Friday\u2019s card lands as professional sports continue to push into downtown Allentown. Earlier this month, the owners of the American Hockey League\u2019s Lehigh Valley Phantoms unveiled the Lehigh Valley Spirits<\/a>, a Major Arena Soccer League expansion franchise that will begin play at PPL Center on Dec. 5.<\/p>\n Red Owl Boxing\u2019s April debut at Archer was the venue\u2019s first sporting event since opening, and the Houston-based promotion has signaled it intends to make the Lehigh Valley a recurring stop.<\/p>\n \u201cWe came to Allentown with the idea of two shows,\u201d Red Owl Boxing CEO Greg Bloom said in a phone interview. \u201cOn the last show, we had some other Pennsylvania-based talent, and we didn\u2019t have enough room to accommodate everyone from the area on just one card. So we thought we\u2019d be best served to split it up into two events.\u201d<\/p>\n Bloom, who joined Red Owl Boxing as CEO earlier this year, said the company is building toward a permanent home in Houston but plans to keep traveling to fighter-dense markets in the interim.<\/p>\n He cited Pennsylvania and the corridor running from Philadelphia through Allentown, Reading, Scranton, and Harrisburg as a hotbed of professional prospects. Red Owl\u2019s matchmaker, James Bartley, is based in Reading.<\/p>\n \u201cWe tried to find something as centrally focused as possible, and we also wanted to find a location that may not get as much mainstream boxing passing through, because we wanted to give something back to the fans who may not have the opportunity to always see a show of this caliber,\u201d Bloom said.<\/p>\n Morales, 32, was born in Mexico and moved to the United States at 16. He owns a local construction business and trains at Show Stoppers Boxing Gym in Allentown under coach David Hamilton. He said he first laced up gloves in 2021 to lose weight \u2014 he was around 220 pounds at the time \u2014 and later that year found his way to the Golden Gloves.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s just a challenge, you know? It\u2019s like a challenging thing for yourself, and just to be able to get in there and show your skills,\u201d Morales said. \u201cMore than a sport, it\u2019s like an art.\u201d<\/p>\n Friday will be Morales\u2019 second fight since returning from a roughly two-year layoff. He fought on the April 3 Red Owl card at Archer, his first bout since 2023.<\/p>\n \u201cI trained very hard the whole eight-week schedule that I do,\u201d Morales said. \u201cHopefully, we come out with a great show for the fans and with the victory.\u201d<\/p>\n Morales faces Travis Floyd (4-19-2, 1 KO) of Douglasville, Ga., in a four-round super welterweight bout on the preliminary card.<\/p>\n Rodriguez, who also trains at Show Stoppers under Hamilton, is undefeated in six pro fights, all by knockout. He meets Corey Grant (0-2-2) of Mesa, Ariz., in a four-round welterweight bout. Bloom said Rodriguez is expected to open the show.<\/p>\n \u201cRuben Rodriguez \u2014 he\u2019s a power puncher, 6, 6 knockouts,\u201d Bloom said. \u201cHe\u2019s going to be probably opening the show, so it\u2019ll be very exciting.\u201d<\/p>\n The card also features several other Pennsylvania-based fighters that Bloom highlighted. Among them: undefeated super lightweight Angel \u201cSharpie\u201d Perez (10-0, 8 KOs) of Harrisburg, who is coming off a first-round TKO at Red Owl\u2019s October title-fight card in California, and Harrisburg heavyweight Rishon Sims, a multi-time USA Boxing national champion and youth international gold medalist who will make his professional debut on the preliminary card.<\/p>\n Both Perez and Sims train out of Capital Punishment Boxing Club in Harrisburg.<\/p>\n Super bantamweight David Garcia (6-0, 5 KOs), 17, is also on the card. The teenage prospect was signed by former two-division world champion Danny Garcia last fall, who launched his own promotional venture in 2025.<\/p>\n Scranton-based super welterweight Cahir \u201cThe Gael\u201d Gormley (2-0, 1 KO), a two-time Irish national amateur champion from Derry, Northern Ireland, who trains at the Irish Boxing Club, rounds out the regional contingent.<\/p>\n The co-main event pits middleweight Nikoloz Sekhniashvili (10-2, 7 KOs), a native of Gori, Georgia, now training in South Florida, against Ivan Dancha (6-1, 3 KOs), a Ukrainian-born fighter who won the 2015 Ukrainian national amateur championship.<\/p>\n Red Owl Boxing was founded in 2021 by Canadian entrepreneur Gabriel Fanous. Bloom said the company\u2019s model is built around competitive matchmaking \u2014 leaning toward what he called \u201c50-50 fights\u201d rather than padding records \u2014 and on giving prospects a televised platform earlier in their careers.<\/p>\n Asked what he wanted Lehigh Valley readers to take from his story, Morales pointed to his 8-year-old son and to the kids watching at home.<\/p>\n \u201cI would like to tell the youngest kids, focus on their dreams and work hard. Education first, and then all the dreams can come true,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
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