Building dynamic debuts
Three Butler Cubs boxers will be making their amateur debuts in their home community Saturday night.
Marli Knox, 15, of Bruin, Hayden Gregg, 14, of Slippery Rock and Leland Anderson, 12, of Butler will be involved in three-round bouts at the Butler Cubs annual boxing show at 7:30 p.m. at the Cubs Hall.
There will be 11 amateur fights on the card overall.
“We will be featuring our newer fighters on this card,” Cubs boxing trainer Billy Wolfe said. “These kids have been training hard. They're ready. They're going to put on a good show.”
Knox will face Bella Erb of James 5:16 in a 135-pound bout. Gregg will oppose Tyrell Richards of Youngstown at 130 pounds while Anderson is taking on Gizz Beasley of 3rd Avenue (Pittsburgh) at 150 pounds.
A fourth Cubs boxer, James Kozar (2-0), will oppose Greg Simmons (1-3) from the Lower East Side at 140 pounds.
The show may have a unique main event featuring veteran Cubs boxer Brian Mowry (13-4) — Pennsylvania Golden Gloves champion in the open heavyweight division. Mowry lost a close decision at the National Golden Gloves last week in Chattanooga, Tenn.
“That was an extremely close fight,” Wolfe said. “A lot of people think Brian won it.”
Mowry may fight an undetermined opponent from New York Saturday night.
“I've never fought in Butler,” the Knoch graduate said. “Every year this show comes up, I can never get an opponent in time. It may work out this year.
“All I can do is hope. I'd love to be able to put on a show in Butler and avenge that loss.”
Cubs boxing manager Don Spinetti has made more than 40 phone calls trying to line up fights. He deals with boxer availability, weight and age restrictions.
“A kid usually can't fight anyone more than 24 months older or younger. The age difference is 12 months for the younger kids,” Spinetti said. “The lower weight classes have a range of five pounds.
“The heavyweight division has a range of 15 pounds, but fighters usually don't want to give up that much weight.”
Spinetti has placed calls to Philadelphia, Washington D.C., New York, Erie, Akron and Cleveland, as well as other regions, looking for fighters.
“We can't pay any fighters, but we do give them travel money to get here,” Spinetti said. “It's a lot of work, but it's worth it to set up good fights. We've got a bunch of them.”
The Knox-Erb bout — the first one of the evening — is one of two female fights on the card.
Knox has been training in the Cubs gym for eight months. She spends three or four nights a week in the gym. She also does ballet twice a week and takes piano lessons.
“I used to watch boxing with my older brother,” she said. “I've always wanted to try it. It's a challenge. I'm getting anxious to get in the ring and show what I've learned the past eight months.”
Knox carries a 4.1 grade point average and is ranked No. 1 in her class. A freshman at Karns City, she plans to graduate in three years.
“I'm planning to wind up in medical school,” she said. “I'm not afraid to go in the ring and fight. You have to get hit in order to hit somebody sometimes.”
Doors open at 6 p.m. Saturday at the Cubs Hall. The bouts begin at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $15 and will be available at the door, or by calling Spinetti at 724-355-9107.
“This is our annual fund-raiser,” Wolfe said. “We use this money to pay for our equipment and for gas to take our boxers to fights.”
The Butler Cubs have been hosting an annual amateur boxing show for more than 35 years.
