Jennifer Salanas (6-1 2 KOs), pride of Grand Rapids and trained by Floyd Merryweather, is fighting out of Lansing, Michigan against the undefeated Canadian Sandy Tsagouris (3-0, 2 KOs). Salanas bounced back after her only loss to Heather Percival (6-1), while Tsagouris is fighting rust since her last bout was in March of 2005.
Here's a local report on this one:
Fight night has Lansing thinking inside the box
By LAWRENCE COSENTINOwww.lansingcitypulse.com/060405/events/index.aspRon DeLeon is a CATA bus driver who’s nuts about poetry. He’s also passionate about pro boxing.
No need to guess which of the two he’s promoting — he’s into both.
“Poetry goes hand-in-hand with boxing,” DeLeon says. “Look at Muhammad Ali, the greatest fighter ever.”
In recent years, DeLeon has helped promote various poetry events around town, even lending a hand with sound equipment. Now the Golden Glove winner-turned-promoter wants to kindle the embers of fight fandom into a blaze with a huge card — “seven fights, guaranteed” — at the Lansing Center Saturday.
By offering the public a chance to watch gorgeous women (and men) pummel each other, DeLeon is correcting a cultural imbalance. While Lansing’s poetry scene has burgeoned in recent years, the capital city has experienced a pro boxing drought. It’s been more than 10 years since world-class fighters like Roger “Stingray” Turner jammed the old Lansing Civic Arena with more than 1,500 spectators. Sure, we got verse, but where’s the purse?
Since 1999, DeLeon has been testing the waters with smaller events in Lansing and thinks the town is ready to get punch drunk again. “We’ve been selling out the Marshall Street Armory for our last four or five shows,” DeLeon says. “So we decided to boost it up.”
Now, as then, it won’t hurt that a female bout is topping the card: “Beautiful but Dangerous” Jennifer Salinas of Grand Rapids vs. Sandy Tsagouris. “Both are very attractive girls and very good fighters,” DeLeon says. Are they still attractive at the end of the night? “One of them usually is, not usually both,” he says.
Something for everyone: Anyone who isn’t into Jennifer Salinas of Grand Rapids, whose fight with Canadian Sandy Tsagouris heads up a seven-bout card Saturday night at the Lansing Center, can check out the shirtless round card guy.
DeLeon calls Tsagouris “a knockout artist out of Canada — a banger.” Salinas brings a 7-1 record with three knockouts to the Lansing Center bout. “They’ve got skills,” DeLeon says. “They fight a lot better than a lot of the guys I’ve seen around here.”
Another highlight of the evening is amateur national champion Tommy Washington Jr.’s professional debut. “We like to highlight fighters in their first five to 10 fights, who are just getting acclimated to the pro system,” DeLeon says.
For his first Lansing Center extravaganza, DeLeon has taken care to provide eye candy for all sexes. While Salinas and Tsagouris trade shots in the ring, the round cards will be paraded by a shirtless Tony DeShazer from Lansing Sexton High School, all-conference wide receiver and two-time runner up in the Mr. Lansing body-building competition.
“The girls love that,” DeLeon says.
Meanwhile, during the male-male bouts, a bevy of MSU co-eds will serve as round card girls. “They wear nice evening gowns,” DeLeon says. “It’s very classy.”
Even DeLeon’s two pre-teen daughters, Selena and Briana, will get in on the act as they warble the national anthem.
“You can go see anybody fight on any street corner,” DeLeon says, “but this is an event.”
