By Misty Cryer
The excitement of a USA Boxing-sanctioned event coming to town is in the air. Fright Night will be on October 19 at Carlsbad Municipal Beach Park in the Beach Bandshell area. The day will begin at 8 a.m. with weigh-ins. There will be vendors and activities complementing the main event. Gates will open at 2 p.m., with fights starting at 4 p.m. and ending around 10 p.m.
Granger Boxing, a local boxing club, is hosting the event. “It is going to be the first time coming to Carlsbad. We’re pretty excited about that,” said Dallas Granger. “It’s not a sparring event; it’s sanctioned,” he said.
It is amateur boxing through USA Boxing, said Granger. “There will actually be an official ref; there will be judges; we also have to have a doctor on-site,” he said.
“Amateur boxing is where all the pros start. You do so many fights, and they will bump you up to pro. From there, you have to make a name for yourself,” Granger said.
“I’ve got four fighters from my club that are going to fight in it, and we’ve got 70 fighters that entered,” he said. “They are coming in from all over—like from Albuquerque, El Paso, Las Cruces…from Texas and Colorado,” he said.
“We’re going to be giving out trophies, custom boxing gloves, and medals,” Granger said.
“This is my first sanctioned event, so I am kind of still brand new to this to see how everything works. It’s pretty neat because I get to match everybody up,” he said. He explained that, as host, he views all the people who signed up through a website to see if they matched up with anyone else. “It shows their weights, age, where they are from, and what boxing club, and it says how many fights they’ve got, but it doesn’t say how many times they’ve won,” he said.
Fighters are matched by weight in their age group with fighters from eight years old to adults. “Like with the eight-year-olds, if he weighs 90 pounds, the eight-year-old, the other person has to be within five pounds, within that weight limit, it can be up or down. The older ones, they have to be within 10 pounds apart,” Granger said. “I think we’re looking at about 20 bouts,” he said.
“We had an event last year around this time. It was just a sparring event,” said Granger. “My kids entered, and there was no winner. This year, with it being sanctioned, it is actually going to go on their record—the wins and losses,” he said.
Fright Night has a Halloween theme. “We will have Michael Meyers there. He will be walking around for a couple of hours if the kids want to take pictures with him. I hired a guy to do that. We did it last year; we even had Jeepers Creepers last year. We will have a mechanical bull,” said Granger.
“We also have VIP tables, but those have already sold out,” said Granger. The event details published on the Facebook group for Granger Boxing say general admission is $20, with a $10 admission fee for kids 10 and under.
“I’ve been planning this for years already. I’m glad I can make it happen. Mindy Rodriguez is my girlfriend. She has been helping me out as well. She’s been in contact with the coaches. Once they enter to come to the event, we have to stay in touch with them. She’s been really good about that. She’s helped me out a lot,” he said.
At the Granger Boxing gym, Granger said, “We work out all in a group. It’s Monday through Thursday from 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. It’s all ages—girls and boys, men and women. We even go running. After that run, we come back and do a little bit of pad work, footwork, bag exercise. Tuesday and Thursdays are sparring nights.”
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