On Saturday, May 11, Inside Boxing Promotions will bring professional boxing back to the Tropicana Showroom for the first time in seven years, and it’s packed with local flavor.
Atlantic City junior middleweight Justin Figueroa (8-0, 6 KOs) will be in one of the featured bouts. Local fans may remember Figueroa’s days as a football star at Holy Spirit High School, and he also proved himself to be the best in South Jersey in the amateur ranks. Brimming with confidence, he recently returned from San Antonio, where he registered his eighth consecutive professional victory, a decision over Christian Aguirre, and as usual, he celebrated by dancing “Con deep” in the ring.
Junior featherweight John Leonardo (10-1-1, 4 KOs) is going eight rounds and bringing a healthy legion of fans with him. Hailing from nearby Manalapan Township in the Garden State, he was a former New Jersey Golden Gloves champion and nicknamed “Bodyshot.”
Avious Griffin of Chattanooga, TN (13-0, 12 KOs) provided an interesting story in his eight-round fight. At a time when he should have been building his professional career, Griffin spent 11 months in prison when he was wrongly accused of murder. Having cleared that, there’s no stopping him.
Brooklynite Pryce Taylor (3-0, 2 KOs), an exciting heavyweight, will also be on the show, in a four-round bout.
Another contestant is middleweight Jacob Solis, who debuted here in December and now has a 3-0 record, with all of his wins coming by knockout. Solis also has a passionate fan base and helps grow the sport by working as a boxing coach.
There are other big prospects in play. Welterweight Dwyke Flemmings (6-0, 6 KOs) is a fighter from Paterson, NJ who has recorded four knockouts in one round and will compete six scheduled rounds; The popular middleweight Wilson (4-0, 2 KOs) is a former New York Golden Gloves champion who is fighting four rounds. Other four-round contestants include Brooklyn super middleweight Joel Telles (2-0, 2 KOs) and lightweight Koby Williams, also of Brooklyn, a Golden Gloves and NY Metro champion who is making his pro debut .
