{"id":104223,"date":"2021-06-01T13:23:44","date_gmt":"2021-06-01T18:23:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/?p=104223"},"modified":"2021-06-03T10:51:23","modified_gmt":"2021-06-03T15:51:23","slug":"matt-conway-returns-to-the-ring-friday-june-4th-boxing-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/?p=104223","title":{"rendered":"Matt Conway Returns to the Ring Friday June 4th &#8211; Boxing News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js\"><\/script><br \/>\n<!-- RSR AD 1 --><br \/>\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\" style=\"display: block;\" data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-1545664804358300\" data-ad-slot=\"7759247395\" data-ad-format=\"auto\" data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins><br \/>\n<script>\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\n<\/script><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/?p=104223\" rel=\"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/?p=104223\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-104224 size-medium\" style=\"margin-right: 10px;\" src=\"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/20200212arMattConway01-1581703750-300x210.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"210\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/20200212arMattConway01-1581703750-300x210.jpg 300w, https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/20200212arMattConway01-1581703750-768x537.jpg 768w, https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/20200212arMattConway01-1581703750-1024x716.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/20200212arMattConway01-1581703750.jpg 1140w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a>A lot is on the line for Pittsburgh super featherweight Matt \u201cSweet Child\u201d Conway this Friday night (June 4) when he headlines the second installment of the popular \u201cBattle of the Fairgrounds\u201d series, presented by Gionta Management, at Washington County Fairgrounds in Washington, Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n<p>Conway (18-2, 7 KOs), a former International Boxing Association (IBA) Intercontinental lightweight champion, takes on Colombian knockout specialist Jonathan \u201cPopeye\u201d Perez (38-26, 30 KOs), the former Colombian Super Bantamweight Champion, in the 8-round main event for the vacant IBA Intercontinental Super Featherweight Championship.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>The 25-year-old Conway is in a crossroads fight having suffered the first losses of his pro career. He is coming off a win by way of a 6-round unanimous decision this past February against Vincent Jennings, but prior to that fight, Conway stepped up in class and lost to Francisco Esparza (9-1-1) and Gabriel Flores, Jr. (16-0), respectively, by way of 8-round split and unanimous decisions in Las Vegas on Top Rank-promoted cards against its fighters.<\/p>\n<p>Conway, who has never been stopped as a professional, realizes that he needs to get back on the winning track and he\u2019s thrilled to be headlining in his hometown.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s kind of a crossroads fight for me because now, I don\u2019t have much wiggle room and losing can\u2019t be an option,\u201d Conway said. \u201cBut losing those two fights pushed me to get better and taught me what I had to work on, and it\u2019s not like I got blown out of those fights. I can still make my mark with quality opponents. I learned to be more patient, and I need to trust myself and know I\u2019m there for a reason.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBeing pumped for this fight is an understatement, especially headlining in a title fight. People are going crazy because they wanted boxing back after the pandemic and we\u2019re making it happen. My hometown fans always come to support me and with this fight in my backyard, I\u2019m ready to put on a show.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Battle-tested Perez, who has fought world champions Cristian Mijares and Abner Mares, has become a gatekeeper having fought rising prospects such as Toka Khan Clary, Carlos Videl, Nestor Bravo Velezquez, Karl Dargan, Luis Rosa, and many others during the past decade.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI know my opponent is tough,\u201d Conway added. \u201cHe has a lot of experience and is coming here to fight, but I don\u2019t want this fight going more than six rounds. An impressive victory will let everyone know I\u2019m in the running to make some noise, especially in the IBA. My name has a little buzz to it, but it\u2019s not big enough.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Unbeaten Pittsburgh super middleweight \u201cPretty\u201d Richie Cantolina (6-0-1, 2 KOs) faces upset-minded Darryl \u201cDreamking\u201d Bunting (4-9-2, 2 KOs) in the In the 6-round co-featured event. A former mixed-martial-arts fighter (12-8 as an amateur), Cantolina has successfully transitioned to boxing, evident by his pro record.<\/p>\n<p>Ohio super featherweight Ryizeemmion \u201cHumble Beast\u201d Ford (4-1, 3 KOs) meets 21-fight veteran Christopher Nelson, of Louisville, in a 6-rouind match.<\/p>\n<p>Puerto Rican-native Joel De La Paz (10-1, 6 KOs), a promising prospect out of Atlantic City (NJ), takes on Cleveland challenger Latiss Norman (4-6, 2 KOs) in a 6-round bout. De La Paz is riding a 3-fight win streak since he suffered his only pro loss in 2018 to 8-1 Naim Terbunja.<\/p>\n<p>Also slated to fight on the under in 4-round bouts are Pittsburgh\u2019s Deon Goodlow (1-3) and Ivan \u201cThe Hurricane\u201d Hernandez (2-4-1, 2 KOs), of Buffalo, battle in a 4-round fight at a 152-pound catchweight, Buffalo lightweight Gerffred Ngayot (2-0, 1 KO) vs. TBA, and Ohio super featherweight Shawn Rall (0-4) vs. North Carolina\u2019s Brandon Grimett (0-2).<\/p>\n<p>Card subject to change.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A lot is on the line for Pittsburgh super featherweight Matt \u201cSweet Child\u201d Conway this Friday night (June 4) when he headlines the second installment of the popular \u201cBattle of the Fairgrounds\u201d series, presented by Gionta Management, at Washington County Fairgrounds in Washington, Pennsylvania. Conway (18-2, 7 KOs), a former International Boxing Association (IBA) Intercontinental [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[26692],"class_list":["post-104223","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-boxing-news","tag-matt-conway-returns-to-the-ring-friday-june-4th-boxing-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104223","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=104223"}],"version-history":[{"count":-3,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104223\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=104223"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=104223"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=104223"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}