It wasn’t loving but hurting the fighters were putting on each other Friday night at the “Valentine’s Day Massacre,” a boxing event held at the Ex- Caliber School of Prizefighting.
Co-owner John Fonte named the event after the famous 1920s Chicago gangland massacre in which Al Capone’s men machine-gunned their liquor
bootlegging rivals in a garage on Cupid’s day.
“They don’t know who Al Capone is, or was, I have to explain it all to them, but everybody is excited about it,” said Fonte, who has just started the Valley Boxing Authority, a fight league.
Teenaged fighters competed for championship belts for their weight classes in the VBA Friday.
They have had two fight nights before, but “now they’ll have titles to defend,” Fonte said.
The main event was Onix “The Invisible Man” Vasquez of Ansonia versus Jose “Sugar” Santos of Shelton.
The two laid into each other with salvos of furious punches.
“My trainer says nobody can see me in the ring, I’m too fast. That’s why I’m called the Invisible Man,” said Vasquez in an interview before the fight, which he won. Now he has a hefty welterweight belt, complete with gold colored insignia, to fight to keep from the hands of challengers.
He likes that idea.
“I loved boxing since I was a little kid,” Vasquez said.
He’s been boxing almost a year, and will soon be studying graphic design at Housatonic Community College in Bridgeport. There will undoubtedly be some fighting to do besides the studying.
“I’m ready for whatever comes my way in boxing,” he said after the fight.
“Since we started the Valley Boxing Authority, we have other gyms from Connecticut that are interested in coming over here and competing with our guys,” Fonte said before the fight.
Ivan Carbali (Shelton) vs Gino Vitale (Shelton) Story continues after video:
Tickets were $10. Sponsors included Charter Arms, the well-known maker of handguns that has a factory on Canal Street, Valley Firearms, Boardwalk Marina and several private individuals.
Video below shows action from the main event:
The bouts were:
Ivan Carbali vs. Gino Vitale both from Shelton. Vitale won the middleweight belt.
Bryan Loayza of Ansonia vs. Troi Barnes of Shelton. Barnes won a trophy.
Josh Vasquez of Ansonia vs. Danny Leonard of Shelton. Vazquez won the junior division featherweight belt, and also won a trophy for fighter of the night.
Andy Sember of Trumbull vs. Mike O’Connell of Shelton. O’Connell won a trophy.
Hector Lopez of Derby vs. Colin Dempsey of Oxford. Dempsey won the super middleweight belt.
Manny Gonzales of Shelton vs. Jimmy Norman of Derby. Gonzales won the cruiser weight belt.
The school has been building steadily. Fonte and his partner, Nick Lavin, who works at a fitness center, opened Ex-Caliber last March to offer the young men of Shelton and surrounding towns something that previous generations of Americans loved heartily: the exercise, discipline and excitement of boxing.
The teens fight three two-minute rounds. They train and exercise, staying in shape, while learning a sport and even learning self-defense applications.
It has its downside. Like getting hit in the nose.
“I hate getting hit in the nose. I have never broken it but it got turned a little bit a few times,” Ivan Carbali said.
For more information on the Ex-Caliber School of Prizefighting call (203)922‑9366.
