Diaz-Lucero Tops AC Card!

By John Wall

Rising star Jorge “King” Diaz of New Brunswick takes one step closer to the prize this Saturday night when he faces crafty veteran and former world title challenger Emmanuel Lucero of Mexico City, Mexico in a featherweight match up. The bout headlines an eight fight card this Saturday, October 30 at Bally’s Atlantic City.

Diaz (14-0 9 KO’s) is fresh off a KO victory at Yankee Stadium on the undercard of the Cotto/Foreman clash. The New Brunswick native’s star status started to rise when he defeated 2 time Olympian and former Gold Medalist Yan Barthelemy at Madison Square Garden last year.

Mr. Lucero (24-5 14 KO’s), a former New York Golden Gloves Champion, will look to regain the top contender form he displayed when he faced Manny Pacquiao for the IBF super bantamweight title and Daniel Ponce de Leon for the WBO NABO crown.

Highly touted Glen Tapia (7-0 6 KO’s) of Passaic, just back from Baguio City, Philippines where he served as a sparring partner for Manny Pacquiao, puts his unblemished record on the line against Quinton Whitaker of San Antonio, Texas making his fourteenth pro appearance and only the second outside of his native Texas.

In a light heavyweight matchup we will see Union City’s Jason “Monsturo” Escalera (9-0 8KO’s) take on Cleoney Fuqua (2-2 2KO’s). Escalera out of the Union City Boxing Club had only 25 amateur bouts but in that short unpaid career he managed to win the New Jersey Golden Gloves Tournament. A prolific body puncher with knock out power in both hands, he will be more than a challenge for Fuqua.

The best fight of the undercard looks to be a junior welterweight matchup featuring Passaic, NJ’s Jeremy “Hollywood” Bryan (14-1 7KOs) facing Ronald Cruz (9-0 6KOs) of Bethlehem, PA. Bryan the 2004 and 2005 national golden gloves champion’s one loss came at the hand of Vincent Arroyo at Boardwalk Hall. Cruz is no stranger to Bally’s Atlantic City having fought there 3 times in the last 2 years.

Bobby Rooney Jr. (11-3 1 KO) of Bayonne takes on veteran light heavyweight Tyler Stevens of St Louis, MO. Rooney, a fan favorite , has been around the New Jersey fight scene for almost 10 years.

In the card’s only heavyweight matchup we will see Amir Mansour (10-0 7 KOs) of Newark, Delaware do battle with Alexis Mejias (11-5 5KOs) of Paterson. The southpaw Mansour has a bachelor’s degree in paralegal studies.

Pound for Pound promotions in conjunction with Bally’s Atlantic City has once again put together a top notch night of boxing featuring some of New Jersey’s elite up and coming local fighters. Fight fans are in for a treat.