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PARKERSBURG — For the first time ever, Mike Sheppard’s Dawghouse Promotions and Chase Hill’s Chill Sports teamed up to put on a show.
Starting at 7 p.m. Saturday inside Parkersburg South’s Rod Oldham Athletic Center, King of the Mountain State tournament round 2 will take place with a baker’s dozen bouts scheduled on the fight card.
“I’m just looking forward to seeing the best amateurs in the area competing to see who’s the best,” admitted Sheppard, who was recently inducted into the Mid-Ohio Valley and Wirt County Sports Hall of Fames.
The main event will pit Michael Brown against Ethan Blackburn with the winner taking the American Boxing Association’s lightweight championship belt.
The KOTMS lightweight championship also will be decided Saturday night when Daquon McNeil squares off against Brendan Kelly.
Four other fights are KOTMS “tournament” showdowns with the victorious boxers advancing to the championship at KOTMS 3.
At heavyweight, Isaac Iglesias and Deric Gibson will clash, while Sean Schultz faces Gabe Lambert in the other semifinal. The two bouts at light heavyweight will pit Prophett Johnson and Steve Carney, while LaDre Stallworth will go toe-to-toe with Lukas Spaulding.
“We spent from February to probably August, we spent like six months researching and we do this every year,” explained Hill, who lives in Florida but is a Mountain State native who graduated from Marshall University. “We research and find who are the semi-pro champs, the amateur champs, the guys who were winning all the fights in all the different parts of the state.
“For years nobody ever knew who was the absolute best in the state. They just knew who was the best in Beckley, who was the best in Huntington, Parkersburg, whatever. We decided a few years ago to make it a statewide competition.”
After the boxers are selected, they learn about the honor after receiving a golden ticket to the tournament.
“They are absolutely fantastic fights and so much is on the line for these guys,” Hill added. “There are people from all over the state that come to this. They follow it around everywhere it goes. A lot of people don’t want to get general admission. They want to get a reserved seat. They want a front row seat, a third row seat and they don’t want to have to get there early so they can go online to get a good seat.
“What we do is you get to pick your favorite fighter. When it’s time to put you in your section we put you in a section with a bunch of people that also like the same fighter. It kind of puts a little fan group together for the fighter. That way it makes it a little bit better noise for them and the fans enjoy it because they are sitting around people who are rooting for the same guy.”
The lone professional fight features Mason Warner making his debut with Matt Crist eyeing a 3-0 start with his third career knockout.
“He’s up and coming. He’s 6-5, super athletic and a former powerlifter,” Hill said.
“He’s boxing and we had him as an amateur. Over the past couple years he fought as an amateur for us and we turned him pro.
“Mason Warner is just as big. He’s 6-5 and he’s a monster, too. He’s more of a brawler and not as polished boxing. This is a matchup of a technical Matt Crist that’s an up and coming talent and then you’ve got the one-punch knockout power, more of a brawler and street fighter like Mason Warner.”
Marietta’s Trevor Bell, whose 152-pound Dawghouse Promotions belt won’t be on the line, is fighting Phillip Whitley.
Wood County’s Justin Milam has Phillip Fox. The other four amateur bouts feature Cadin Walters vs. Joseph Drinkwater in the opener and they will be followed by Tadan Kelly vs. Elijah Fletcher, Zach Shrewsbury vs. AR Green and Nate McDonald vs. Kenneth Arnold.
“I’ve known Mike Sheppard for about 15 years,” Hill continued. “He was in the prime of his fighting career whenever I got into promoting. He was known as the big dog in the state and everybody knew who he was. We worked together, just creating opportunities and stuff for him as a fighter and it became a big friendship.
“We’ve always worked together really well. This is the first time that we’ve actually legitimately co-promoted. I’ve helped him with his shows and he’s helped me with mine, but this is the first time we’re in it 100 percent together as a unit.”
Doors are slated to open at 6 p.m. and general admission tickets are $30.
Fans wanting to purchase a table or specific reserve seating can do so by visiting chillboxing.com. Fight fans who are unable to attend can purchase the pay-per-view at combatsportsnow.com.
Contact Jay Bennett at [email protected].