It would be hard pressed for any metropolitan area of this country to match the young, professional boxing champions, contenders and up and coming stars that showed their stuff in the early weeks of 2013 and who all hail from the Washington, DC area, affectionately referred to as the DMV. Start with world champion Lamont Peterson defending his title against Kendall Holt in front of his hometown crowd and millions watching on HBO. On Showtime, Gary Russell, Jr. won his bout and continues to march toward a title. Russell had a setback when he suffered a hairline fracture of his left hand and will be sidelined for 6 to 8 weeks.
DMV veteran heavyweight Tony Thompson, who fought for the world title, twice, beating up and comer David Price. This fight took place in England and was shown on Wealth TV. Many thought Thompson would hang up the gloves after losing his title bid to Wladimir Klitschko last year, but I guess not. Showtime Extreme showcased another young light heavyweight, Thomas Williams, Jr. and he delivered a TKO.
National promoters like Gary Shaw, Golden Boy and Al Haymen are well aware of the talent in the DMV and they are signing these young athletes left and right. Locally, you have to take your hat off to Keystone Boxing and their match maker Brian Dillon for show casing young fighters making their pro debuts at local venues. Keep the names of Dusty Hernandez Harrison, Alantez Fox, Jerry Odom, David Grayton, Dominic Wade and Danny Kelly in mind. DMV boxing expert Gary Williams, boxingalongthebeltway.blogspot.com, has seen them all and is very excited about this group, “No question about it…it may be like it was when Joppy, Holmes and Mark Johnson led the parade in the 90’s.” That’s William Joppy and Keith Holmes and you can add Sharmba Mitchell to that list. All were world boxing champions following in the footsteps of Sugar Ray Leonard, another DMV legend. Please subscribe and read the other stories I have written.
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