Bell City Boxing Club and Wisdom Promotions will be bringing championship boxing back to the City of Brantford on May 6 at the Brantford Civic Centre. "When Lightning Strikes" will be an eight-fight card that features two Canadian boxing championships up for grabs, as well as featuring three local fighters from the City of Brantford.
The first title fight of the night will feature Paul Ispas and Marko Szalai competing for the Eastern Canadian title, followed by the main event where the IBC welterweight title will be up for grabs when Hamilton’s Bradley Wilcox and Mississauga’s Larone Whyte meet. Local Brantford fighters include Johnny Mercante, Jennifer Williams and Darren Fletcher.
Bell City Boxing Club Trainer Bill Williams says he has teamed up with a former boxing student, who is now a promoter, to host the May 6 event. Williams says this will be the first time the city has seen 2 championships on the same fight card ever, and the first time since the 1970s that Brantford has seen a single championship fight.
Williams spoke on what he hopes the fan experience will be like for the event.
"We'll have lights going, and there will be smoke when the fighters will be making their entrance into the ring," he said. "It's just a great atmosphere and a great night out."
With boxing being so popular at the moment, and if the event is successful, he would like to continuing to put on shows in the city and allow for boxers in the surrounding area to build a fanbase.
"Boxing is really big right now. There's fights on almost every weekend from all over the world, mainly in Las Vegas and places like that," he said. "These fighters are [from] Niagara Falls and Toronto area, so I'd like to have Brantford, if things go well as kind of a base for them to build a fanbase with the boxing fans here in Brantford."
Williams said Bell City Boxing Club is open to the public for people of all skill levels and ages. Anyone interested in training can contact Bell City Boxing Club at (519) 757-7889.
Tickets are on sale now for "When Lightning Strikes" and more information can be found here.
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