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02/08/2006 Archived Entry: "New England Chatta"
New England Chatta
Pemberton and Manfredo Fighting For More Than Home Bragging Rights
By J. D. Vena
Photos By Emily Harney
When it was announced that Scott “The Sandman” Pemberton of New Bedford, MA and his longtime friend and stable mate, Peter Manfredo, Jr. of Providence were going to swap punches at each other for money, the only sense it made was to the two fighters themselves. Local scribes who had covered their respective careers since they launched were left scratching their heads of the idea. Why would two fighters who know each other so well, who aren’t in each other’s way, want to do battle and potentially ruin the other’s career? After second thoughts however and understanding the fighters’ conduciveness to taking risks, it makes a lot more sense.
Manfredo, now 24-3 with 10 KOs is considered to be an aspiring jr. middleweight/ middleweight, the other, Pemberton, is coming off his long deserved lone title shot, a loss to Jeff Lacy for the IBF super middleweight belt. Now Manfredo has decided to face the region’s most accomplished boxer at that weight in what is sure to be a thrilling fight as long as it lasts.
Manfredo (left) on the inside with Victor Rosado. Manfredo has gone 10 rounds before.
Manfredo, now a plucky 25 years of age, who has since lost three of his last six fights due to the format of Sylvester Stallone’s show, debuted the night Pemberton won the NABF super middleweight title for the first time in 2000. Much has happened to both fighters since. After getting married and having a child, Manfredo carried an unbeaten record into the Contender series and made his name by losing and coming back on the show (thanks to Haverhill’s Jeff Fraza coming down with the chicken pox) only to lose in the finals. He made somewhat of a bigger splash when he lost a return match to rival, Sergio Mora, because it seemed to most that he had done enough to win.
Pemberton, now 39 years old, has compiled a record of 29-4-1 with 24 KOs, had his second child and got engaged the night he obliterated Omar Sheika in the CBZ’s 2004 Fight of the Year. He also made a name for himself as one of the more exciting boxers in the sport. He earned such standing by getting knocked down, getting back up and fighting his ass off. Some times he wins, like the night he beat Sheika for the second time and in other outings, he’s lost. In fact, if there is a boxer of today that most resembles the Stallone created Rocky Balboa character, it’s Pemberton. Oh yeah, he also did some hard time for being a collector.
Pemberton with Burchfield
Since the years following Manfredo's debut, the two have sparred a number of rounds in preparation for promoter Jimmy Burchfield’s boxing events but now they’ll be doing it without head gear, for good money and a chance for greener pastures. The two will square off Sunday night on ESPN (9:30 P.M. EST) at the Dunkin Donut Center in Providence and as you would imagine, it would seem more is at stake than a little turf battle.
Other than the two fighters one other man understands why the two have decided to take such a risk. Unlike the heated rivalry between Malden’s Dana Rosenblatt and RI’s Vinny Paz, this fight has more to do with stature and loftier purses than it does hatred, and Jimmy Burchfield, CEO of Classic Entertainment and Sports and co-promoter of Sunday night’s event, understands this.
“It takes a very special person to walk up those stairs,” explained Burchfield who has promoted most of Pemberton’s and Manfredo’s bouts. “These guys are friends but when the bell rings, they’re going to try to take each other’s head off. That’s what makes them true professional warriors.”
Though Manfredo left Burchfield’s Rhode Island based conglomerate over a year ago to compete on the popular TV series, his former promoter still has strong feelings for the 25-year old “Pride of Providence.”
“I’m Scott’s promoter but I am torn because I have been with them and have known them for a long time,” said Burchfield. “I’ve watched them grow into fantastic fighters. These are guys who always give what the crowd wants and that’s pure excitement. To take each other on without hesitation makes you appreciate the kind of boxers they are in this day and age. I really will hate to see one of these guys lose but my hope is that the loser will get another great fight. I think potentially, this could be another Ward-Gatti situation where people may just want to see them fight again. It would be very difficult for me to imagine that this one isn’t going to be a great fight.”
Me too.
Estrada and Godfrey, More Than Meets the Eye
Pemberton and Manfredo aren’t the only New England boxers willing to take a chance to advance on Sunday night. Manfredo’s stable mates, Jason “Big Six” Estrada and Matt Godfrey, both from Providence, are in tough on the undercard. Some would think they could be in over their heads but not Burchfield. He and fearless matchmaker, Ted Panagiotis believe in the potential and talent of their young charges to the point where they can match them against fighters that only top contenders would think twice about facing. Not the case, with Estrada and Godfrey.
Estrada 5-0 with 1 KO, the 2003 Pam Am Gold medalist who represented the U.S. in the 2004 Olympics, will be facing the formidable Yanqui Diaz . Besides the fact that has impressive record of 13-3 with 8 KOs, it’s even more alarming on paper when you consider the opponents on his ledger. Diaz has fought undefeated heavyweights before and has in many cases won, like the time he beat promising cruiserweight Michael Simms, Jr. or the time he knocked out former cruiserweight king, Juan Carlos Gomez in the very first round.
So far the only fighters able to defeat Diaz were the feared Samuel Peter, Tony Thompson and Kirk Johnson who defeated him by technical decision. Diaz also defeated two-time world title challenger Vaughn Bean (44-4 at the time) last year.
Ernest Mateen, Godfrey’s opponent, has also been in with his share of top contenders and though he’s come out on the losing end to most, has defeated the likes of David Telesco (twice) and former cruiserweight champ Uriah Grant (twice) as well as Drake Thadzi. Though these wins were long ago, former cruiserweight champ, Vassiliy Jirov, still at the top of his game, thought it would be a good idea to face Mateen after he lost his cruiserweight title to James Toney in 2004. Godfrey has only 10 professional bouts under his belt though and isn’t running scared. Though most boxers don’t have the cold feet syndrome, it’s their promoters or managers that do, but not Jimmy Burchfield. Burchfield sees it as any astute observer of the game would.
“First of all, you can’t look at Jason or Matt as guys who only have a few fights,” said Burchfield. “Both have great talent that they developed before they turned pro. Matt had well over 100 amateur fights and competed against the best amateurs in the country and Jason had over 260 fights and was considered one of the best amateurs in the world.”
“With fighters of this caliber, if we put them in against creampuffs, they wouldn’t learn anything, they probably wouldn’t be very motivated and no one, especially the fans, would be getting anything out of it. Fans pay to be entertained not to be fooled. With guys like Matt and Jason, it’s not going to be long before they’re fighting top guys and putting them in against guys like Diaz and Mateen are the guys that will help them get there. Even still, any one should appreciate how these two young men are eager to improve each time out and understand what it takes to build them to what they want to be.”
Also are the card are Contenders Alfonso Gomez and Miguel Espino, both of whom were eliminated by Manfredo on the show, and are looking put themselves in a position like Peter’s. Tickets are still available on Ticketmaster.com, at the Donkin Donut Center or by calling CES as 401-724-2253. For more information about the show, visit www.cesboxing.com.
