Beltway Boxing Update!

I have been bombarded with a lot of news items in the last 48 hours, so I decided to put them all in one post.

For those who could not hear the latest BATB Post-Fight Wrap-Up, there is some news about the Friday, June 13 Baltimore Pro Boxing card at Du Burns Arena in Baltimore. The main event is slated to be a rematch between undefeated Baltimore middleweight Jessie "The Beast" Nicklow and Temple Hills, MD's Jason Champion. Nicklow defeated Champion by a six-round unanimous decision on December 7, 2006 in Pikesville.

Nicklow (17-0-1, seven KO's) is coming off a solid third-round TKO over Chad Greenleaf on April 18 in Pikesville. Champion (4-3, three KO's) lost to both Nicklow and Tim Coleman in consecutive outings before breaking his two-bout losing streak with a first-round KO over Kenneth Meeks on May 18, 2007 at Rosecroft Raceway in Fort Washington, MD.

Also on the card, Middle River, MD's Tony "Cyclone" Cygan will battle Akron, OH's Anthony Little. Cygan (12-2, seven KO's) has not fought since participating in the 2007 Beltway Boxing Bout of the Year against John Mackey on December 7 in Pikesville. Cygan lost a six-round unanimous decision. This will be the third trip to Maryland for Little (7-10-1, one KO). Little lost twice to Nicklow by unanimous decision in Ocean City and Pikesville. Little will also be trying to break an eight-bout winless streak (0-7-1).

Clinton, MD super middleweight Demetrius Davis will also be on the card as he will battle undefeated Tommy Karpency of Adah, PA. Davis (18-14-4, seven KO's) is coming off a solid performance, winning an eight-round majority decision over Brian Norman on May 3 at the District Heights Municipal Center in District Heights, MD. Karpency (11-0, seven KO's) stopped veteran Etienne Whitaker in the third round on April 26 in Morgantown, WVA.

Also slated for this card are undefeated Eldersburg, MD cruiserweight Mark "TNT" Tucker and Ellicott City, MD cruiser Robert McConnell.

Also on June 13, "The Berlin Bomber" Joshua Snyder of Berlin, MD will battle the undefeated and aforementioned John "No Mercy" Mackey of Montgomery, AL, by way of DC at the Catholic Youth Center in Scranton, PA. The two co-feature bouts on this card are scheduled to be on ESPN2's Friday Night Fights. The Snyder-Mackey bout is slated to be the main swing bout, meaning it stands at least a 50-50 chance of getting on TV.

Snyder (6-3, three KO's) has won four of his last five bouts, including a fourth-round TKO over Charles Norwood on February 23 in Winchester, VA. Mackey (9-0, three KO's) is coming off a six-round unanimous decision over Alexander Mancera on February 8 in Dover, DE.

Let's go back a week to Friday, June 6, where the changes to the card at the Legendary Blue Horizon in Philadelphia continue. DC super featherweight Ron "Teflon" Boyd will not participate on that card and he has been replaced by undefeated Laurel, MD super featherweight Ikem "The Warrior" Orji. Orji (3-0, one KO) will take on fellow undefeated fighter Gerald Smith of Philadelphia (2-0, one KO).

And if that wasn't enough, we should mention that cruiserweight Harvey Jolley of Detroit, MI, who knocked out Jonathan Felton this past Thursday night at Michael's Eighth Avenue in Glen Burnie, has been inserted into the main event bout on this card. Jolley (8-8-1, five KO's) will face undefeated Adam Harris of Worcester, MA (10-0, seven KO's) in a scheduled eight-round contest. Jolley replaces Elieser Castillo who broke his hand in training.

The co-feature remains Tyrell Samuel of Baltimore (9-2, five KO's) against Jules Blackwell of Phoenixville, PA (7-0-2, two KO's) in an eight-round contest. Baltimore featherweight Darrell Martin will also be on the card.

Baltimore cruiserweight Corey "Black Ice" Cummings won a six-round unanimous decision over John Douglas last night in Monticello, NY. So that sets the stage for his Friday, June 20th 10-round bout against former world champion Montell "Ice" Griffin in Chicago, IL. Cummings comes into the Griffin bout with a record of 16-2, 12 KO's while Griffin is 48-7, 30 KO's. There are bouts on the card that will televised on Telefutura, but we're not sure that Cummings-Griffin will be one of them.

However, there will be a Beltway Boxer on TV on Friday, June 20th. That will be Riverdale, MD heavyweight Horace "The Reason" Grant. Grant (12-1, seven KO's) will make his national TV debut from the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas as he takes on Augusta, GA's Kevin "Big Man" Burnett (12-1-1, eight KO's). According to the schedule, this bout will be the co-feature on an ESPN2 doubleheader of heavyweight bouts. The main event matches Alonzo Butler and Friday "The 13th" Ahunanya.

To reiterate an earlier post, that means at least three Beltway Boxers will be on national TV during the seven-day period between June 20 and June 27: Grant on the 20th, Henry "Sugar Poo" Buchanan on June 25th from the Playboy Mansion in Beverly Hills, CA (also on ESPN2) and Anthony Peterson on June 26 from Las Vegas on Versus. If Cummings makes the Telefutura broadcast on June 20, that will, of course, make four.

And add this information: One of our very own ring announcers, the one and only Henry "Discombobulating" Jones will be traveling to Houston, TX and the Reliant Center Complex to announce a Friday, July 18 card that will feature Perry Ballard taking on former world champion Hector "Macho" Camacho, Sr. The card is slated to appear on DirecTV.