Tag Archives: Boxing

Carlos Monroe, Jr., WBA Latin American Middleweight Champion

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Carlos Monroe, Jr. is a professional boxer who currently holds the WBA Latin American Middleweight Title in the Middleweight Division.

Born July 22, 1994 in Chicago, Carlos moved to Atlanta at age three where he spent the rest of his upbringing. He practiced Tae-Kwon-Do as a child and began boxing as a teenager with Xavier Biggs at the Decatur Boxing Club.

Monroe returns to Atlanta on September 28 for a night of boxing.

On Saturday, Sept. 28, Atlanta will host the World Boxing Association (WBA) Continental Americas Middleweight Boxing title bout on with Atlanta native Carlos Monroe fighting Javier Maciel in the headline fight. Eric Moon will fight Mike Guy for the American Boxing Federation (ABF) title, followed by six other bouts.

The event is a fundraiser for the Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro Atlanta. Youth from several local Boys & GIrls Clubs will attend.

Missy Dugan, CEO, Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro Atlanta, says: “We are so thankful to partners like this that support the nearly 3,000 kids that attend our Clubs each day and help them reach their full potential. Through sports, youth build skills that will serve them now and throughout their lives including self confidence, good sportsmanship, discipline, and an appreciation of healthy living and exercise.”

When: Saturday, September 28

7:15 p.m. – 8 p.m. – Pre-event reception with live jazz from the renowned Joe Gransden Quartet.

8:00 p.m. – Fights start

Where: Buckhead Theater, 3110 Roswell Road, Atlanta, GA 30305, 404-843-2825, Link to Venue Info: http://www.thebuckheadtheatreatl.com/venueinfo.

Cost: Tickets begin at $35, VIP tables for $1,000

Tickets: https://concerts1.livenation.com/event/0E005717D5F44E95

As an amateur, his record was 90-15, winning the Golden Gloves in Georgia and Florida 11 times and earning top three placements in various PALs, Ringside, and Olympic Qualifier tournaments.

Since starting his professional career with E3 Promotions in 2017, Carlos has earned a 16-0 record with 13 wins by knock-outs.

He trains with a competitive stable of other pros in Miami under Mike Tyson’s former trainer, Stacy McKinley. Carlos is passionate about using his platform to benefit youth development, foster care support, and supporting his family.

Accolates

16 – 0, 13 KOs

9 time GA Golden Gloves champ

2 time FL Golden Gloves champ

2012 PAL National Bronze Medalist

2013 Ringside National Gold Medalist

2014 WSB Qualifier Bronze Medalist

2015 USA Boxing National Tournament Olympic Qualifier Silver Medalist

2016 Medical DQ Olympic Trials Go Pro

2017 Went Pro (E3) with Starkey through Biggs

Thanks to Carlos for joining Rick this week on “Tech of Sports.”

Don Rosenfeld, Executive Producer, Cradle of Champions

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Great to speak with Don Rosenfeld this week on ‘Tech of Sports.’

Don is the Executive Producer of this amazing documentary about Golden Gloves Boxing in New York City, CRADLE OF CHAMPIONS.

CRADLE OF CHAMPIONS follows three extraordinary, inspiring individuals—James Wilkins, Nisa Rodriguez, and Titus Williams—on an urban odyssey through a ten-week tournament, founded in 1927, that has produced more professional world champions than the Olympic Games.

Telling a compelling story of dreams, heartbreak, and redemption, the result is a unique work of art. CRADLE OF CHAMPIONS is edge-of-the-seat drama with the polish of a Hollywood feature film and the intimacy of a gritty cinéma vérité classic.

New York City’s Golden Gloves is the largest amateur boxing tournament on the planet, and the launching pad for some of the sport’s biggest names, from Muhammad Ali to Sugar Ray Robinson. This documentary takes a raw and intimate look at four participants, thereby showing New York’s many faces while relaying unique yet universal personal struggles on the path toward the championship.

Don is the perfect guest and the person that can take us behind the scenes of this documentary that boxing fans and the general public will find intriguing.

Boxing is not what most people associate with Rosenfeld, who’s best known for his lyrical, literary dramas; between 1987 and 1998, as president of Merchant Ivory Productions, he brought films like Howards End and Remains of the Day to the screen. (Though as he notes, he’s been making docs that are “far afield,” for years, including Jodorowsky’s Dune and the four-hour Andy Warhol). It was during his time at Merchant Ivory that he befriended Emma Thompson, who promised she would write him a screenplay one day. That was the exquisite Effie Gray, a biopic of Victorian proto-feminist Euphemia Gray, who wed the painter John Ruskin as a teen, then escaped what turned out to be a horrible, stultifying union. When Effie Gray premiered in 2015 (it showed at SLIFF that year) it was 10 steps ahead of the collective; in 2017, in the wake of Wonder Woman and #metoo, it’s easy to forget how historically tough it is to make movies with strong female protagonists.

“No one wanted to make it,” Rosenfeld says. Despite the challenge of movie-industry sexism—and the multiple frivolous lawsuits the production weathered—the film was released to critical acclaim.”

CRADLE OF CHAMPIONS has aired on Showtime, and now id available on Showtime “On Demand.”

Shannon Briggs, Two-Time World Heavyweight Boxing Champ

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This week, on Tech of Sport,” Rick is joined by former Heavyweight Champ, Shannon Briggs.

Shannon Briggs, the two-time world heavyweight boxing champion, today announced his plans for 2018 including his return to the ring and the launch of a new business venture.

“I’m really happy to be getting back into training and I want to fight in 2018,” said Briggs. “This past year was a tough year for me. It’s been a long road, with many twists and turns, but I battled through it and feel good about the future. The Champ is back and ready to go!”

A boxing world veteran, Briggs, 46, has spent more than twenty years in the sport.  Born and raised in Brooklyn, he started training at age 17. He capped off a successful amateur career by capturing the United States Amateur Title in 1992. Later that year, Briggs made his professional debut and was undefeated in his first 25 fights. His record is 60–6–1 (1) and he holds the record for the most first-round knockouts of any heavyweight champions in history with 35. During his career, Shannon has locked gloves with legends such as George Foreman, Lenox Lewis, Sergei Liakhovich and Vitali Klitchko, among others. Briggs ultimate goal in boxing is to become a three-time world heavyweight champion following in the footsteps of the only two legends to achieve it, Muhammad Ali and Evander Holyfield.

Throughout the course of his career, Briggs endured bouts of depression, anxiety and severe pain resulting from the injuries sustained during fights. Though he found the pain difficult to manage at times, Briggs fought his way through, discovering an alternative wellness regiment that helped him to become stronger both mentally and physically.  As a result, he found a purpose: to help other athletes and people who suffer from mental and physical ailments manage the pain by offering an alternative treatment approach. This spiritual awakening led Briggs to pursue various business ventures outside of the ring.

“In addition to being excited about getting in the ring, I am also proud to launch my new business which will help athletes who suffer from the same type of pain issues that I do,” added Briggs.

Briggs newest business venture is Champ RX LLC.  ChampRX plans to launch an alternative health and wellness line of CBD products that are 100% THC free. ChampRX has already partnered with several professional sports teams and organizations to enable research on how CBD products can help with CTE and other brain disease and damage caused by traumatic head injuries. The product line will be available to consumers in early 2018.

Shannon Briggs