“Fight Night” boxers to weigh in today before Country Showdown
2009-08-31
Sneak peek of contenders open to the media and the public
Professional boxers participating in Fight Night at the Fair - which includes a world title bout featuring women's boxing legend Christy Martin - will officially weigh in for the Sept. 2 event at 6 p.m. Tuesday on the Mohegan Sun Grandstand Stage.
The weigh-in is FREE and open to all Fair visitors. It will be held immediately before The Colgate Country Showdown; the FREE live music event scheduled to kick off at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday on the grandstand stage.
Visitors will have an opportunity to get a sneak peek at the Fight Night participants, including Martin, a two-time world champion; Jason "Big Six" Estrada, a former US Olympian; and James McGirt Jr., the son of former world champion James "Buddy" McGirt, and 11 other professional boxers.
Tickets are still available for Fight Night. Tickets to the 7:30 p.m. Sept. 2 event are available at the Fair Box Office or through Ticketmaster.
Tickets cost $20 and $15, and include the price of the Fair. That means people who had planned to go to the Fair anyway can pay an extra $5 or $10 and see an historic professional boxing match.
Fans who save their ticket stubs also get free admission to the International Boxing Hall of Fame Museum in Canastota.
Fair visitors interested in the weigh in should go to the track seating area of the grandstand before 6 p.m. Once the weigh-in is concluded, those Fairgoers are invited to stick around for the Country Showdown, a nearly 30-year-old version of "American Idol" featuring some of the best amateur country musicians in New York State.
On Wednesday, Christy "The Coal Miner's Daughter" Martin will battle Dakota Stone for the currently vacant WBC female junior middleweight championship. Co-headlining will be Jason Estrada fighting Zuri Lawrence, a heavyweight upset specialist from Wappinger Falls, NY. James McGirt Jr., the son of former world champion James "Buddy" McGirt, will fight Anthony Pietrantonio.
Fighters for the four under-card bouts will also be weighing in. Most of these professional boxers are from New York, including super middleweight Aleem Whitfield of Geneva; female featherweight Jackie Trivolino of Plattsburgh; junior welterweights Damian Rinaldi of Syracuse and Manny Cotrich of Utica; and junior lightweight Jayme Resnick of Rochester.
Fight Night at the Fair - the first professional boxing event ever held in the Mohegan Sun Grandstand - will also give boxing fans an opportunity to meet many big-time boxing celebrities. They include Canastota native Carmen Basilio, who won the world welterweight championship from Sugar Ray Robinson; Emile Griffith, a former welterweight and middleweight world champion; Carlos Ortiz, a three-time world boxing champion; Vito Antuofermo, the former world middleweight champion; Livingstone Bramble, the flamboyant former world lightweight champion; Dickie DiVeronica, a welterweight professional boxer and former protégé of Basilio; Vinny Paz, two-title world boxing champ also known as "The Pazmanian Devil"; Joe Mesi, the former undefeated, number one-ranked heavyweight contender; and George Chuvalo, the heavyweight boxer who went the distance with Mohammad Ali, Joe Frazier and Joe Foreman and was never knocked down during a 93-fight career.
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