Boxing News Boxing News
A compelling match between middleweights Jill Emery and Cristy “Code Red” Nickel has been added to the already exciting and competitive Fox Sports Net’s Best Damn Championship Fight Night Period card, headlined by a pair of IFBA world championship bouts, on Thursday, June 12 at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, CT.
Best Damn Championship Fight Night Period, presented by Cappiello Boxing in association with Hollybrook Regency, Inc., features IFBA World junior featherweight champion Lisa “Bad News” Brown, 14-3-3 (4), defending her crown against Alicia “Slick” Ashley, 14-7-1 (1), in the 10-round main event, plus Russian invader Anastasia Toktaulova,12-8 (2), challenging IFBA World flyweight champion Elena “Baby Doll” Reid, 19-4-5 (5), in the 10-round co-feature.
Emery, 8-2 (3), and Nickel, 7-6 (4), have a lot in common, including historic roles played in fights overseas. Both are college graduates from middle class backgrounds and physical training instructors who live in New York City. Jill works and trains at the famed Gleason’s Gym in Brooklyn, where Cristy often spars, yet, they’ve never met in person.
Pittsburgh-native Emery, a graduate of Bucknell University, is a three time US Nationals champion, who also captured top honors four years in the New York Daily News Golden Gloves Championship, won a gold medal in the 2004 Women’s World Boxing Tournament, and was named 2004 USA Boxing’s Female Athlete of the Year.
As a pro, Jill was the winner of the first women’s pro fight in Ireland last June by eight-round decision versus Angel McKenzie in a shutout performance, winning all eight rounds on the scorecard.
Nickel was born in California but raised on a farm in Northern Idaho. The University of Memphis graduate was one of only six Americans fighters invited to fight in 2005 on a card in Beijing, China.
Cristy was contacted in 2006 by producers of MTV’s hit reality show “MADE,” who were searching for a boxing coach to turn a lazy high school quitter into a hard-hitting boxer in only six weeks. Nickel auditioned with coaches from all over the country and after an intense and lengthy screening process, she was offered the position, and the episode was chosen as the season premier, continuing to re-run to date in more than 60 countries.
The success of the show afforded Cristy an opportunity to move to New York City, where she started her own business as a personal trainer and boxing coach at “Peak Performance,” New York’s exclusive private training facility for the stars, including her personal clients such as Katie Couric.
Trinidad and Tobago-born Brown, a three-time world champion now fighting out of Toronto, Canada, takes on three-time world champion Ashley, who is from Jamaica and living in Westbury, NY. Las Vegas-based Reid fights former European super flyweight and bantamweight champion Toktaulova, representing Moscow.
On the undercard, Las Vegas unbeaten star Melinda Cooper, 18-0 (10), starts her comeback after nearly 18 months of inactivity versus knockout specialist Donna “Nature Girl” Biggers, 19-7-1 (16), of Shelby, NC, in a special six-round junior featherweight bout.
Junior featherweight contender Jeri Stizes, 14-7-1 (6), of Springfield, MO, faces tough Ela “Bam Bam” Nunez, 6-3 (2), fighting out of Jamestown, NY, in another highly competitive six-rounder.
Tickets are priced at $10.00, $25.00 and $40.00 and on sale at the Mohegan Sun box office or online at www.mohegansun.com.
