San Diego cousins Jonny Mansour and Julius Ballo are off to strong starts to what they hope will be long and successful professional boxing careers.
The next step for both comes today at Frontwave Arena, when they headline the “Fight Night: A Family Business” fight card.
“It’s like a dream come true, having an event like this in San Diego with our friends and family and the entire San Diego sports community,” said Ballo, who will face Ramon Reyes in a super featherweight bout. “We have been working for this since we were kids, and really, I see this is as just the beginning. I know I’m in the gym every day training hard to make the most out of this kind of opportunity.”
The 22-year-old Ballo turned pro in 2024 after an outstanding 52-8 amateur career, which included several national titles.
Like Mansour, Ballo has trained out of El Cajon’s Bomber Squad Academy since taking up the sport as a youth and has experienced immediate professional success.
After defeating Brandon Ayala via fourth-round unanimous decision last July in his pro debut, Ballo improved to 2-0 with a sixth-round unanimous decision win over Juan Centeno in December.
Tonight’s fight against Reyes (6-1, 5 KOs) is scheduled for six rounds.
Mansour, 25, is 6-0 with two knockouts. He will face William King (6-3-2, 3 KOs) of Perris in a scheduled eight-round lightweight bout. It will be Mansour’s first eight-round fight and comes against the more experienced King.
“Definitely focused on conditioning and just overall strength getting ready for this opponent,” said Mansour, who helped put together and promote tonight’s event. “I train year-round, so being in great ring shape has never been an issue for me. I can go as long as I need to. Really looking forward to the challenge.”
The card will also feature several other San Diego-area boxers, including super lightweights Daniel Morales (8-0, 5 KOs) and Angel Juan Estrada (12-1-1, 9 KOs). Lightweight Angel Ramirez will make his professional debut.
“With a great new arena like Frontwave and the support of the San Diego boxing community, this was a great chance to show what San Diego boxing is all about,” Mansour said. “It was important for Julius and myself to help use this platform to also promote some other area boxers as well. The talent in San Diego is strong.”
The 12-fight card gets started at 5 p.m. Tickets are on sale at frontwavearena.com/events, with prices ranging from $39 to $299. The event is also available for purchase for $24.95 on the streaming service ThrillerTV.com.