Preston Haliburton
Preston and his pal and ring girls
I got a phone call from my bud Preston Haliburton. We go back a few years and it was soo good to hear from him. Preston is a hot bachelor & attorney here in Atlanta and he is also a great boxer 9-0. We met through a mutual friend and I produced some projects for him.He called me yesterday and asked me if I could come film him commentating with his dad at a boxing bout. I have been to alot of Tyson fights in the past but back in the 90’s, we weren’t really paying attention to the fights. It was Las Vegas for Pete’s sakes lol.
So I packed up and headed downtown. It had already started to get packed at Center Stage. Shea Promotions Inc. put on this fight party and he did a great job. They had a V.I.P. area and I saw Dr. J. I also met the promoter of the fight and he showed me where to set up. I was getting a lil nervous because I was literally ringside and never seen a fight that upclose lol. I was right outside the ring. I got a chance to meet alot of the fighters too and there was even two ladies in the bout too!
I met welterweight Roberto Valenzuela from Mexico,Akbar Walton from Atlanta, Joseph Figueroa from the Bronx,Tara Mcullough from Mississippi, and Dino Davinci from Atlanta and Paul Delgado from Marietta,Ga. They all looked very tiny to be fighting, some boxers were as small as 118 pounds. There were no heavy weights in these matches lol.
There were 8 fights scheduled and they went pretty fast because in the State of Ga you can only fight 4 rounds. Why I don’t know. I also met the commissioner Andy Foster, he was cool. The ring girlies were cute and they also had drawings for an autographed glove from Mike Tyson, poster from Taureno Johnson and an autographed glove from Tyrese Hendrix.
When the fights begin, I started filming and the first guy to fight Franky Reed got a busted nose,ouch! When Dino Davinci popped him in the face, blood flew all over the judges and me! I was like omg! My lens and pink sweater was splattered with blood. I almost threw up in my mouth but kept filming, it was raw! As the fights went on, I felt sorry that there had to be winners and loosers. I saw 2 knockouts and some great combinations and jabs. The crowd seemed to like all the fights because they were yelling and saying stick and move lol.The two girls that fought was hilarious. Tara Mcullough didnt last through the first round because Nicole Woods, popped her soo hard they had to have the nurses come and give her a stool to sit on. She was clearly dazed and threw the towel in. I learned alot by being there and want to thank Preston Haliburton for the experience. Congrats also goes out to Champ Paul Delgado for winning your fight it was close but you whooped him! lol.
