The undercard for the Friday, March 29 ESPN Friday Night Fights event at Turning Stone Resort Casino will feature local sensation, light heavyweight Ryon McKenzie, who calls Canastota, New York home. Junior middleweight Taras Shelestyuk, of Ukraine, will also be on the card, making his professional debut. Shelestyuk captured the bronze medal at the 2012 London Summer Olympics. He also won the gold medal at the 2011 World Amateur Boxing Championships.
McKenzie (12-0-0, 11 KOs) faces Steven Tyner (3-9-2) of Akron, Ohio in a bout scheduled for six rounds. It will mark McKenzie’s fifth consecutive fight at Turning Stone.
Shelestyuk faces Emmanuel Medina (2-3-0) of Quincy, Massachusetts in a junior middleweight bout set for four rounds. Shelestyuk compiled an impressive amateur record of 195-15.
Also on the March 29 undercard, middleweight prospect Antoine Douglas (4-0-0) of Burke, Maryland faces Devar Ferhadi (1-0-0) of Frederick, Maryland. Russian lightweight Evgeny Chuprakov (4-0-0) squares off against Micah Branch (1-3-1) of Toledo, Ohio. Junior welterweights Cornelius Whitlock (1-0-1) of Laurel, Maryland and Calvin Pritchard (2-6-2) of Toledo, Ohio round out the undercard.
The co-feature bouts on ESPN are both title fights. In the main event, NABO Middleweight Champion Brian Vera (22-6-0, 13 KOs) of Austin, Texas defends his title against Donatas Bondorovas (17-3-1, 6 KOs) of Lithuania. WBO Latino Light Heavyweight champion Jackson Junior (14-0-0, 12 KOs) of Sao Paulo, Brazil defends his belt against Cuban-born Umberto Savigne (10-1-0, 7 KOs).
All bouts are subject to change.
Doors open at the Turning Stone Resort Casino Event Center at 6:30 p.m. Friday, March 29 with the first undercard bout starting at 7:30 p.m. The live ESPN telecast begins at 9 p.m.
Tickets range from $25 to $70 and are on sale now. Call the Turning Stone box office at (315) 361-7469 or visit www.Ticketmaster.com.
Professional media interested in credentials must contact Oneida Nation Media Liaison Brett Stagnitti at (315) 829-8310 or [email protected] by 5 p.m. Tuesday, March 26.
PHOTO CAPTION: Undefeated light heavyweight Ryon McKenzie of Canastota, NY will return to action Friday, March 29 on the undercard of ESPN Friday Night Fights at Turning Stone Resort Casino (Photo by Jill Bonnett)
