Off to the fights!

[H2O Man]

I'm going along with a number of family and friends to the professional boxing card being held at Tioga Downs tonight. Some good young contenders from Albany; a couple kids from the Binghamton area; and Willie Monroe, Jr., the great-nephew of Willie Monroe from Philly, who is one of the few men to beat Haglar. The young Monroe is from Ithaca, and trains with a lot of my son's friends. He was a good amateur, placed 2nd in the NYC GG.

I'm doing coverage for some newspapers, etc. I'll post more (including photos) later.

Man, I love boxing. Just love it.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

1. Sounds great. Wish I could attend

I'm on the other side of the country. It's wonderful that you care about boxing at the lower levels of competition among the up-and-comers barely out of the amateur ranks. There are a lot of fans including sports writers who only follow the top A or B level competition. I think that experiencing boxing at every level and even visiting the gym and smelling the liniment and sweat and talking with the old timers gives unique insight on the sport. I can see where you get your love of the sport and your boxing knowledge. I love boxing too.

Is Monroe making his pro debut? If so, that's got to be nervous time for him.

[H2O Man]

2. Here are the results:

NICHOLS -- Doel Carasquillo knocked out previously unbeaten Wayland Willingham in the first round of their welterweight bout on Thursday night at Tioga Downs.


Willingham, of Albany, entered the fight with a 13-0 record. But Carasquillo knocked Williams out against the ropes at the 2:05 mark of the first round. Carasquillo improves his record to 12-7 with 10 knock outs.

On the undercard:

* Heavyweight Nagy Aguilera improved to 8-0 with a first-round technical knockout of Jason Bergman.

* Middleweight Troy Artis improved to 2-0-1 with a unanimous six-round decision over Cory Jones.

* Light heavyweight Markus Williams won his pro debut a first-round technical knockout of Daren Graham.

* Cruiserweight Sean Thompson improved to 5-0 with a first-round technical knockout of Alive Hudson.

Paul Brown, vice president of operations for Pugnacious Promotions, said the paid attendance for the card

http://pressconnects.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080530/SPORTS/805300320/1003/SPORTS