of the fighters.
It didn’t matter.
They roared as Sonya Lamonakis, a female heavyweight making her pro debut, threw hard hooks at Kasondra Hardnette, an Ohio resident who had lost both of her two fights. They clapped at the end of a give-and-take round between Isiah Thomas, a light heavyweight from Michigan, and his opponent, Larry Pryor of Texas. And they jumped to their feet when Ryan Kielczewski, a 130-pound prospect from an hour away in Quincy, Mass., scored a knockdown against a Miami fighter named Juan Nazario.
Boxing fans are an assortment of critics, skeptics and pessimists, conditioned to evaluate speed, power, skills and smarts, to evaluate who could develop into a contender and who could someday be champion. They are logical questions to consider. The dream for fighters, after all, is to be the best. [Click Here To Read More]
A regular at New England boxing shows might have recognized three of the 12 names on the card. Someone who follows boxing closely might have heard of just one, the headliner, Edwin Rodriguez, an undefeated super-middleweight prospect out of Worcester, who was fighting that night in his adopted hometown. A casual boxing fan not from the area wouldn’t have known of any of the fighters.
It didn’t matter.
They roared as Sonya Lamonakis, a female heavyweight making her pro debut, threw hard hooks at Kasondra Hardnette, an Ohio resident who had lost both of her two fights. They clapped at the end of a give-and-take round between Isiah Thomas, a light heavyweight from Michigan, and his opponent, Larry Pryor of Texas. And they jumped to their feet when Ryan Kielczewski, a 130-pound prospect from an hour away in Quincy, Mass., scored a knockdown against a Miami fighter named Juan Nazario.
Boxing fans are an assortment of critics, skeptics and pessimists, conditioned to evaluate speed, power, skills and smarts, to evaluate who could develop into a contender and who could someday be champion. They are logical questions to consider. The dream for fighters, after all, is to be the best. [Click Here To Read More]
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