“I was a firm believer being a fighter was the hardest job in the world,” mentioned Hernandez-Harrison, who has been inactive since February 2020, when he improved to 34-0-1. “It was a 24-hour job. Your lifestyle is changed. I now know it is the second-hardest job. Excuse my language, but this [expletive] sucks. You don’t realize how much goes into it.”
Hernandez-Harrison was talking partially in jest, however the many duties he’s accountable for embody dealing with the fighters’ journey preparations, guaranteeing correct medical care at ringside and arranging enviornment safety. He even made the rounds in the encompassing parking heaps, talking with attendants concerning the procedures.
Hernandez-Harrison is the founding father of DHH Promotions, which has partnered with different promotions, together with Rising Star and TCMBF Boxing, for 3 playing cards that includes fighters from in and across the District headlining the primary occasion and co-feature.
Appearing in Saturday’s co-feature was Anthony Peterson, the 37-year-old D.C-born and -raised tremendous light-weight who ended a 9½-month hiatus to dispatch Saul Corral by way of sixth-round knockout in the cardboard’s penultimate bout. The predominant occasion between Bowie’s Greg Outlaw and Wilfrido Buelvas of Colombia ended in an anti-climactic no contest in the primary spherical. Referee Michelle Myers stopped the struggle at 2:28 when medical officers in each corners declared the fighters couldn’t proceed after Buelvas unintentionally head-butted Outlaw, opening a gash above his proper eye that started bleeding profusely.
“It’s something I’ve always wanted,” Peterson (39-1-1, 25 knockouts) mentioned of highlighting an area manufacturing. “It’s something I’ve felt like was past due. While I was waiting for those big fights, I feel like these were the times that I missed. We could have been putting on these smaller shows and building our fan base stronger — and not only are you building a fan base but you’re knocking off rust.”
Peterson’s coach is his older brother Lamont, 38, a retired two-division champion whose victory over Amir Khan by way of break up choice in December 2011 on the Walter E. Washington Convention Center produced some of the memorable moments in the storied historical past of boxing in D.C.
That triumph introduced main title belts again to the District, which was the birthplace and/or dwelling base of world champions throughout the Nineties similar to flyweight Mark “Too Sharp” Johnson, tremendous light-weight Sharmba Mitchell, tremendous welterweight Ronald “Winky” Wright and middleweights Keith Holmes and William Joppy. The close by suburbs can declare Sugar Ray Leonard, a local of Palmer Park and some of the achieved and celebrated champions in boxing historical past, in addition to former heavyweight champion Riddick Bowe of Fort Washington.
Underscoring the world illustration Saturday evening was a 10-bell salute honoring late coach Gary Russell Sr., who died just lately. Russell was the patriarch in a household of fighters and most notably educated Gary Russell Jr., who held the WBC featherweight title from 2015 till dropping it in January.
“Our goal is to get D.C. back to when we had five, six champions,” mentioned Hernandez-Harrison, whose housemate Donnell Poe was on the undercard and gained his four-round bout, the second of his profession. “A lot of them are here tonight. I think it’s good to connect the new and the old. That’s pretty much my job now — mentoring young fighters. I tell them the mistakes I made, things I did wrong.”
Securing Entertainment and Sports Arena, the house courtroom of the Washington Mystics and the Capital City Go-Go and the follow facility of the Washington Wizards, was on the high of his checklist of priorities. With yet another present scheduled for August, the four-year-old facility in Congress Heights supplies a seating capability (4,200) suited to showcasing contenders bidding for title fights in addition to unproven locals in search of to realize expertise in a setting accessible to household and associates.
The facilities are also way more fan-friendly than some dated venues in the world which have hosted boxing playing cards in latest years.
“That’s what D.C. needs. D.C. needs to be active in this sport,” mentioned Holmes, pointing to his 16 bouts over two years that ready him to turn out to be a champion. “These fighters need to fight. They need to stay busy. … I’m thankful I went through what I went through. I just hope everyone keeps this thing going.”