Mohegan Sun to Honor Tony DeMarco April 1

UNCASVILLE, CT (March 24, 2005) Cappiello Promotions will honor former world welterweight champion, Tony DeMarco, aka The Flaming Fury, in a special presentation on Friday, April 1st at Mohegan Sun.  The ceremony will take place in conjunction with a spectacular night of boxing action in the Mohegan Sun Arena featuring Willie Gibbs (17-1, 14 KOs) from Philadelphia against Andres Pacheco (13-2, 9 KOs) from Pueblo, Colorado.  On the undercard, the undefeated Elvin Ayala (9-0, 3 KOs) from New Haven, Connecticut will battle Jose Medina (7-3, 2 KOs) from Tilton, New Hampshire. The co-feature includes Chucky Tschorniawski (25-8-1, 14 KOs) from Philadelphia against Chad Brisson (17-2, 10 KOs) from Winnipeg, Canada.

In 1955, DeMarco won the world welterweight title with a 14th round KO of Johnny Saxton and Friday, April 1st will mark the 50th anniversary of this historic moment.  “When I won the title over Saxton it was in a time where there were only eight divisions and one undisputed champ in each,” said DeMarco. “I recall Jake LaMotta and Rocky Marciano being the middleweight and heavyweight champs when I was the welterweight champ.”

DeMarco and Marciano, who was a native of Brockton, Massachusetts, would meet while the two were training at separate camps in the Catskill Mountains. “Rocky, myself, and our training camps would get together for dinner occasionally while we were training for fights in the mountains,” added Demarco. “I knew Rocky well. He was a classy guy.”

DeMarco would lose his welterweight title to Carmen Basilio in a fight that was voted by Ring Magazine as its “Fight of the Year” in 1955. The fight is often referred to as the Fight of the Century.

The undercard also features: Mike Oliver (6-0, 4 KOs) from Hartford against Dave Drouin (0-2-2) from Limoiloum, Quebec, Canada; Boston native Tyrone Smith (2-0, 1 KO) against Augustine Trujillo (2-1, 2 KOs) from Pueblo, Colorado; and Chris McInerny (1-0, 1 KO) from Stoughton, Massachusetts against William Hernandez from Providence, making his professional boxing debut.

The boxing excitement at Mohegan Sun begins at 7:30pm and will be televised on ESPN2's “Friday Night Fights” beginning at 9:00 pm. Tickets are on sale now for $50.00 and $40.00 and are available through the Mohegan Sun Box Office and Ticketmaster. Customers may log onto ticketmaster.com, call any Ticketmaster phone number, or visit any Ticketmaster outlet.