Update on Upcoming Cards!

Bear with me,folks. This will be a long post, but it will be informative. I have updated information on four of the five cards that will take place along the Beltway in the next month.

I will have definitive information on tomorrow night's Baltimore Boxing card at Martin's West in Woodlawn late this evening. There is a slight bit of confusion concerning that card that can affect two of the other cards in this time span. The confusion concerns two boxers: Ishmail "The Arsenal" Arvin and Dhafir "No Fear" Smith.

As I reported in an earlier post, Lem Satterfield of the Baltimore Sun mentioned that Arvin and Smith were scheduled to face each other on tomorrow's night card. However, representatives for the November 4 BXF card and the November 10 Ballroom Boxing card say Arvin and Smith will be on their cards. Arvin is slated to headline the Ballroom show against an opponent to be named while Smith is scheduled to face James McCallister in the main event at BXF.

I'm not saying either Arvin or Smith couldn't be in two matches in a very short period of time, but I think it would be highly unlikely.

As far as tomorrow's card is concerned, here's what we do know at this time.

There is a VERY interesting six-round super middleweight bout scheduled between undefeated Tony "Cyclone" Cygan of Middle River, MD and DC's Larry "The Gladiator" Brothers. Promoter Jake "The Snake" Smith seems to be moving Cygan (7-0, five KO's) on a fast track and with good reason; Cygan is the most talented guy, in my opinion, to come out of Smith's gym. Cygan is a fierce body puncher and has good power. That power will be tested against Brothers, who despite his won-loss record (6-15-1, 1 NC, three KO's), tends to live up to his "Gladiator" nickname. This will be an excellent test for Cygan to see where he is in this business.

Another decent scheduled matchup involves Mike "Little Rock" Ricasa of Ellicott City, MD and Joey VanDaniker of Laurel, MD. This will be a six-round super featherweight bout. The interesting part of this for me is that both man have a common opponent in Ron "Teflon" Boyd. Both Ricasa (5-1, two KO's) and VanDaniker
(5-3-1, four KO's) lost to Boyd in their last outings. Ricasa's was a tough majority decision loss on the last Martin's West card in July while VanDaniker lost by disqualification on the McBride-Tyson undercard in DC in June. Maybe the winner will get a rematch with Boyd.

Other boxers scheduled for the Martin's West card include undefeated super middleweight Mike "The Persecutor" Paschall (5-0, two KO's) and heavyweight Adam "Boom Boom" Bloom of Baltimore (1-0, one KO).


Let's now move to November 4 at BXF Live in Millersville, MD. The main event, as we've stated, is "King" James McCallister of Landover (9-5-1, three KO's) vs Dhafir "No Fear" Smith of Upper Darby, PA (13-11-2, three KO's). This will be an eight-round bout that was scheduled for the last BXF in September but was postponed.

The co-feature is scheduled to include the return of one of the more popular Beltway Boxers of the 1990's -- Purcell "Hard Rock" Miller. This junior middleweight from DC would have crowds literally dancing in the aisles as he made his way to the ring. This was because Miller was one of the few boxers in the world who brought his own BAND to the ring. A brass band would play New Orleans style as Miller walked to the ring. Miller married his loves of music (he plays the trombone) and boxing every time he fought.

Once in the ring, Miller showed quick hands and solid knockout power. His record was 21-3 with 17 KO's. The losses came to quality opponents: a split decision USBA welterweight title loss to world title contender Raul Frank, a unanimous USBA Junior Middleweight title loss to former WBA Junior Middleweight champ Carl Daniels and a majority decision loss to Robert "Push-Up" Frazier.

The Frazier loss came in 2000, and that was the last time Miller was in a boxing ring. A combination of lack of boxing desire and serious legal issues kept Miller away from the ring. I recently talked to Miller and he says he is ready to go and he promised me that he will strike up the band again. Miller's opponent for his six-round bout on November 4 is to be announced.

The undercard will feature a couple of guys who made successful pro debuts on Bobby Magruder's card in Waldorf earlier this month. Waldorf cruiserweight Nick Caroleo will face the debuting Willie Williams of Baltimore while Wayne Hampton of Capitol Heights (1-0) will take on LaJuan Henderson of Portsmouth, VA (1-1). Other bouts on the card include James Shedrick of Philadelphia (2-3,one KO) vs. John Terry of Portsmouth (1-1, one KO) in a four-round super middleweight bout; and Fred Fleming of Cincinnati, OH (0-1) against James Franks of Portsmouth (pro debut) in a super featherweight encounter. There may be two more bouts added to this card.

Now to the Ballroom Boxing show on Thursday, November 10 at Michael's Eighth Avenue in Glen Burnie. Ishamail Arvin is in the main event, as I said. The co-feature is a rematch of a bout that took place on the last Ballroom card in September between "Magnificent" Martinus Clay of Wilson, NC and Keenan Collins of Reading, PA. The last time these junior middleweights met, the bout went to a six-round draw. This one is scheduled for eight rounds. Clay (9-9-1, three KO's) is making his third attempt to get a win in Glen Burnie. Clay is 0-0-1 with 1 NC in the Ballroom. Collins (7-1-1, seven KO's) is 0-1-1 when he goes the distance in a bout. Every bout he has won has finished in either the first or second round.

Undefeated Baltimore welterweight Tim Coleman (3-0, one KO) will also be on this card. Coleman is scheduled to face John Rudolph of Cincinnati (2-2, one KO) in a four-rounder.

Also on the card, junior welterweight Filiberto Nieto of New York City (1-2, one KO)who will take on Jonathan Jones of Wilson, NC (0-1-1) in a four-rounder and Calvin Dixon, a cruiserweight from Greenville, NC (2-0, three NC's) will face an opponent TBA in a six-rounder.

As far as the November 11 Fight Night charity show at the Washington Hilton and Towers, I am still awaiting word on who will be on that card. The only name I have heard about on this card is out of towner and NABA Cruiserweight champ Chad Van Sickle. One stat I have heard about this card is that it is NOT sold out. That is a rarity because usually this event sells out months in advance. My speculation is that it is on a Friday this year instead of a Thursday and that could have thrown people off.

November's boxing slate will end with what looks like a monster of a card. I talked about this November 26 card at the Show Place Arena in Upper Marlboro in a previous post. There have been some changes since then. But if this lineup holds up, this will be a great card as far as Beltway star power is concerned. Originally, former WBA champ William Joppy and former NABF Welterweight champ Derrell "Too Sweet" Coley were slated to headline. That now looks like it won't happen. However, the card is now slated to feature Purcell Miller, Henry "Sugar Poo" Buchanan, Nick Caroleo, Jarell Jackson and possibly, Teddy Reid. Looks like a good one!

As you can see, there is a WHOLE lot going on. Look for the final card for the Martin's West show later this evening!