Boxing, kickboxing and a night of “family friendly” fun is returning to the Trotter Convention Center in downtown Columbus on Saturday for the second iteration of the Friendly City Fights, an event organized by Columbus boxing promoter Mark Sanderson of Sand Promotions.
The event will feature 10 matches with fighters from the Golden Triangle and all around the state and the Southeast. Eight are boxing bouts, and two are kickboxing.
Headlining the night of action is a boxing bout between Tyran “Baby Trouble” Reed – the grandson of Columbus native and 1993 world kickboxing champion Oliver Miller – and Mac McClendon for an amateur belt. Reed is also the cousin of Zion Reed, who won last year’s Friendly City Fights’ main event and is 5-1 as a professional boxer.
Also on the card for Saturday is a kickboxing match between Aiden Clark of Columbus-based Relentless MMA and Preston Fry, and a boxing match between Donquez Maca, who represents Miller’s Boxing and Taekwondo Gym and is making his amateur debut, and Trumaine “YO-Spidalee” Shannon.
“We have boxers from Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana that are going to be in it,” Sanderson said.
Sanderson, who again teamed up with Taking Care of Business to promote the event, said he’s excited to bring back a night full of fights to a town rich with combat history. Making it all the more sweeter is the influx of local talent in the ring to show their hometown what they can do.
“We just try to help local kids and young adults move up and get noticed in amateur and professional boxing,” he said.
In part of making sure fights are as entertaining as possible, Sanderson said rounds are limited to “three to four,” to ensure fast-paced action.
“It’s a lot of action, but it’s family friendly at the same time,” Sanderson said. “People bring their kids. … It’s kind of PG-13, it’s for kids and for everybody and it’s about uniting people from different parts of town that normally don’t see each other, so it’s kind of a community outreach as well.”
Trotter doors open at 5 p.m and the fights begin at 5:30 p.m. Tickets, which start at $40, are cash only at the door, but can be bought beforehand at https://www.fightertix.com/tcb. Front-row and VIP seating are also available with prices beginning at $80.
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Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 43 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
