Quadrine Hill, who is among the latest former football players to hang up his cleats and pick up boxing gloves, fights tonight in Irvine.
The former University of Miami fullback and son of Los Angeles Rams (1979-80) and Miami Dolphins (1981-84) running back Eddie Hill, faces another heavyweight, Riverside's Javier Francisco Diaz, in promoter Roy Englebrecht's latest Battle In The Ballroom show at the Irvine Marriott.
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Hill was cruising to victory over Yohan Banks–ironically, a former NCAA Division 1 defensive lineman at San Jose State–in Las Vegas Sept. 15 when an uppercut floored him with 30 seconds left in the fourth and final round.
It was only Hill's second professional bout (he won his first), so he has much to prove tonight against 2-3 Diaz.
The card also features 5-0 heavyweight prospect Natu Visinia facing 3-4 Justin Reigle of Ohio.
Two middleweights seeking their first pro wins square off: Santa Ana's
Bobby Chavez against LA's Cesar Flores. Both are 0-1. Middleweights Lawrence Letuli of Vista and Non
Bognjumong of Thailand face one another in their pro debuts.
Tickets are $32 and $40. Seven amateur heavyweight bouts kick things off at 6 p.m. Go to battleintheballroom.com for more info.
OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.