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The other day I received an email on facebook from boxing promoter, Damon Feldman asking me to stop by his press conference at the Field House in Philadelphia.  He was holding this event to promote his upcoming celebrity Boxing match this upcoming weekend.  I picked up the message about 2 hours before it was to start, but decided what hey.  I called my good friend Jamie Reibenbach to see if she wanted to go over with me. 

Since Jamie pretty much runs things at the restaurant and the Field House is owned by her parent company; she could afford to take some time off and go with me to do some networking for her company.  When I first walked in the door, I saw a friend of mine, Philadelphia promoter, Mike Fazio whose claim to fame outside of promoting was being a contestant on the MTV reality show, “A Double Shot at Love.”  We chatted for a little bit and discussed his bout this weekend against Willie Aames. 

Willie, is the former star of “Eight Is Enough” and “Charles in Charge.” He’s recently been in the news because of his falling on hard times.

I got a chance to hang out with a bunch of folks that I knew and had the pleasure of meeting several new people.  In attendance were Damon Feldman, Jessica Scott, Alexis Small, Eagles tight end – Eugene Bright, Dan Morroni, sports writer – Rob Maaddi, and Scotty Goldfarb of “Double Shot at Love.”

NOW FOR THE GOOD STUFF

The main reason I even decided to cover the press conference was to try and set up an interview with Willie Aames for one of my future radio shows.  I had tried to work something out with Damon for weeks, but could never hook it up. I decided to just talk to Willie himself and he informed me that Damon had to set it up.  So, Damon if you’re reading this article, set up an interview because my listeners demand it. It would also be great publicity for your future fights.

I did ask Willie if Scott Baio would be attending the fight or even knew about it. He replied that Scott didn’t, but he thought Baio would be happy for him and he hoped that he could get Scott to his next fight with Screech from “Saved by the Bell.”

Dustin Diamond (Screech) will fight the winner of the Aames vs. Fazio Fight.

Each of the boxing brawlers got a chance to say something while up on the podium.  Everyone was pretty mellow and actually kind of mundane.  That is, until Fazio grabbed the microphone and called Willie Aames a bum and went even further by verbally attacking Willie’s family.

You could have heard a pin drop in the room. Nobody was sure whether this was staged or something Mike came up with on the fly.  I later found out, Mike did it to stir up some shit.  There went my photo op with both Mike and Willie together.

Conclusion

I’ve posted some video clips below from the press conference and some photos for you to view.  If you watch, you’ll get to see Fazio and Aames almost get into a pre-fight scuffle.

Please NOTE – I dressed up like Bert Sugar for the day, just for the occasion.

Last NOTE – If you’re in the Philadelphia area – you can buy tickets and get details for the fight being held May 16, 2009  or visit http://www.celebrityboxing.tv/

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