North Olmsted, Ohio – Warner Promotions is bringing professional boxing back to northeast Ohio for the third time in 2010, with a pro/am scheduled for June 26 at the Soccer Sportsplex (31515 Lorain Road) in North Olmsted, Ohio. The competitive night of boxing titled “Pugilism at the Plex,” will feature Cleveland’s best professional and amateur boxers. Headlining the evening will be a four round professional fight featuring “The Pride of Lorain” Wilkins Santiago (1-0), coming off a scintillating pro-debut in April. Santiago is one of the area’s best middleweights and is a promising prospect with a hard-punching style to please all fans. His opponent will be French native Hedi Bouaziz (1-2), now fighting out of Los Angeles, Calif.
In the supporting bout, Julius Leegrand, of Cleveland, will be looking to stay undefeated in a four round professional bout in the lightweight division. The motivated Leegrand was a 2005 Cleveland Golden Gloves champion and a representative of the U.S. in the 2008 Eastern Trials as an amateur. The 22-year-old slick boxer most recently knocked out Francisco Portillo on April 24th to improve his record to three wins, no losses, and one win by way of knockout. Leegrand will be testing his skill against the rugged Ricky Thompson, from Odessa, Texas and a veteran of eight professional fights.
Also being featured on the card is Cleveland junior middleweight Michael Moore (1-0, 1 KO) in a four round fight. Moore last fought in January travelling to Michigan to stop his opponent in the first round. Moore is matched against Rogelio Sanchez (0-1) of Fort Wayne, Ind. Also seeing action scheduled for four rounds is the Puerto Rican sensation Ivan “The Hurricane” Hernandez by way of Dunkirk, N.Y. Hernandez, 21, will be making his long awaited professional debut. As an amateur he was a two-time Junior Olympian and Empire State Games participant and won 49 of his 56 fights. His first professional opponent has yet to be determined.
In addition, there will be a minimum of six amateur bouts featuring the Cleveland area’s best young talent. The amateur participants will be announced shortly.
“Pugilism at the Plex” is presented by Warner Promotions. Doors for the event open at 6 p.m. with the first bell to ring promptly at 7:30 p.m.
Tickets are on sale now and start at just $20. Tables seating eight are available for $400 or $50 per person. Floor seats are just $25. All tickets are $5 extra at the door. Tickets can be purchased at the North Olmsted Soccer Sportsplex, online through www.warnerpromotionsllc.com or by calling Jeff Richie at 216.854.0485 or Antonio Castro at 440.258.8117. All bouts are subject to change.
About Warner Promotions
Warner Promotions is a boxing promotional company, based out of Cleveland. They served as the co-promoter for the ESPN Friday Night fights event at the Wolstein Center on February 19th. A newly formed, Cleveland based company, owned by Ron Warner, and run by Antonio Castro, Warner Promotions has five boxing events planned for 2010, and will be signing the top local boxers to compete in their events. For further information, please visit www.warnerpromotionsllc.com.
