Ready to rumble
Cape Breton’s Ryan Rozicki meets Slovakia’s Kristof Demendi in tonight’s main event at Centre 200
A professional boxing card that has been billed as the first of its kind in the area in almost 30 years did things up in style on Friday evening, with prostyle weigh-ins at Boston Pizza in Sydney.
Ryan (Thunder) Rozicki, 22, is fighting in the main event, is putting his unbeaten 3- 0 pro record on the line against Kristof Demendi, 25, of Slovakia, who has a record of 10–3 as a professional.
There are seven other fights on the card that takes place at Centre 200 tonight at 7 p.m. So far, roughly 2,000 of the 4,000 tickets available for the event have been sold.
Aubrey MacLeod, a founder of L-Jack’s, the promotion company which is hosting the event, said all involved are expecting these numbers to grow steadily today, bolstered by boxing fans coming to Centre 200 this evening who didn’t reserve seats.
“We’re expecting a big day at
the box office tomorrow, but the floor is pretty much sold out. There is one or two ringside, but the floor is pretty much sold out,” said MacLeod, adding that all eight fights are between evenly matched boxers.
“This show is extremely closely matched and with these guys there’s no easy fights for anybody on this card. We’re really excited.”
The last time a professional boxing match took place in Cape Breton was in the late 1980s. One of the organizers of that card, Greg Boone, who worked with Red Leather Promotions at the time and was a big part in the fight, said he was it was good to see professional boxing come back to Cape Breton and have a Cape Bretoner build up some excitement for the sport.
“It’s encouraging to see a local headliner. It’s really important to see someone who’s local who can attract interest — not only be successful, but attract interest from boxing fans or fans who like to see these fights.”
General tickets for the fights are available by calling the Centre 200 box office at 902564-2200 or online at tickets. capebreton.ca.