Boxing: Winter 2022
Looking for some exciting indoor winter activities in CNY?
Look to one of the world's most enduring sports when boxing returns to Turning Stone with Joe Smith Jr. stacking up against Steve Geffrard
Turning Stone | Event Center | Saturday, January 15 | 7:00pm
It's one of the five oldest sports in human history. And it's headed back to Central New York this winter, when pro boxing makes its 2022 debut at Turning Stone Resort Casino on January 15.
The light heavyweight title fight between New York native Joe Smith Jr. (27-3, 21 KOs) and Steve Geffrard has the boxing world buzzing.
Smith, 32, took home the title this spring, elevating him to #3 in ESPN's light heavyweight rankings.
Make a weekend getaway of it and stay and play at New York's most awarded resort, a destination all its own. Get in on some of January's biggest gaming promotions while you're here, like the $125,000 Avalanche of Cash going on now through January 28. Be sure to sign up for the TS Rewards Card to participate.
Extend the evening's fun with a post-event drink at Upstate Tavern, or head to the Atrium Bar at Exit 33, where you'll also find live music every Friday and Saturday night at Tin Rooster and The Gig. A $10 cover charge lets you enjoy the evening at both venues. For a meal to remember, reserve a table at one of our Forbes Four-Star restaurants, the penthouse TS Steakhouse at the Tower or the elegant Wildflowers at The Lodge.
Boxing's enduring popularity since the Bronze Age
Before mankind had even invented the wheel, boxing had already taken hold as a sport
Boxing as a sport can trace its roots all the way back to the beginning of the Bronze Age around 3,000 B.C. While our early ancestors were just learning how to fashion weapons and tools out of bronze in place of stone, and inventions of the day included little things like, oh, the wheel, the earliest evidence of boxing also began to emerge from ancient Egypt.
As a sport, boxing made its way to Greece, where it was introduced to the Olympic Games in 688 B.C. Early evidence shows that leather was used to protect the boxer's hands and forearms, fashioned into primitive boxing gloves. It would be two Olympic games later before another iconic sport was introduced - chariot racing. (It's a wheel thing...)
For any sport to have that kind of staying power - literally more than 5,000 years - what exactly is the universal appeal? A world champion boxer weighs in.
What makes boxing so exciting for such a diverse audience?
Here's what a four-time world champion boxer has to say
Sumya Anani is a yoga and aerial skills instructor and an aspiring children's book author from Kansas. Not your typical boxing fan, right? Actually, she's also a four-time world champion boxer herself, inducted in 2016 into the Women's International Hall of Fame.
Sumya (who pronounces her name sue-MY-ah) may be helping people light up their chakras these days, but for years she lit up rings in the professional boxing world. While one of her defeats inspired the Oscar-winning film "Million Dollar Baby," the boxing world remembers this "Island Girl" for what's still the biggest upset in the history of women's boxing when she defeated Christy Martin, the face of the sport at the time. Martin, it turns out, would never step in the ring with her again. (Or, probably, challenge her to a headstand.)
She has a theory why professional boxing has such an incredibly diverse fan base, herself included. "Boxing is one of the most physically challenging sports in the world," she explains. "It takes focus, endurance, agility, speed, self-discipline and the ability to adapt instantly. All at once. And there's no team to support you if you make a mistake or miscalculate a move. Boxing is truly athletes at their best."
The 2022 Boxing Hall of Fame Weekend Celebration returns this June
Meet some of the biggest names in boxing plus the 2020 - 2022 inductees into the International Boxing Hall of Fame
Since Turning Stone and the International Boxing Hall of Fame joined together to bring boxing to Central New York, the celebration weekends each June have become bigger and better year after year. Past events have included appearances by boxing legends like Vitali Klitschoko, Mike Tyson, Miguel Cotto, Marvin Hagler, Riddick Bowe and more.
This year promises to be the biggest yet. In addition to fight night, boxing fans can also score a seat for the annual Banquet of Champions dinner at the Event Center, where a trilogy of inductees into the Hall of Fame will be honored, spanning from 2020 - 2022.
As with previous years, Turning Stone will be hosting the Ultimate Boxing After Party with live entertainment and specials across a number of Exit 33 venues. Stay tuned for more information and tickets to this exciting event.
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