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Fight Night

Inaugural Jamestown Area Boxing Championships Are Aug. 24

Tony “El Bravo” Torres Jr. works out with his father in preparation for his headline fight against Nolan Smith, defending state Golden Gloves open heavyweight champion, at Casal’s Boxing Club in Niagara Falls on Aug. 17. P-J photos by Jay Young

This summer continues to bring plenty of excitement for fighters and coaches of the Jamestown YMCA Boxing Club.

On Aug. 24 the club will host the inaugural Jamestown Area Boxing Championships, which will be held at the Lakewood YMCA with doors opening at 1 p.m. and fights starting at 2.

Several members of the YMCA Boxing Club are scheduled for bouts against fighters hailing from Niagara Falls, Silver Creek, Erie, Pa., Ashtabula, Ohio, Rochester and Buffalo.

“I have seven confirmed fights right now. This is something that we are hoping to do every year after this first annual,” said YMCA boxing coach Chip Swanson during training on Tuesday night.

Fans can purchase tickets at either YMCA for $10 presale or $12 at the door, as well as ringside tickets for $20.

Davmond Carter works on a heavy bag.

Before that full day of action, several fighters from Jamestown will make the journey north to Casal’s Boxing Club in Niagara Falls for action on Aug. 17.

Tony “El Bravo” Torres Jr. will headline that event against defending New York State Golden Gloves open heavyweight champion Nolan Smith.

Torres Jr. is a two-time New York Golden Gloves winner at sub-novice and novice and sports an 11-1 record after his most recent win over Marcos Vargas from Lackawanna via unanimous decision.

“He looked good, he dominated all three rounds,” Swanson said of Torres Jr.

Also in action at Casal’s will be 14-year-old Josh Brunacini. Now 2-1 as an amateur, Brunacini will be looking to earn his second win in a row after working with YMCA boxing coaches Swanson, Joe Ortiz and Tony Torres Sr.

Josh Brunacini works with YMCA boxing coach Joe Ortiz on Tuesday night.

“He won is first fight, lost his second and won his third. He should have won that second fight, now we’ve adjusted his style a little bit so he is more aggressive,” said Swanson.

Also on the horizon is another professional bout for Jamestown’s Davmond Carter.

The Bronx native, who lost the last amateur fight of his career to Smith, is now 1-1-1 as a professional and is scheduled to fight on the undercard of the Errol Spence Jr. v Shawn Porter title fight at the Staples Center in Los Angeles on Sept. 28 on pay-per-view.

“I’m excited, I’ve been doing this for a long time and I just turned pro last year in November,” Carter said on Tuesday.

“I’ve got three fights underneath my belt. One win, one loss and one draw, one win coming by knockout. I’m feeling good, no injuries.”

Carter has won national Silver Gloves titles on two separate occasions as well as a Golden Gloves Championship in addition to competing at the US Olympic trials in both 2012 and 2016.

On his mother’s side, Carter is a relative of former light heavyweight champion Iran Barkley, who holds two career wins over Tommy Hearns and finished his career at 43-19-1.

“I come from a family of fighters,” said Carter.

Carter hopes to get final confirmation of his opponent for the upcoming heavyweight bout sometime this week.

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