The chimes of a bell will be heard over and over again on Saturday, April 26, at Springfield’s MassMutual Center as each round begins and ends as part of Down & Dirty Boxing XVI Spring Break Edition.
Presented by Reyes Boxing Inc., the event begins at 6 p.m. with doors opening at 5 p.m.
The main event of Down & Dirty will pit Springfield local, 29-year-old Anthony Velazquez, who is currently the NABF Junior Super Welther Weight Champion, vs 32-year-old Tanzanian middleweight boxer Yusuph Metu.
“Yusuph boasts an impressive 11-1 record, with 8 wins coming by knockout, showcasing his explosive power in the ring. In February, he challenged for the WBA Asia East middleweight title against Russian knockout artist Rustam Islamov, signaling his ambition on the regional stage. After a setback in 2024, he made a strong comeback with a second-round TKO victory, proving his resilience and determination,” said Michael Reyes, founder of Reyes Boxing Inc., a boxing training and management company. The company’s services include not only promoting boxing events, but also running the Reyes Boxing Club in Marblehead, which trains all ages in combat sports.
In another major title match, Emeka Nwokolo of California, originally from Nigeria, who is the current NABA WBA champion, will face off against Nathan McIntosh of the U.K., originally from Poland.
“The winners of these two matches will be in store for a big showdown coming out on stage holding their two belts in another Down & Dirty to be scheduled for some time in September or October,” Reyes said.
Saturday’s other matches include Emeka Nwokolo vs. Nathan McIntosh, Carlos Gonzalez of Springfield vs. Alexander Mejia of Nicaragua, Thomas Blumenfeld vs. Christopher Rodriguez, Ian Garcia of Springfield vs. Jose Angel Roman of Indiana, Denzel Whitley of Holyoke vs. Daniel Sostre of Puerto Rico, Derrick Whitley Jr. of Springfield vs. Thomas Guillemette of Boston (originally of France), Julio Rivera vs. Jose Florentino of Haverhill (originally of the Dominican Republic), Adrian Valdez Reyes of Chicopee vs. Nicholas Monty of New Hampshire, and the debut of Reinaldo Torres of Springfield vs. Izaiah Vargas of Washington.
This isn’t the first time a Down and Dirty event has brought world-class boxing to the MassMutual Center. Down and Dirty made its Springfield debut last September during Puerto Rican Parade weekend in the city with a match filled with Puerto Rican stars and special guest fighters.
Reyes said that he wanted to bring boxing to Springfield for several reasons.
“I represent a fair amount of Puerto Rican boxers such as Ian Garcia, Carlos Castillo, Carlos Gonzalez and others from the Springfield area. Also, Springfield has a rich heritage of embracing sports with the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame and, in our case for boxing, four boxing gyms in the city. And, last year we wanted to make sure we were represented in the third largest Puerto Rican parade in the country,” he said.
Reyes knows a thing or two about how boxing can make a difference in someone’s life.
“I was a boxer as a kid, it saved my life, changed my life around. I was an inner-city kid with a young single mother and began causing trouble. My mother got me involved in boxing which led to me to doing better in high school, going on to graduate from college and joining the military. I attribute all of these things to saving my life and now I want to give other kids the same opportunity,” he said.
Tickets, available online at massmutualcenter.com, range in price from $93 to $218.
Read the original article on MassLive.