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Archive for the ‘White Collar Boxing’ Category

By Don Smith

Boxer’s Family Requests Help: Humberto Avila, aka “Beto”, loves boxing and he trained relentlessly at the Devil Dog Boxing Gym in Chandler, Arizona. He was an amateur fighter who had no aspirations to become professional, but he valued the sport as a tool for physical and spiritual growth. Beto was a winner, regardless of his record.
His training was interrupted. late summer 2012, when he was struck by a vehicle while he was jogging through a crosswalk in Tempe, Arizona. According to a family member who recounted the incident after hearing details from the victim, two vehicles swerved in an attempt to avoid hitting Beto who instinctively jumped in the air and landed on the hood of a SUV, one of the involved vehicles. Avila suffered lower back pain and a deeply bruised ankle which was slow to heal. He went to a nearby Urgent Care facility after a police report was filed. Humberto was given a prescription for pain and then released. The medical inspection didn’t include an MRI which brings up the question of how thorough was his physical exam.

So far, the two insurance carriers have been reluctant to address the incident to the satisfaction of Beto and his family. It is not known whether either driver was cited for possible negligence. The family may hire an attorney to mitigate and settle an issue that could have been resolved by now; ifthere is an open line of communications.

It took several months for Beto to rehabilitate himself and the 29 year old audio/visual specialist was feeling pretty hyped about the prospect of returning to boxing and living a healthy and productive life. He had bills to pay and places to go. Avila is a audio/visual specialist for Scottsdale Resort and Conference Center while Nico works as a chef at Pita Jungle, a popular eatery in Tempe. Friends and co-workers describe them as a loving couple with strong community ties. They are the typical American family: hard working and responsible and certainly not immune from the trials and tribulations that test us all on a daily basis.

On Christmas Eve, Humberto and his lovely Wife (Nicolette David Avila ) of six months, loaded their 2006 Nissan Versa Hatchback and headed for Ajo, Arizona where they planned to spend their Christmas Holiday with friends and family. Aboard for the trip were the family dogs (Leela & Naru) and their masters, Nico and Beto. Mr. Avila decided to drive and let Nico catch some much needed sleep. It was sometime between noon and 1 p.m. when the couple left Tempe. Ajo is approximately a 115-120 mile drive from Tempe which translates into a 2 hour journey give or take a few minutes.

The newlywed couple were on Highway 85, 7 miles away from their Ajo Exit, when Beto fell asleep at the wheel and Nico was also asleep. Their car began to drift across the center line of the highway and was obviously out of control. Frank and Katie Le Master just happened to be traveling on the same road and they knew the vehicle in trouble belonged to Humberto and Nicolette because they knew the family personally for many years. Ajo is a small town where everybody knows everybody, including their pets.

Immediately, Frank, a law enforcement officer, went to his horn in an effort to wake up his friend whom he assumed had fallen asleep. He was very familiar with the sight before him After a few horn blasts, Beto awakened; saw the looming crisis and panicked by over steering and applying the brakes too hard. As a result.their vehicle rolled over 2 1/2 times and finally stopped after traveling a distance of 45 yards off the highway. The car was totalled and the lives of Beto and Nico will never be the same and it all happened in a matter of seconds.

Frank and Katie are the perfect people to handle any type of crisis; cool, calm and collected. Frank or Katie called 911 and gave precise directions on how to reach the scene of the accident. Katie,a former Lifeguard, talked to the two victims and relayed useful information to the first responders. The couple also set up a volunteer task force from the number concerned travelers who stopped to help .After the traumatic rescue was completed, Katie and Frank received special praise from the first responders and members of the victim’s family.

The Le Masters knew, after insightful questioning, that Humberto would probably need to be airlifted to a Special Care Unit Facility because he told his friends he was numb and that meant paralysis and possible spinal cord injury. Beto was trapped inside the car when the professional responders arrived and he was carefully removed from the Hatchback and swiftly flown to Saint Joseph’s Hospital in Phoenix where he was admitted in the Barrow’s Neurological Institute wing of the hospital.

Miraculously, a battered and bruised Nico was up and walking at the scene. It had to be a combination of adrenalin rush and concern for Humberto. Whatever the reason, it was a huge sigh of relief for her husband who wasn’t so fortunate.

Beto suffered a broken neck and a spinal cord injury that left him without movement below his shoulders. Mr. Avila remains at Saint Joseph’s Hospital where he has shown slight improvement,but the road to recovery will be long and uncertain.

While insurance is covering some medical expense, It doesn’t provide for loss of income and special needs that he might be require for his rehabilitation process. And, now that the family has been reduced to one bread winner, bare necessities, such as food and rent, will be harder to pay for.

To cope with their mounting bills that may exceed hundreds of thousands of dollars, Nico’s sister, Nellie has started an account for online donations to help this young family in their time of need. If you have the will and means to help, please go online:

Boxing fans can go online and help.…www.gofundme.com/betoandnico

Nico’s father, Hollister David, has asked members of media(participating in the donation drive) to thank all donors for their generosity and a special thank you to the first responders who were vital in the rescue of Beto and Nico Avila. Until Next Time! Read the rest of this entry »

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SENI: Sat 2nd and Sun 3rd June 2012 at London’s ExCeL

Fight fans eager to check out some pugilism over the Jubilee Bank Holiday weekend should head down to SENI, the greatest combat sports show on the planet, where they can watch Matt Hainy take on Kreshnik Qato for the vacant English Middleweight title on Saturday 2nd June over 10 rounds. The showdown takes place at the ExCeL centre, which is the official Olympic venue for all the boxing events.

Qato, whose nickname is ‘The Eagle’ is based in Wembley and originally hails from Albania. He will be keen to clinch the St Georges belt and delight his huge fanbase, especially as Albania hasn’t qualified for the Euro’s this year. The former WBF Middleweight World Champion is managed by Spencer Fearonwhose boxing promotion company Hard Knocks will be hosting the professional boxing at SENI.

Fearon said: “The whole Hard Knocks team are really looking forward to the show, it’s great to be able to collaborate with one of the biggest and definitely the greatest combat sports show there is and it’s especially an honour to work with Joe Long. We’ll be brining some of the famous Hard Knocks energy that my fighters and I always bring – which was proven recently when my fighter Darren Hamilton took the British Light Welterweight title after stepping in to fightAshley Theopane with only five days notice! Hard Knocks for life!”

Hainy recently clinched the biggest fight of his career; beating Luke Robinson for the International Masters title. The 30 year old martial arts instructor from Derby has been sparring with Ryan Rhodes who takes on Sergey Rabchenko for a European title fight later in the month.

Hainy said: “My training was excellent for the Robinson fight and it’s been even better this time. My work rate will be better in this fight and I’m punching harder.”

There is also the highly anticipated comeback of former IBO Light Middleweight title holder, 40 year old Richard ‘the secret’ Williams who takes William Joppy who has held the WBA Middleweight title on three occasions!

Also on the card is Larry Ekundayo, the most exciting talent in British boxing at the moment who will be fighting in what is only his second professional contest. There’s action as 2010 Prizefighter winner Patrick Mendy takes on Geroge Jupp in a Super Middleweight bout. Plus fights from Danny Davis, Alredo Meli and Frankie Monkhouse!

There is also a London ABA event! All of this action takes place within Boxfair, the UK’s only consumer boxing expo that takes place within the SENI show.

SENI offers more boxing for your buck that any other combat sports show on the planet! Punters seeking toe-to-toe action can normally expect to pay anything upwards of £45 for a ticket to a professional boxing match; however visitors purchasing a SENI ticket for only £20 will have access to all parts of the show including the explosive Hard Knocks boxing promotion within Boxfair.

If you needed any more incentive to come along then remember that the SENI 2008 event was the first time David Haye got into Wladimir Klitschko’s face and they had the first of many face-offs. Both David Haye and Derek Chisora normally attend SENI, so could we have another face-off on our hands?

Plus fans can meet many of their past boxing heroes including former Commonwealth, British and World Featherweight champion Colin McMillan who will launch the updated version of his autobiography, Fight the Power at the show.

Herol ‘Bomber’ Graham the former British, Commonwealth and European Middleweight champion boxer will host a skipping exhibition at SENI and talk about his upcoming world record skipping attempt.

Plus there will be appearances from twice World Heavyweight Champion Tim Witherspoon, boxing promoter Frank Maloney and Jane Couch MBE who was the very ever officially licensed British female boxer.

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On the 11 of May - Chris Debono, a member of the Ying Yang Kickboxing club will take part in a boxing tournament between athletes from three different countries. The competition will be held in the Oracle Hall, at the Dolmen hotel, Qawra.

The tournament will be one with direct elimination, where the winning athlete will keep on fighting in order to get to the final. In total there will be 7 matches of three rounds of three minutes. The Boxer that manages to defeat all the others will go back home with a prize money

Chris Debono has been training with Master Noel Mercieca, the club’s founder, for 17 years and has a Black Belt in Kickboxing. Debono started to train again in October 2011 after he stopped for 4 years. In December he took part in the competition Gladiators 2 against Tyrone Borg and for this match he had to go down from 100kg to 82kg.

The Maltese contingent will be made up of the athletes Chris Debono, Tyrone Borg and Dione Galea, while the other competitors will be one from Russia and four from England. This is the first time that in Malta is being organised a competition with direct elimination and a prize money, and all of this will happen in one night only.

Currently the preparations are on the way so that on the 9 th of June there will be the 3rd edition of Gladiators Night. For more information go to www.yingyangkickboxing.com or contact Noel Mercieca on 79208283 or  merciecanoel@yahoo.co.uk.

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Local Boxing News: Ying Yang’s Chris Debono In Malta’s First ‘Boxers Prizenight Tournament’

By Reuben Azzopardi

On the 11 of May - Chris Debono, a member of the Ying Yang Kickboxing club will take part in a boxing tournament between athletes from three different countries. The competition will be held in the Oracle Hall, at the Dolmen hotel, Qawra.

The tournament will be one with direct elimination, where the winning athlete will keep on fighting in order to get to the final. In total there will be 7 matches of three rounds of three minutes. The Boxer that manages to defeat all the others will go back home with a prize money

Chris Debono has been training with Master Noel Mercieca, the club’s founder, for 17 years and has a Black Belt in Kickboxing. Debono started to train again in October 2011 after he stopped for 4 years. In December he took part in the competition Gladiators 2 against Tyrone Borg and for this match he had to go down from 100kg to 82kg.

The Maltese contingent will be made up of the athletes Chris Debono, Tyrone Borg and Dione Galea, while the other competitors will be one from Russia and four from England. This is the first time that in Malta is being organised a competition with direct elimination and a prize money, and all of this will happen in one night only.

Currently the preparations are on the way so that on the 9 th of June there will be the 3rd edition of Gladiators Night. For more information go to www.yingyangkickboxing.com or contact Noel Mercieca on 79208283 or merciecanoel@yahoo.co.uk.

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By Alexander Zammit

There is no denying that boxing in its various forms has to be the most popular individual sport in the Maltese Islands.

Although Malta has a miniscule population of around 408,000 with a land area of just 316 square kilometres and a population density of 1,160 people per square kilometre. We have dozens of Martial Arts and Boxing Clubs in a multitude of diverse fight & self defence disciplines.

Boxing was introduced into Malta by the British Services in 1887, and Martial Arts after WW II. For many decades boxing in these Islands was quite a closed circle and declined heavily in popularity between the mid seventies and the early noughties in favour of Eastern Martial Arts, but in recent years we have seen a great revival of the sport and the birth of local heroes with their own on-line fan-clubs.

The two most popular forms of fight sport in these Islands are undoubtedly Kick-Boxing followed by classical / western Boxing. There are about ten well established clubs for these two disciplines, with club membership ranging from 30 to 100 persons per club.

Malta’s most popular boxer at the moment has to be EBF Heavyweight – Billy “The Hitman” Corito, however others are fast catching up and making a name for themselves both on the local and international scene.

No fight sport can exist without promoters and this is one area in which the majority of Maltese promoters have certainly excelled. The public are also showing their appreciation by attending these shows; an average crowd for a fight show ranges between 500 to 1000 strong.

This month promises to be a record as not less than three boxing shows between the 13^th of April and the 11^th of May are scheduled to be held in Malta.

The newest promoter to hit the local semi pro and white collar boxing scene is 34 year old Demis Tonna, an accomplished former UK amateur boxer in his own right, who has recently set up ‘Prize Boxing Promotions’ and on the 11^th of May will present the first ‘Boxers Prize Night’ at the Oracle Hall / Dolmen Buggiba.

The cast of the evening’s entertainment sees a mixture of eight local and Uk boxers battling it out in a winner takes all, one night boxing tournament.

This will be the very first time that the winner take all concept is being introduced in the Maltese Islands.

This is most definitely a fight night not to be missed by local aficionados of the fight game.

Venue: Oracle Hall – Dolmen Hotel – Qawara – Malta – Date 11 May, 2012

Tickets are priced at €15 Standing – €17 Seated – €25 Vip – Doors open at 7.30 pm and first bout commences at 8.30pm – For more information or ticket reservations call 00356 99291720

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