'A beautiful thing for Fall River': Capacity crowd turns out for Battleship boxing show
FALL RIVER — That big, steel battleship was magnetic on Saturday.
A capacity crowd of almost 1,000 climbed aboard the Battleship Massachusetts for the first, and perhaps not the last, Battle on the Battleship amateur boxing card.
The USA Boxing event, promoted and organized by Mike Herren and Punishment Striking Systems (Swansea) owner/coach Aaron Bernardo, featured 20 bouts, gorgeous weather and lots of smiles from the folks gathered on the stern deck of the Big Mamie, No. 59 on your USS de-commissioned-but-still-going-strong battleship roster.
Bernardo said about 970 tickets were sold. Some later arriving fans had to wait to get in as the battleship, undergoing repairs, reached its legal capacity early in the show.
Among the attendees was Bill Shea, longtime basketball coach at Bishop Connolly High School, a Fall River native and friends with Herren.
“I always try to support everything that Mike does,” Shea said. “In addition to that, I used to go to Golden Gloves all the time with my father back in the '70s, at Lincoln Park. I haven’t been to an amateur boxing show in 40 years, so it just sounded like something I couldn’t pass up.”
Donning a "Nature Boy Ric Flair" T-shirt, Chris Herren, Mike’s younger brother and substance abuse treatment/prevention crusader, enjoyed the show from a ringside seat.
“I’m proud of him. It’s absolutely amazing,” Chris said. “The atmosphere is special. He’s been talking about doing this for a long time. So to see it come through, and all the work he and his staff put into it, it’s a beautiful thing for Fall River.”
For boxer Seraphina Brown, of Cambridge, being part of the Battle on the Battleship was worth the trip. And that was her state of mind even before she fought and won. “This is awesome,” she said in the below-deck dressing room area prior to her bout. “I don’t know how he got it, but it’s awesome, yeah, how Aaron set this up.”
On deck, but near the scheduled 6 p.m. bell time, Mike Herren was all business, but still appreciated what was unfolding before him. “We got off to a slow start logistically in the beginning. That’s why I have to be here, but we’re working stuff out now,” he said. “It’s going great. The crowd’s great. It’s going to be a great night. We’ve just got to get this boxing going.”
John Ferreira, Fall River resident and business owner and Durfee High School softball coach, was giving the show two thumbs up even before the first punch was thrown. “Good crowd. Great crowd,” he said. “So hopefully, everybody will have fun. I bet half these people have never been on the battleship,” he said.
Herren said before the show on Saturday that pre-show interest was so great that had battleship space permitted, 5,000 tickets could have been sold.
“Easily. Easily,” said Bernardo, 28, and a Diman Regional graduate. “I’m thinking in the future years … what we can do. There’s a lot of construction going on on the boat, actually; so we’re only on the back deck, which is about a thousand capacity. So when this whole boat opens up, we can really up that capacity and do different things. Maybe more vendors on the actual boat. Make it an even bigger event. This is the new Fall River Celebrates America.”
Local results
In the night’s final bout, the main event, Mason Almeida of host Punishment Striking Systems scored an 8-count in posting a unanimous decision over Sean Redmund of Fall River at 165 pounds elite.
Coach Bernardo described it as Almeida’s “best performance to date.”
Almeida’s was one of eight wins posted by PSS boxers. For the night, PSS had a fighter in 13 of the 20 bouts.
Mike Cusato scored a third-round referee stops contest.
Mason Ventura posted a unanimous win.
Jonathan Delgado pounded away for a third-round rsc.
Chris Rivera won unanimously.
Alex Nineve also won via unanimous decision.
Michael Brooks won in two rounds when the referee stopped the contest.
Joe Brooks won on a referee stops contest in the first round.
This article originally appeared on The Herald News: Battle on the Battleship boxing show in Fall River a sellout
