Brick City Boxing

All Photos By: Raquel Gonzalez Photography
Copyright: Brickcityboxing & Raquel Gonzalez Photography
By: Danny Serratelli

Danny Serratelli, Uncle Manny, Anthony Catanzo, Paulie and Umberto Malignaggi, Samantha, Mike Nicosia

Despite the fact that The New Jersey Ironmen (10-6) were upset by La Raza de Monterrey, and lost 17-12 loss (6-10), the fans at the Prudential Arena were treated to an exciting game and definately got their money's worth. The Brick City fans welcomed special guest and honorary captain IBF Junior Welterweight Champion, Paulie "The Magic Man" Malignaggi to Newark.

Malignaggi gladly made the trip over to the Brick City with promoter Lou DiBella and his team from Brooklyn to serve as honary captain and to kick out the ceremonial first kick to Ironmen goalkeeper, another local guy who is almost legendary, Kearny New Jersey's Tony Meola. Malignaggi, a huge soccer enthusiast, recently spent a week in Italy training with A.C. Milan in preparation for his most recent title defense in which he won an exciting unanimous decision over Herman Ngoudjo.

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Paulie and Promoter Lou DiBella

The Ironmen and their staff were very hospitable to both Team Malignaggi and the BrickcityBoxing team. Ironmen general manager Tony Novo said. "We are very excited about the opportunity to have Paulie come serve as our honorary captain this Friday," "Anytime you can have a world champion come out and get a game started, you know it will be a special evening."

Fans have been very impressed with the Ironmen, who have played very well to date. First timers are very surprised at how fast, physical and exciting indoor soccer is when they see it live in "The Rock", which serves as a perfect venue. The fans are also treated to a stunning dance team as well as very friendly and accessable players.

Newark's new Prudential Arena, "The Rock" is a state of the art facility. The arena is a great venue for indoor soccer, hockey, concerts and recently hosted UFC 78 “Validation”. (click for Brickcityboxing's coverage of that event). There is not a bad seat in the house, and with all of the gyms, fighters and talent in and around the Brick City it makes perfect sense to put boxing in the beautiful venue soon.

Special thanks from Brickcityboxing to Jim Gooley, Director of Game Operations, Mike Ritz, Director of Corporate Sponsorships and John Archibald, Director of Communications for their hospitality and a great night of soccer.

Full game coverage from:
http://www.njironmen.com/

LA RAZA UPSETS IRONMEN
NEWARK, NJ-The New Jersey Ironmen (10-6) fell short in the final contest of a four-game home stand at Prudential Center, dropping a 17-12 loss to La Raza de Monterrey (6-10). Kicking out the ceremonial first kick as the Ironmen honorary captain was IBF World Junior Welterweight Champion, Paulie "The Magic Man" Malignaggi. (More info about Malignaggi's appearance coming soon to Brickcityboxing.com)

Brazilian forward Tiguinho opened the scoring at 8:00 of the first stanza when he finished off a Dizzy Antoniuk assist, giving the Ironmen a 2-0 advantage. A Mauricio Salles to Lazo Alavanja goal extended the New Jersey lead to 4-0 at 10:22, and Salles then netted a score of his own at 12:47 to make it a six point advantage. Rutgers-New Brunswick graduate Donny Gray registered the assist.

New Jersey saw an unfavorable shift in momentum in the second quarter with their only score coming off a Goran Vasic feed to Dizzy Antoniuk. Monterrey tallied four goals in the second quarter, including back-to-back three pointers by Dino Delevski and Genoni Martinez to close out the half. The scoreboard read 10-8 in favor of the visiting La Raza as the two teams headed to the locker rooms.

At 2:36 of the third period, Delevski set up a goal for Byron Alvarez, and Monterrey extended the lead to 12-8.

With his back to the goal, Ironmen forward Freddy Moojen ended the New Jersey drought at 1:19 of the final stanza, sending a Mateus dos Anjos ball off the back of his foot and into the back of the net. Ivan Medina answered for La Raza at 4:07, but the Ironmen closed the gap at 5:23, 14-12, when Antoniuk hooked up Salles to bring the Ironmen within a goal. With Vasic wearing the sixth attacker jersey, Delevski put the nail on the coffin with 34 seconds left to seal the upset, 17-12.

New Jersey now hits the road to Philadelphia for a Sunday afternoon match up with the defending MISL champion KiXX at 4:05 p.m. The Ironmen return to Prudential Center next Sunday for a 4:00 p.m. kickoff against the Milwaukee Wave.

ABOUT THE NEW JERSEY IRONMEN
The New Jersey Ironmen, operated by Jeff Vanderbeek and Michael Gilfillan of the NHL New Jersey Devils ownership group, join the Baltimore Blast, California Cougars, Chicago Storm, Detroit Ignition, Milwaukee Wave, La Raza de Monterrey (MX), Orlando Sharks, and the Philadelphia KiXX in the 2007-08 MISL regular season, which commenced in mid-October and will conclude at the end of March. The Ironmen play a 15-match home schedule at Prudential Center in the Downtown Core Redevelopment District of Newark. The Ironmen are coached by two-time MISL Coach of the Year Omid Namazi and Assistant Coach Kevin Sloan. For more information on the New Jersey Ironmen, visit www.njironmen.com.

ABOUT THE MISL

The Major Indoor Soccer League, a single-entity organization with a coast-to-coast presence, represents the major league of professional indoor soccer, featuring the finest indoor soccer players from 32 countries around the world. The nine MISL clubs competing in the 2007-08 season are the Baltimore Blast, California Cougars, Chicago Storm, 2007 championship finalist Detroit Ignition, Milwaukee Wave, and the defending MISL Champion Philadelphia KiXX, with the addition of three expansion clubs, La Raza de Monterrey, New Jersey Ironmen, and the Orlando Sharks. The standings for the 2007-08 regular season are based on a single table of the nine Member Clubs. The MISL regular season commenced on the weekend of October 19-21, 2007 and concludes on the weekend of April 4-6, 2008. Each Club plays a thirty-match (30) regular-season schedule (15 home / 15 away). The 2008 MISL Championship Series consists of six of the nine MISL Member Clubs competing in three rounds, the Quarterfinal Round (April 11-13), the Semifinal Round (April 18-20), and the Championship Series Final (April 26) at U.S. Cellular Arena in Milwaukee. For more information on the MISL, visit the League's official website www.MISL.net.