When you think of Chicago Sports today, what comes to mind? You’re most likely thinking about the Cubs, White Sox, Blackhawks, Bears or the Bulls. I bet boxing didn’t come to mind. In fact, Chicago used to be one of the busiest boxing cities in the country, second to New York.
This past Friday ESPN’s Friday Night Fights came to U.S. Cellular Field (formerly known as Comiskey Park), home of the White Sox. This was the first major pro boxing card at a Chicago ballpark in more than 50 years. The last fight at old Comiskey Park was when Sonny Liston knocked out Floyd Patterson on September 25, 1962. This time, Chicago resident, Andrzej “The Polish Prince” Fonfara, 25, fought Gabriel “El Chico Guapo” Campillo of Spain in a 12-roud International Boxing Federation (IBF) world title eliminator – in other words, this was a very important fight. Fonfara’s path to the title stopped at the Cell when he scored a technical-knockout victory at 1:37 of the ninth round. He is now the No. 1-ranked contender for Bernard “The Executioner” Hopkins Jr.’s IBF light heavyweight world title. What surprises me the most is that B-Hop is 48 years old, making him the oldest man in recorded boxing history to win a recognized world boxing championship.
I’m sure Fonfara will closely be watching the October 26th Hopkins-Murat title fight. I’m not a big boxing fanatic but I think this will be a fight worth watching. How will B-Hop’s “old” bones measure up? I’ll be watching to find out. Will you?
Cover Photo Source: Kristin Wall via Flickr
[author] [author_image timthumb=’on’] https://wpmaster.sjadv.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Nicole.png [/author_image] [author_info]Nicole Hernandez is the social media manager at SJG. She’s a Chicagoan who graduated from DePaul University with a B.A. in Public Relations & Advertising and minor in Journalism. Nicole is known to her peers as being online all the time – while on her spare time you can find her taking footage on her phone while she’s rocking out at music festivals. She’s also training to be the new water girl at Chicago Bulls games (in her dreams). [/author_info] [/author]