Dueling Fight Cards in Reno and Reading Have Toledo Components

In recent years, Toledo, Ohio, once America’s glass manufacturing capitol, has blossomed into a strong fight town. A steady stream of good amateurs has bubbled out of the city-owned Glass City gym and the privately-run Soul City gym. Many of those good amateurs are now professionals, including two that just recently left the amateur ranks, stripping Team USA of two of its strongest candidates for next year’s Summer Games in Tokyo.

Charles Conwell, the youngest member of the 2016 U.S. Olympic team, hails from Cleveland but trained mostly in Toledo from the age of 14 before graduating to the Olympic training center in Colorado Springs. In 2012, Robert Easter Jr, Toledo born and bred, made the Olympic team as an alternate.

Easter went on to win the IBF world lightweight title, coming off the deck to upend then-undefeated Richard Commey on Sept. 9, 2016, the same Richard Commey who currently holds that very same belt. The following year, Toledo honored him by giving him the ceremonial glass key to the city. The presentation was made, quite naturally, on Easter Sunday after a parade. Easter’s nickname is “E-Bunny.”

Easter made three successful defenses before running afoul of Mikey Garcia in a unification fight. His last fight was an ugly one with Rances Barthelemy – a tame affair, scored a draw – prompting him to seek greener pastures at 140. His debut as a super lightweight comes tomorrow when he opposes battle-tested Adrian Granados in the co-feature of a PBC show in Reading, Pennsylvania headlined by the match between super welterweights Erickson Lubin and Nathaniel Gallimore. The bouts will air on SHOWTIME.

Easter was tall for a lightweight, 5’11”, and it was inevitable that he would eventually move up in weight. His last six fights have gone the full 12 rounds and he needs a good showing after a series of drab fights. Granados may provide it. Their styles appear to match well. And fighting in Reading is seemingly a good omen for him. It was here that he won his title.

Reno

Top Rank’s ESPN+ card in Reno is headlined by a match between unbeatens Shakur Stevenson (12-0, 7 KOs) and Joet Gonzalez (23-0, 14 KOs). At stake is the WBO world featherweight title. Two Toledo products, Albert Bell and Jared Anderson, appear in supporting bouts.

Bell, a 26-year-old lightweight, brings an undefeated record (15-0, 5 KOs) into his 10-round contest with veteran Frank De Alba (23-4-2), a southpaw who interestingly hails from Reading, PA.

Jared Anderson, a 19-year-old heavyweight, signed with Top Rank last month. His bout tomorrow against pudgy Daniel Infante (don’t blink) is his pro debut.

Anderson, a two-time national amateur champion, joins a Top Rank roster that includes two other heavyweights whose pro careers are just starting out – Philadelphia’s Sonny Conto and Italy’s Guido Vianello. Anderson, we would wager, will turn out to be the best of the three.

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The precocious Anderson is three months older than former Team USA teammate Otha Jones III who entered the pro ranks ahead of him, signing with Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom organization. Jones, a super bantamweight, 4-0 as a pro, comes from a prominent Toledo boxing family. His father and older brother run the Soul City gym where you will often find his sister, welterweight Oshae Jones, an Olympic hopeful.

And let’s not forget Toledo’s Tyler McCreary who opposes former two-division world champion Carl Frampton, the 2016 BWAA Fighter of the Year, in Las Vegas on Nov. 30.

Toledo, the erstwhile Glass City on Maumee Bay, has become quite the fight factory.

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