Saturday nights are usually soccer nights at Highmark Stadium, the home of the Pittsburgh Riverhounds, but on July 12, a sporting spectacular of a different sort was the main event when Turf Wars II became the venue’s first-ever professional boxing event.
Drawing more than 1,000 people to Station Square for a night of fights, music and entertainment, Turf Wars II put the sweet science front and center with the Pittsburgh skyline across the Monongahela River providing an unmatched backdrop for the night.
“Turf Wars II was the second fight card of the series but the first of its kind at Highmark Stadium,” said Rachel Williamson, General Manager of Highmark Stadium. “We are excited to be introducing combat sports to both Highmark Stadium and our training facility, AHN Montour Sports Complex, and we are looking forward to many more events like this in the future, each event being bigger and better than the last.”
Headlining the card was veteran Pittsburgh welterweight Bill Hutchinson, the organizer and promoter for the Turf Wars series of events. “Hutch” treated the fans to a strong showing to end the night, as he won the Universal Boxing Federation title bout with a second-round technical knockout of Ramon Duarte Marquez to improve his pro record to 22-3-4 (11 KOs).
Earlier on the card, a pair of undefeated locals had short nights keeping their records unblemished. Paul Palombo of Aliquippa improved to 8-0 (2 KOs) with his first-round stoppage of Justin Howard in a middleweight fight, and Jerome Baxter of Penn Hills is now 6-0 (3 KOs) after winning his super welterweight bout with Alfred Raymond by TKO after Raymond was unable to continue through injury.
Other winners on the night included heavyweight Ed Latimore (14-1-1, 8 KOs) with a first-round TKO of Jorge Armando Martinez, super featherweight Salvatore Desimone (4-0, 1 KO) by a unanimous decision over Raymond Goodine, and middleweight Thomas Parker (3-1, 2 KOs) in a unanimous decision over John Brewer.
Outside of the ring, fans were also treated to performances by Pittsburgh rapper Big Jus and the rhythms of the University of Pittsburgh Drumline, and keeping the entertainment flowing throughout the night was DJ Galiffa, best known as the official DJ of the Pittsburgh Steelers pregame. Fans were also able to stay refreshed with drinks and concessions at the Highmark Stadium pub, making for a perfect night in the open-air setting for Turf Wars II.
More information will be announced soon about the next event in the Turf Wars series, which is tentatively slated for a fall date.
