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PHILADELPHIA, PA — Lou DiBella knows the history of Philadelphia boxing, and the Hall of Famer has no problem bringing a taste of New York, with his fabled Broadway Boxing series, to Philadelphia’s Broad Street, in a way, this Thursday at the 2300 Arena with a stacked six-fight card, featuring a pair of eight-round heavyweight attractions.
One of the feature fights will be pit “Gentleman” George Arias (18-1, 7 knockouts), of Bronx, New York, against Skylar Lacy (8-0-1, 6 KOs), of Indianapolis, Indiana, and Cleveland’s Roney Hines (13-0-1, 8 KOs) against Robert Hall Jr. (14-2, 11 KOs) of Johnson City, Tennessee. Another intriguing fight features Lennox Lewis protégé Jamaican super welterweight southpaw Kestna “Hardball” Davis (5-0) against Abdalla Nagy (1-0) in a four-rounder.
“The reality is, Philly is a great boxing town, and the 2300 is a great facility,” said DiBella, who to his recollection will be promoting a Broadway Boxing show for the first time in Philadelphia. “We don’t have a 2300 Arena in New York. Also, Pennsylvania does not have the same odorous requirements as New York does that make club shows so unaffordable here. I love Philly. My best friend lives in Philly. I spent a lot of time in Philly. Philly is down the road. It’s a city I like. It’s always been that way. We have two really good heavyweight fights, and Hines has a good amateur pedigree. We have to see if he is ready to graduate to better opposition.
“Arias has a great record, and I thought Lacy beat Antonio Mireles, but they called it a draw so this is a great fight. Arias’ one loss was against Jared Anderson (in April 2023, in Newark, New Jersey). We have brought Broadway Boxing everywhere. We brough it to West Chester, and upstate New York and Connecticut in the past. I’m not sure we ever brought it to Philadelphia.”
Until Thursday.
The last time Arias was in the ring, he lost to “The Real Big Baby” Anderson at the Prudential Center, getting stunned near the end of the third. His corner saw enough and ended the fight.
Arias, 32, is from the Dominican Republic and is a DREAMer (Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act), which grants temporary conditional residency in the United States with the right to work to undocumented immigrants who entered the United States as minors. It allows Arias to work during his down time and allows him to box. It does not allow him to leave U.S. territory.
“Being a DREAMer is good and bad,” Arias said. “I get to live and work in the United States, but I can’t travel outside the U.S. As a professional fighter, you have to travel outside the country to be successful. Hopefully, I will be allowed to do that now being married to my wife, who is American. I feel good for this fight. I have trained as much as I can. I never care about opponents. I train for someone who will give me a tough, tough war. I look forward to figuring out the puzzle when I get into the ring.”
Arias works full time for a pest control company in New York. During down time, he trains during the morning and checks into work at night, going from 5 to 12. His superiors give him free time when he is training for a fight.
“It is busy,” Arias said. “I would like another shot at Anderson. I know I have to work my way back to that. This is a first step.”
Other fights on the card include junior featherweight Romuel “Cuco” Cruz (10-0-1, 4 KOs) against Robin Ellis (6-3, 5 KOs) in a six-round bout, six-foot middleweight southpaw Erron “JYD” Peterson (5-0-1, 4 KOs) fighting Raheem Davis (1-2), of Morgantown, West Virginia, in a four-round bout and undefeated bantamweight Wilver Hernandez (8-0, 2 KOs against Los Angeles-based Filipino Merlito Sabillo in an eight-rounder.
Tickets for Broadway Boxing are on sale now and can be purchased via www.2300arena.com or by calling (267) 273-0945. Tickets are priced at $150.00 for VIP Ringside, $125.00 Premium Ringside, $100 Ringside, and $60 for General Admission seating. The 2300 Arena is located at 2300 S Swanson Street, Philadelphia, PA 19148. Doors will open on the night of the event at 6:00 PM ET, with the first bout scheduled for 7:30 PM ET.
Joseph Santoliquito is an award-winning sportswriter who has been working for Ring Magazine/RingTV.com since October 1997 and is the president of the Boxing Writers Association of America.
Follow @JSantoliquito
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