WBO/IBF/IBO Heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko will join champions “Sugar” Shane Mosley, Mark Breland and Bobby Czyz on Tuesday April 7 at the Robert Treat Hotel in Newark, New Jersey to receive boxing awards.
Other assorted boxing celebrities and champions will also be on hand, including Emanuel Steward, Harold Lederman, Larry Holmes, Michael Spinks, Bernard “The Executioner” Hopkins, Ivan “Mighty” Robinson, Al “Ice” Cole, and Tomasz Adamek to celebrate the Seventh Annual Awards Dinner and Celebrity Reception hosted by C.O.M.B.A.T.T., Inc. Former New Jersey Athletic Commissioner, Larry Hazzard is founder of the non-profit youth organization hosting the awards dinner and expressed his joy in honoring the champions and others on April 7. “Being a former school principal I have always emphasized to students that they can excel in the classroom while participating in sports,” Hazzard said. “Wladimir Klitschko will be receiving the Founder’s Award this year and he epitomizes not only the best of our sport but he’s also well-educated, possessing a PhD in Education. Klitschko is the best example of athletics and education being perfect together.”
C.O.M.B.A.T.T., is an acronym for Community Organization Making Better Alternatives Today for Tomorrow. The dinner is the organization’s major fund raising event to benefit young boxers in Newark, Irvington and Jersey City. “Our program is more than a boxing club. We guide our young people through their transitions into productive adults, who contribute positively to their own successes in life and their communities,” said Rhonda Utley-Herring, co-founder and CEO for the group. “It can be an overwhelming challenge for many professional boxers once they outlive their boxing skills. And, since the majority of our children will not exceed the amateur level of boxing competition, we go beyond your typical boxing club to offer young people the opportunity to explore healthy lifestyles, boxing and alternative career planning, life skills training and appropriate social behaviors.”
Hazzard stated that he is very happy to see another all-star cast of honorees. This year, others among the list of noteworthy honorees receiving awards include boxing promoter Kathy Duva, boxing trainer Nazzim Richardson, Jersey City Mayor Jeremiah Healy, Dr. Michael Sabia, Elnora Watson, Ras Baraka, Joe Macchi, Mikey Perez and Tabitha Younger. Hazzard says it’s very special to have among them, Kathy Duva, a woman who is carrying on the long tradition of boxing promotions in the Duva family. He believes boxing in NJ may have died years ago if it were not for the Duvas.
The celebrity reception starts at 5:30 p.m. and dinner at 6:45 p.m. Ticket donations are $100 per person and may be purchased at the C.O.M.B.A.T.T. Clubhouse Gym, 205 Spruce St. in Newark (973-824-4900 or 973-297-1299) or at the IBF Office, 516 Main Street in East Orange (973) 414-0300.