GLENDALE — An event 62 years in the making for the Jewel City is steadily approaching.
On Friday at the Glendale Civic Auditorium, Glendale Glory will be the first sanctioned night of boxing in the Jewel City in more than six decades.
Behind an campaign spearheaded by Kahren Harutyunyan, whose Art of Boxing Promotions, in association with Bash Boxing, is promoting the event, the Glendale City Council’s ban on boxing was lifted earlier this year, granting a one-year trial period.
Harutyunyan is hoping that Friday night will see a solid crowd have fun and enjoy a safe and secure evening of exciting fights that, in turn, bodes well for the community. In turn, he hopes a successful night at the fights will lead to many more and a permanent lift on the ban.
“I’m hoping our community will respond to our call to come support our fighters,” said Harutyunyan, who’s putting on his fifth promotion and also has more than a dozen professional fights in his boxing career. “After all we achieve over this week and this weekend, hopefully this event will teach us all [that] this event is good for the city. ... Hopefully, we will change the law permanently.”
Professional fighting was banned in 1947 by the City Council, calling it “unwholesome” entertainment. That stigma is a major reason the promoters must provide extra security and cost for extra police units.
“I’m hoping everything will be OK, but I’ll be watching it like a hawk,” Councilman Bob Yousefian told the News-Press in March.
Indeed, the event as a whole will be looked upon from every angle.
As for what goes on in the ring, the card is tentatively scheduled for seven fights, with doors opening at 7 p.m. and first bell an hour after.
The main event will see rising heavyweight contender Andrey Fedosov against Galen Brown in a 10-round tilt, while Glendale fighters Art “Lionheart” Hovhannesyan and Gapo “The Ghost” Tolmajyan will also be in action.
Fedosov, 23, is 19-1 with 15 knockouts, having won his last seven via KO, none of them having gone past the fourth round.
“He’s a strong puncher,” Harutyunyan said. “He’s very quiet, humble, down to Earth.”
But the venerable Brown will likely provide him with a stiff test, sporting a 32-11-1 record with 19 knockouts as he enters the 10-round contest.
