{"id":80422,"date":"2025-08-19T05:24:30","date_gmt":"2025-08-19T05:24:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/80422\/"},"modified":"2025-08-19T05:24:30","modified_gmt":"2025-08-19T05:24:30","slug":"sold-out-boxing-matches-at-a-century-old-cleveland-movie-theater","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/80422\/","title":{"rendered":"Sold-out boxing matches at a century old Cleveland movie theater?"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Mike Tyson ended his 2003 bout against Clifford Etienne with a knockout just 49 seconds into the fight, a 12-year-old DaJuan Calloway watched with wide eyes from his home in Cleveland.\u00a0<\/p>\n

That moment stuck with him. Now 33, Calloway is well into his own professional boxing career. Fighting as \u201cThe Punisher,\u201d he notched a win on pay-per-view at Madison Square Garden in New York City earlier this year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Calloway kept the streak going. In July, he came back home and landed a knockout in front of a sold-out crowd at the LaSalle Theater in Collinwood.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"DaJaunDaJaun \u201cThe Punisher\u201d Calloway started boxing professionally four years ago. Before that, he fought in just five amateur fights beginning in 2012. Credit: Michael Indriolo \/ Signal Cleveland \/ CatchLight Local<\/p>\n

\"TrophiesTrophies and other awards line the walls of the Fight Factory. Credit: Michael Indriolo \/ Signal Cleveland \/ CatchLight Local<\/p>\n

Sold-out boxing matches at a 100-year-old movie theater?<\/p>\n

The LaSalle has become home for lifelong fighter-turned-coach Bryan Gedeon and the boxers at his gym, the Fight Factory, in Lakewood<\/a>. Since 2020, Gedeon\u2019s boxing promotion company has hosted 20 sold-out matches at the theater, recruiting fighters from across Northeast Ohio for both amateur and professional bouts.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The fights are called \u201cWar on the Shore,\u201d and the next one<\/a> is coming up on Sept. 27.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Gedeon started organizing these matches because his professional boxers were having a hard time getting the fighting experience they needed to climb the rankings, he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"NickNick Mahovlic (left) trains with Hamza Abedrabo (right) at the Fight Factory. Credit: Michael Indriolo \/ Signal Cleveland \/ CatchLight Local<\/p>\n

\"BoxersBoxers run drills and practice striking at the Fight Factory. Credit: Michael Indriolo \/ Signal Cleveland \/ CatchLight Local<\/p>\n

Boxers can compete in as many amateur fights as they want to, but if they choose to turn pro, booking fights gets more complicated, Gedeon said. Professionals often need a notable reputation if they want to lock in contracts with boxing promoters to book fights for them. Otherwise, pros in Cleveland might have to pay out-of-pocket and travel to tournaments in bigger markets.<\/p>\n

Hamza \u201cHambone\u201d Abedrabo, from North Olmstead, started boxing when he was a teenager because he wanted to get in shape, he said. He never saw himself as the professional boxer he\u2019s become in the eight years since then.<\/p>\n

Of Abedrabo\u2019s 5-2 professional record, four wins have come at War on the Shore matches. The opportunity to consistently fight has been crucial for building up his career, he said, but competing in the sport has also uplifted his life outside the ring.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cYou learn about yourself,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ve learned so much stuff in boxing you wouldn\u2019t even know. Like, even biology \u2026 I study boxing inside out. If you break my head open, it\u2019d be a big boxing glove.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"HamzaHamza Abedrabo shadow boxes at the Fight Factory. Credit: Michael Indriolo \/ Signal Cleveland \/ CatchLight Local<\/p>\n

On the amateur side of War on the Shore, Abedrabo is proud to see young fighters getting better with each match.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re all building how I was building,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s always gonna be like a cycle. People just coming up, fighting on these promotions. As long as we have these promotions in Cleveland, it\u2019s a really good, positive scene.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"NickNick Rezek has been team captain at the Fight Factory for six years. Credit: Michael Indriolo \/ Signal Cleveland \/ CatchLight Local<\/p>\n

\"NickolasNickolas Mash practices striking on a body bag at the Fight Factory. Credit: Michael Indriolo \/ Signal Cleveland \/ CatchLight Local<\/p>\n

Boxing matches and Star Wars burlesque shows<\/p>\n

With Collinwood\u2019s population growing after World War I, an investment company decided to put about $200,000 into a mixed-use building in the neighborhood. That building included the LaSalle theater<\/a>. It opened in 1928, bringing a relatively new craze \u2014 movies \u2014 to Collinwood.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The LaSalle\u2019s projector kept chugging until the \u201890s, but with larger movie theaters becoming more common, it went out of business. A car dealership owner briefly used the space as an antique auto museum, but, after that, it sat vacant for decades.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Northeast Shores Development Corp. bought the building and raised $4.7 million to renovate it from 2016 to 2018. Now, the LaSalle is mostly used for events.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Robert Gatewood, the venue manager at the LaSalle, called the theater an anchor for the neighborhoods around East 185th Street. It\u2019s a draw for people all over the region, he said, and it\u2019s part of the neighborhood\u2019s identity.\u00a0<\/p>\n

With events like Gedeon\u2019s boxing matches and other niche performances, the LaSalle is starting to shape a new identity for itself, Gatewood said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not what you\u2019d expect,\u201d Gatewood said. \u201cLike, you wouldn\u2019t expect boxing, and then three nights after that, a Star Wars burlesque thing, and then four days after that, a wedding reception.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"KristenKristen Meadows practices striking with Coach Bryan Gedeon. Credit: Michael Indriolo \/ Signal Cleveland \/ CatchLight Local<\/p>\n

The matches have yet to fill Gedeon\u2019s pockets, he said. He doesn\u2019t make much money off them, given how much it costs to move and set up a ring, get insurance in order, and handle all the other moving parts that come with boxing.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter doing it, and all the stress and money and everything that goes into it, now I see why nobody else does it,\u201d Gedeon said. \u201cBut you just keep doing it because you want to keep building these guys up.\u201d<\/p>\n

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