FIGHTS AT THE FORBES GOES PRO

by Tony Fiorello

Stick ‘N’ Move Boxing Promotions, the boxing promotion that has brought amateur fighting to the Forbes Theater in downtown Buffalo, now has a new venture – professional boxing.

The company held its Friday Night Fights event at the Forbes on Pearl Street last week – the first time ever a pro boxing event sanctioned by the New York State Athletic Commission was scheduled at the Forbes and the first pro boxing fights held in Buffalo in 10 years. According to promoter Drew Graziadei, it was quite prosperous.

“I think it was a successful event for it being our first professional show and I thought everything went well,” Graziadei said. “The fights panned out to be exactly what we thought and they were all pretty even matches for the most part. So I think it was successful.

“Once you get in the ring, it's no joke. You could die in there and at the least, you’re hurting pretty badly. Those fighters are going there and putting it all on the line, and I just can't commend them anymore – they’re just phenomenal at what they're able to do.”

Five fights in total were held. The scheduled opener, a four-round lightweight bout between Albert El Zaibak (2-0, one knockout), the top-ranked lightweight out of Lebanon, versus Edwin Viera (0-1) of Humacao, Puerto Rico, which saw El Zaibak win by scores of 40-36 twice and 39-37. This however, ended up being the second bout of the night due to one of the fighters having a slight delay in getting ready.

Their were three, four-round heavyweight tilts on the card. The first, which saw Bryan Hall (3-5-1, two KOs) of Fresno, Calif. TKO Robert Hernandez (1-2) with 52 seconds remaining in the fourth round. The second featured Joe Mogavero (1-0, one knockout) of Buffalo making his pro debut against Akeem Clayborne (1-1, one KO) of Fort Walton Beach, Fla. and Mogavero managed to TKO Clayborne with a right uppercut with 2:35 to go in the second round.

“Coming back home was always my goal with boxing, so coming back to a home crowd is like the biggest thing ever to me – the way Stick ‘N’ Move put this together was so respectful and beautiful,” Mogavero said. “People want to come see boxing in Buffalo, and they want to see some hometown guys. They want to see their friends and kids they grew up with, and I have teachers here from elementary and middle school, so I'm honored to be a part of this.

“Boxing can be like a dangerous game of chess, because you want to feel out the other person's moves and see what openings you can find, but you have to do it while not getting hurt yourself. So once I got through the first round, I saw all the openings I needed to see and I knew that I was going to be able to attack them.”

Third on the list of heavyweight clashes was between Joseph Taylor (2-0, one KO) of Lockport and Erick Prieto (3-7, two KOs) of San Antonio, Texas and like the Mogavero-Clayborne brawl, this one was ended in the second round via a TKO in favor of Taylor who is also a professional MMA fighter and kickboxer.

“In the first round, my coach wanted me to work the jab. My opponent is 20 pounds heavier than me so I started off with the jab and the jab was definitely dominant,” Taylor said. “I told my daughter it was going to be a second round TKO. But after the first round, I felt him out and I was comfortable. So once the second round started, I just went in for the kill.”

The main event was an eight-round super bantamweight matchup between Alex Castellano (12-2-2, two KOs) of Buffalo and Frank Gonzalez (12-8, six KOs) of Hialeah, Fla. Castellano, the 2018 Buffalo Boxer of the Year and the ABO Super Bantamweight Champion, took down Gonzalez by scores of 78-74 and 79-73 twice.

“I know I can do better, but I’ve got to pat myself on the back because I won,” Castellano said. “There were times where I was definitely in my groove and times where you’ve got to fight fire with fire. Sometimes it looks easier to say ‘do this’ versus what it really feels like – he was coming in headstrong so he made it a little bit difficult to adapt a little bit but I eventually did it.”

Graziadei said that Stick ‘N’ Move has plans to continue putting on both pro and amateur fights in the future.

“This was our first pro show, and there was a lot of work, stress, time and expenses involved in having this go,” Graziadei said. “We’re going to sit back, regroup, see how this one went and then we’ll try to level up and take the next step.”

Fight Event Pics Courtesy of Stick N Move Promotions