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About Me
- Gary Digital Williams
- BATB is "The place to go if you want to know about any upcoming show or results, from amateur to the pros, in Virginia, Maryland and the District." -- Thom Loverro, The Washington Times. I've covered the Boxing scene in the Washington, DC/Baltimore area for 36 years. I was inducted into the Washington, DC Boxing Hall of Fame in November, 2009. I am also a feature writer for Fightnews.com. I was the play-by-play announcer on the TV series "Boxing Spotlight" which highlighted pro boxing along the Beltway. I have also appeared on numerous radio stations across the country talking about the sport. You can hear my audio commentaries, interviews and play-by-play calls by downloading the free Boxing Along The Beltway Podcast Network on Spreaker.com, IHeartradio.com, Stitcher.com,Tunein.com, Podcast Addict, Google Podcasts and Spotify! I'm also proud to say that I am in my 26th year serving as the public address announcer for Coppin State University Eagles Men's and Women's Basketball! I also cover boxing and the Washington pro football team for the Washington Informer Newspaper!
4 comments:
I wrote my e-mail to the Wagners early Friday morning, June 16th, after the Ballroom fights on the 15th to express my concerns about what I was seeing as a downward trend relating to the quantity and quality of the Ballroom Boxing fights. I wanted to give an honest fan's assessment and opinion without being too negative. I was upset that I paid $100 for ringside seats and felt that I did't get the value that I used to get.
I was surprised that Scott left a message on my cell phone Saturday night and managed to get a hold of me Monday morning in work. We spoke for about a half-hour about Ballroom Boxing and boxing in general. I appreciated the fact that he took the time to call and I respect him for it because he could have easily blown off the e-mail since it was critical about the state of the Ballroom shows in my opinion.
As I discussed with Scott, I have been living in Baltimore since 1990 and have attended most of the Ballroom shows since the late 90's. I have not attended any other local boxing shows - the Ballroom was always the place to go. As I am from Philly, I do not have a preference for watching local Baltimore fighters like many local fans do. As a matter of fact, I don't even have a preference for Philly fighters - I don't really care where the fighters are from, I am only interested in watching a good, competitive fight. I think many of the Ballroom fans feel the same way I do about competitive fights regardless of the fighter's hometown. I remember the Ragin' Cajun, Cliff Richard (pronounced "Reeshard"), from the Louisiana area who always gave great fights at the Ballroom (it is very sad that his accident from falling from a tree left him disabled). I don't think anyone at the Ballroom who watched him fight really cared that he wasn't from Baltimore because of the action that he provided.
I have never heard of most of the undercard fighters at the Ballroom who fight in 4 round fights. But these fights are surprisingly many times the best fights on the cards because they are evenly-matched, up-and-coming fighters who only have 4 rounds to fight. They can't waist time like they can in an 8 round fight.
Of course I have also seen "name" fighters at the Ballroom in the past such as David Tua, Hasim RockHead, Kermit Cintron, Julian Letterlough (R.I.P.), Louis Collazo, Yuri Foreman, etc.
I am also well-familiar with the "name" local fighters that I've watched at the Ballroom such as Jimmy Lange, Darnell Wilson, Lamont Pearson, the Dirrell brothers, Clarence Vinson, Sharmba Mitchell, etc.
Regardless of whether or not the "name" fighters are local or nationally known, I still think the best Ballroom fights come from the guys that are the unknowns fighting in the 4 round undercard fights.
I read the comments concerning the Promotor, and I think that he intelligently responded to the questions/accusations. As I am not knowledgeable with what goes on with fights and fighters behind closed doors, I cannot comment on what I am reading about the Promotor. I do believe that a National Boxing Commission would solve many of the problems that fighters have with Promotors and Managers.
Finally, I hope that the Ballroom can return to its hey days by providing at least 6 evenly matched fights. It's fine if they show local or national talent, as long as the fights are competitive. The venue at Michael's 8th Avenue is great, and I hope that I see great fights again in the near future
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