Rock Hill will soon welcome one of the best boxers in the world to its sports center
One of the best boxers in the world — and his robust, international audience — will soon know what Rock Hill has to offer.
Alberto Palmetta, the ninth-ranked welterweight in the world and a former World Boxing Association world champion, will headline a boxing event at the Rock Hill Sports and Event Center on Saturday night that features men and women fighters from around the globe — as well as Rock Hill’s backyard.
These fighters include the No. 14 superfly boxer in the world, Lucas Fernandez Leone (of Puerto Rico); bronze medalist for the Argentinian National Team in 2018, Micro Cuello (who’ll be making his pro boxing debut); featherweight fighter and Rock Hill’s own Vit Y; among others.
“They’re going to be real fights with real fighters,” Gardner Payne, one of the two lead organizers for this event, told The Herald earlier this week. “Real, competitive fights. So it should be something that every boxing fan and every sports fan around will enjoy.”
This event is the second and latest one in the Payne Boxing Series — a program sponsored by TyC Sports, an Argentine pay television sports channel owned by Torneos and Clarin Group that reaches 20 million homes across the world, Payne said.
“We had our first (event) on Aug. 15 in Daytona, which was a huge success, and so we were looking for where to go for the second one,” Payne said. “The minute we saw the Rock Hill Sports and Event Center, we knew this is where we wanted to be.”
Payne, in addition to working with the city of Rock Hill and Visit York County, is partnering with Christy Martin Promotions to put on this event. Christy Martin is widely considered the most iconic women’s boxer of all-time: She’s been inducted into six boxing Hall of Fames after a 59-fight career, and at her competitive peak in 1996, she graced the cover of Sports Illustrated.
Martin told The Herald that she’s excited to bring quality fights to the Carolinas, a part of the country not known for its boxing pedigree.
“We’re trying to clean up and strengthen the reputation of Carolina boxing,” Martin said earlier this week. “When people come to the Carolinas and when fans come to watch fights in the Carolinas, they (want to) know they’re going to see a real fight. If it’s Christy Martin Promotions, they know it’s going to be a real fight.”
The center’s COVID-19-adjusted capacity for this weekend’s event is 750 people, which includes the event’s staff and each fighter’s team, making fan space is limited. Masks will be required at the event and there will be social distancing, event organizers said.
Want to watch?
Tickets can be purchased at the event’s website or the Payne Boxing Series’ social media accounts. Doors open at 3 p.m. Saturday. The event’s undercard begins at 4 p.m., and the main card begins at 6:45 p.m.
For more information, visit the Payne Boxing Series website.
This story was originally published November 4, 2020 at 4:30 PM.
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