PORTLAND, Maine — The next chapter of Maine's illustrious professional boxing history will be written Saturday night.
The Father's Day Pro Boxing Classic will be a ten-bout card featuring Championship Triple Header title fights as well as amateur matchups.
It will mark the first professional boxing event at the Cross Insurance Arena in 30 years.
Many local fighters will be in the ring Saturday night and spent the past week training at the Portland Boxing Club, which has been home to countless champions over the last three decades.
“It’s an obsession. Boxing is not a sport, it’s an obsession," owner Bob Russo told NEWS CENTER Maine. "Someone told me that years ago and I’ll tell ya, he was right."
For 32 years, Russo has helped put on events across the state and brought his fighters around the country.
“People are asking me all the time, 'We need to do more shows, because we do so well,'" Owner Bob Russo said. “I’d love to bring my fighters across the street [in Portland] rather than bring them to Chicago to get a bout."
Russo has helped mentor young boxers over the years, and many of them don't leave. Fighters like Portland's Casey Streeter have been going to the gym for more than 20 years.
Streeter will fight Jimmy Williams for the New England Super Welterweight Championship as part of Saturday's main event.
“I basically grew up in this building. I made a lot of friends that are family now," he said. “Boxing [is] not just a sport, it’s a lifestyle. I live, breathe, and eat this sport."
That love for boxing was tested for Streeter when he suffered a devastating leg injury after a logging accident. The grapple of the log truck grabbed his leg, Streeter said, and required multiple surgeries and extensive rehab.
“The doctor told me I would never really walk normally again, let alone box," he said. "So, I took that as motivation the whole time I was out and wanted to prove everybody wrong."
About one year after the accident, Streeter was back in the ring. His inner drive and the support from the Portland Boxing Club helped him get back to fighting.
Streeter said Russo is like a father to him and helped mentor him both in and outside the ring.
"I had a pretty rough upbringing as a child, which kind of [brought] me to the gym, I needed an outlet from my home; someplace that was a positive environment rather than a negative environment," he explained.
The Portland Boxing Club's slogan, displayed on the sign above the front door, is "Making Champions and Good Citizens."
“So we help mentor them into a good person, and the sport demands that, that you have to train and you have to be clean," Russo said. “We’re like family, we’re close-knit, we all try to get better, and hopefully we can improve every day that we’re here".
At its core, Russo said the boxing club is a youth program, helping young kids find their direction in life.
For Streeter, boxing has helped him with his mental health. He said when he walks into the gym, he is at peace.
Ilyas Bashir of Auburn is the defending All New England Golden Gloves Lightweight Champion. The Bates College junior will face Ashbel Abilly in a Lightweights match.
In the Middleweights Division, fellow New England Golden Gloves Champion Wade Faria of Portland will make his professional debut.
“It’s going to be a fun night, I like to dance, I might be able to bust some moves in there, so come down and see me dance," Faria said.
Faria began training at the Portland Boxing Club after graduating from high school and learned very quickly how much dedication is needed to be a successful boxer. He also said he's learned a lot about himself during his career and said it's important to never doubt yourself.
2023 All New England Golden Gloves Super Heavyweight Champion Zordan Holman of Westbrook, West Forks' Brandon Berry, and Lewiston's Hunter Dickerson will also fight on Saturday.
The action begins at 6:30 p.m. You can find more ticket information here.