Boxing is set for another spin at Mohegan Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n
After promoting his first show at the Wilkes-Barre casino in November, Chris Coyne announced boxing will return to the Keystone Grand Ballroom for St. Paddy\u2019s Slugfest on March 7.<\/p>\n
\u201cMohegan took about 24 hours to reach out and ask when the next scheduled show was,\u201d Coyne said.<\/p>\n
Kurt Scoby of Spring Brook Twp. is scheduled to compete in the main event of the 10-bout card.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m happy to build a home base here,\u201d the native of Duarte, California said. \u201cI know all the fans will show up. I know that I can bring boxing back to Northeastern Pennsylvania and that\u2019s one of the main reasons why I\u2019m fighting on the card. I want to give people another reason to come out. I\u2019m the face of boxing in NEPA.\u201d<\/p>\n
He was set for his first local bout on the November card until an opportunity arrived for a bigger fight scheduled for a week after the casino show.<\/p>\n
Scoby (18-2) was picked as the replacement to fight Adam Azim of England for the WBO Inter-Continental Light-Welterweight title on the undercard of the Chris Eubank Jr.-Conor Benn rematch at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London. Azim\u2019s original opponent, Russian Zaur Abdullaev, dropped out because of visa issues and Scoby got the call three weeks before the fight.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m always in the gym staying ready and I\u2019ll never turn down an opportunity that will benefit me and my team,\u201d Scoby said.<\/p>\n
In front of more than 60,000 people, Scoby made it into the 12th\u00a0round before getting dropped and losing by technical knockout with 59 seconds left in the bout.<\/p>\n
\u201cExperience is the best thing in boxing,\u201d Scoby said. \u201cI think I learned more that the usual boxer; I went against 60,000 fans. I went 12 rounds and I had never done 12 rounds before. I learned a lot within myself.\u201d<\/p>\n
Newfoundland\u2019s Anthony Muta had his opponent for the November card drop out. A replacement could not be found in time to be sanctioned by the state athletic commission so Muta and the new opponent fought an exhibition bout before the main card.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was the best alternative for me,\u201d Muta said. \u201cIt was a no-brainer. I didn\u2019t want to have to break the news to the supporters and sponsors. And at the end of the day, I still got the experience. It was the same feeling as a real fight.\u201d<\/p>\n
Muta has fought professionally in Colombia and is scheduled to make his local professional debut on the card in March.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt definitely means a lot to fight locally,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ve had the pleasure of going overseas and fighting but when it comes to local events obviously there\u2019s much more at stake with friends and family there supporting you. The pressure is what makes it all the better.\u201d<\/p>\n
While living in Newfoundland, Muta trains out of CA Boxing Gym in Florence, New Jersey with Anthony Rodriguez and Eddie Chambers, a former heavyweight contender.<\/p>\n
\u201cI felt like I was limiting myself if I stayed in a bubble in Scranton,\u201d Muta said. \u201cPhiladelphia and New Jersey have produced and still produce great fighters. I want to train with world class boxers there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Scranton native Ryan Wilczak is also scheduled to be on the card along with three boxers who earned knockout wins at the November show: Jesse Oltmanns of Stroudsburg, Thomas Blumenfeld of Vermont and Shakeem Williams of Easton, who scored a first-round knockout in what was his professional debut.<\/p>\n
The card\u2019s co-main event will feature Yohan Vasquez, whose most recent bout was against the current WBO lightweight titleholder Abdullah Mason. In a brief action-packed fight, Vasquez dropped Mason twice in the first round, but suffered an ankle injury and retired after being hit by a body shot in the second round.<\/p>\n
Also scheduled on the card is Avious Griffin, who is represented by Jake Paul\u2019s Most Valuable Promotions. According to Coyne, if Griffin wins the March fight, he will next receive a title shot on an MVP card.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is no doubt that they have significant resumes,\u201d Coyne said. \u201cThey are world-class, nationally-ranked fighters looking to get back on track and further their careers. I don\u2019t expect many of these guys to be on a local card again. We are bringing you four world-class fighters plus the local talent. This is an HBO or Showtime-quality card.\u201d<\/p>\n
St. Paddy\u2019s Slugfest<\/p>\n
When: March 7, 7 p.m.<\/p>\n
Where: Mohegan Pennsylvania, Route 315, Wilkes-Barre<\/p>\n
Tickets: $60-$90. Call 570-955-8760. Purchase at Dooley\u2019s Pub & Eatery, 120 Oak St., Old Forge; Andy\u2019s Barbershop, 432A Hazle St., Wilkes-Barre; Dunmore Lumber, 622 S. Blakely St., Dunmore<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Boxing is set for another spin at Mohegan Pennsylvania. After promoting his first show at the Wilkes-Barre casino…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":23704,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[28,30,29,726],"class_list":{"0":"post-110979","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-pennsylvania","8":"tag-pennsylvania","9":"tag-pennsylvania-headlines","10":"tag-pennsylvania-news","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110979","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=110979"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110979\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23704"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=110979"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=110979"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=110979"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}