{"id":3111,"date":"2010-06-14T14:47:08","date_gmt":"2010-06-14T18:47:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/?p=3111"},"modified":"2010-06-14T14:47:08","modified_gmt":"2010-06-14T18:47:08","slug":"tony-grano-sparred-with-vitali-klitschko-working-with-joe-mesi%e2%80%99s-ex-trainer-for-june-26-fight-against-nicolai-firtha","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/?p=3111","title":{"rendered":"Tony Grano Sparred with Vitali Klitschko, Working with Joe Mesi\u2019s Ex-trainer for June 26 fight Against Nicolai Firtha"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Full Court Press Release<\/strong><\/p>\n

CES presents \u201cPride & Power\u201d at Mohegan Sun Arena<\/strong><\/p>\n

After sparring with world heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko for three weeks in Austria, Hartford heavyweight prospect Tony \u201cTNT\u201d Grano returned home for a week before shuffling off to Buffalo for training camp to prepare for his Saturday night, June 26 headlining fight on the \u201cPride & Power\u201d boxing card, presented by Jimmy Burchfield\u2019s Classic Entertainment and Sports, Inc. (CES), in the 10-round main event at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn.<\/p>\n

The WBF All-Americas heavyweight champion, Grano (17-1-1, 13 KOs), faces former U.S. amateur standout, Nicolai \u201cStone Man\u201d Firtha (17-7-1, 7 KOs), for the vacant NABO-US heavyweight title.<\/p>\n

Grano has enlisted the services of Juan DeLeon, who trained \u201cBaby\u201d Joe Mesi, as his co-head trainer along with Derrick Whitley. In Buffalo, Tony trains with DeLeon and when he\u2019s back home, Grano\u2019s handled by Whitley; the two have been together since Tony\u2019s amateur days.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had a great opportunity to spar with Vitali for his fight against (Albert) Sosnowski,\u201d Grano explained. \u201cHe stopped Sosnowski in the 10th. I had a big fight coming up, too. Derrick couldn\u2019t get away and I was over there working with Juan, who has joined our team, and it was a great experience training together. I\u2019m with him now at training camp in Buffalo and he\u2019s really working me hard. I\u2019m running on the track at 7 a.m., working three days a week on strength and conditioning, and sparring three or four different guys who are 6-6, 6-5 and weight around 250 pounds like my opponent.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is tough finding a good trainer who can help you get to the next level. I\u2019m not making the kind of money where I can hire a trainer to go away with me to training camp for weeks at a time. They have other jobs and families. I knew Juan from when I sparred with Joe Mesi in Puerto Rico. We worked well together then and now things couldn\u2019t be better. I have two head trainers working together with me for this fight. Firtha is big and he can box. He\u2019s going to come right in and try to bully me around. I need to stick and move, use my jab, go to the body, and work the angles. It could possibly be an early night but I\u2019ll be prepared to go 10 rounds.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Ring magazine recently named Grano\u2019s sensational victory by fourth-round knockout last September on Showtime against previously undefeated Travis Kaufman (18-0) as its 2009 Heavyweight Fight of the Year. \u201cIt was great to see Ring recognize me and the fight,\u201d Grano added. \u201cIt was a non-stop action fight. It was up against a lot of other good heavyweight fights last year and to get that recognition was great.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mike \u201cMachine Gun\u201d Oliver (23-2, 8 KOs), the reigning New England and EBA super bantamweight champion, continues his journey back to the top of the division, taking on former multiple title-holder Mauricio \u201cIndio Boy\u201d Pastrana (35-13-2, 23 KOs) in the 8-round co-feature. Oliver, another Hartford fighter, is rated No. 4 by the USBA. Pastrana has been world champion of the IBF, WBA, IBO, and IBA.<\/p>\n

Long Island light heavyweight Joe \u201cThe Irish Bomber\u201d Smith Jr. (4-0, 4 KOs), a 2008 New York Gold Gloves Champion, goes for his fifth first-round knockout against upset-minded Mazur Ali (6-6, 3 KOs).<\/p>\n

Also on the undercard in 4-round bouts are unbeaten Philadelphia welterweight Frankie Trader (6-0, 2 KOs) vs. Springfield\u2019s (MA) Noel Garcia (2-3-1, 1 KO); New Haven middleweight Rick Dawson (1-0, 1 KO), brother of light heavyweight star \u201cBad\u201d Chad Dawson, vs. TBA; Bridgeport (CT) super lightweight Carlos Hernandez (0-1) vs. pro-debuting Jonathan Vasquez, of Fall River (MA); Springfield\u2019s pro-debuting Jose Torres vs. Stamford (CT) light heavyweight Ahmad Mickens (1-0-1); New Haven junior welterweight Edwin Soto (4-0, 2 KOs) vs. Bryan Abraham (2-3-1, 2 KOs); and New Haven prospect Luis Rosa (2-0) vs. Puerto Rican super bantamweight Jose Del Valle (0-0-1).<\/p>\n

Advertise Now On RSR<\/a><\/p>\n

Purchase Boxing Interviews Of A Lifetime<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Full Court Press Release CES presents \u201cPride & Power\u201d at Mohegan Sun Arena After sparring with world heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko for three weeks in Austria, Hartford heavyweight prospect Tony \u201cTNT\u201d Grano returned home for a week before shuffling off to Buffalo for training camp to prepare for his Saturday night, June 26 headlining fight […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[105,1049,713],"class_list":["post-3111","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-boxing-news","tag-boxing","tag-nicolai-firtha","tag-tony-grano"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3111","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=3111"}],"version-history":[{"count":-3,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3111\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3111"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3111"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3111"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}