It was indeed a night of boxing legends as Joseph E. Roberts, Jr. celebrated his 20th year of helping area kids with his annual Fight For Children Fight Night gala at the Washington Hilton hotel.Roberts launched Fight For Children in 1990 to give back to the community in which he and his employees lived and worked. Since that time, Fight For Children and its fundraising efforts, have raised $82 million for programs that serve low-income children.
Joining this year’s boxing legends Gerry Cooney, Buster Douglas, Joe Frazier, Jake Lamotta and Ray ‘Boom Boom’ Mancini are home grown talent Sugar Ray Leonard, and eight-time world boxing champion Roy Jones, Jr.
[Photo/DC UrbanSports: Leonard, Roy Jones, Jr., Smokin' Joe Fraser, Jake LaMotta, Ernie Shavers, and Ken Norton]
Ken Norton entered the Fight Night Hall of Fame, the third boxing legend to do so. Other inductees include 'Smokin' Joe Frazier (2008 inductee), and Jake LaMotta, inducted into the inaugural Hall of Fame in 2007.
In last night’s main event featuring Palmer Park, Maryland’s Robert Reed found Reed knocking out Danville, Virginia’s Jason Johns in just 1:48 into the first round. Reed’s record improves 2-0, 1KO, over Johns, who made his pro debut on the night.
In other fight action, it was a draw, (3-way judges split) between Winston-Salem’s Fred McClinton (1-1-1, 1 KO) and DC’s Venroy July (2-0-1, 1 KO).Dean ‘Pittbull’ White (15-10-2, 7 KOs) also had to settle with a draw in his bout with Verquan Kimbrough of Pittsburgh. Kimbrough, a protégé of Roy Jones Junior, is now 21-2-3, 7 KOs.
While the outcome was a draw, Dean White put a serious cut over the eye of Kimbrough that obviously affected him during the bout, as blood began streaming down his face.
This year's Fight Night raised over $150,000.
Boxing Legends Interviews
For our full synopsis and exclusive Fight Night interviews with Sugar Ray Leonard, and Roy Jones, Jr., click here.
Seen at the event: Kenneth ‘BabyFace’ Edmonds, Jermaine Dupri, Al Checchi, former DC boxing commissioner Jason Turner, NFL analyst Brian Mitchell, and others.
See event photos here.
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