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City Gearing Up for Historic Night Aug. 1 at the Ulrich Centre.
By John D’Onofrio
LOCKPORT — It will be an historical night of firsts Aug. 1 when the Ulrich Centre downtown hosts not only the largest boxing venue in city history, but a fight card that will feature Lockportians in every bout.
Professional kickboxer and promoter Amer Abdallah has always been respectful of Lockport’s sacred boxing history, bringing together greats from the past, while showcasing those today.
It’s for these and other reasons that he said he’s trying to arrange the 8-to-10 fight night card so that every fight will have at least one Lockport fighter in it.
“That’s one of the things we’ve talked about that I wanted to do differently. It would be the first time ever,” Abdallah said, at a press conference earlier this week at the Ulrich Centre, where he was joined by Ulrich, Mayor Michael Tucker and event sponsor George V.C. Muscato.
Among the Lockport fighters scheduled to compete are Abdallah’s respected trainer Corey Webster, Richard Zang, Eric “The Candyman” Pulmeri, Mike “Hands of War” Moyer, Randy Brown, Becky Morris, Jason Petite, Pat Thompson and Brian Shmay.
Meanwhile, Abdallah is still negotiating this week for an opponent in the main event of the fight card being billed, “Downtown Throwdown.”
His long-time cornerman Andrew Herron of Mississaugua, Ontario, arrived in Lockport earlier this week to begin the final stages of his fighter’s training. Abdallah, the owner of Lockport Athletic & Fitness Center, has been working with one of his trainers, strength and conditioning coach Gina Nowak, since his last fight in April.
Abdallah (7-0), a former national champion, resumed his light heavyweight kickboxing career April 25 with a knockout victory over Jesse Colon of Cleveland, before a large and vocal crowd at the Kenan Center Arena. The fight was sanctioned by the World Kickboxing Association and the New York State Athletic Commission.
Among those expected to attend his August fight is former world light heavyweight champion Angel Manfredi.
