We opened the meeting on a sad note as President Jack Hirsch lost his Father-In-Law this morning and was unable to attend. Vice President Henry Hascup presided over the meeting. We also morn the deaths of Bill and Mary Tate’s daughter Denise and Melvina Lathan’s younger sister. John Holden gave the toll count in the celebration of the lives they gave all their Loved ones.

Steve Weisfeld and Johnny Turner were the guest speakers and they did Outstanding.

(All Pictures taken by Stan Janousek, professional fight name Stanley Yanachek)

Ring 8 will have their next meeting on Tuesday night April 18th, starting at 7 p.m. ET, at O’Neill’s Restaurant, located at 64-21 53rd Drive in Maspeth, New York.

Guest Speakers will be Boxing Judge Steve Weisfeld and former Welterweight contender Johnny Turner.

Steve Weisfeld is a lawyer, and a boxing judge. He is a partner at Beattie Padovano, a general practice law firm of approximately 30 attorneys in Montvale, New Jersey. He has been a professional boxing judge since 1991, and spent two of those years as a commentator with HBO. He has officially judged approximately 1,750 professional bouts including 80 world championships. Steve is recognized as one of the top boxing judges in the sport today.

Johnny Turner fought as a professional from 1975 to 1984. He fought such standouts as Frankie & Wilfred Benitez, Pat Hallacy and Larry Stanton. He finished with a career record of 42-6-2 with 32 KO’s. He also played along side of Robert DeNiro in the academy award winning picture “Raging Bull,” when he played the French fighter Laurent Dauthuille. However, after instinctively throwing a left hook to the body that dropped De Niro in a heap, Turner thought his movie career was over before it even began.

President Jack Hirsch introduced the former undisputed Middleweight Champion of the World, Vito Antuofermo. Jack gave a Great talk on how he and Vito met many years ago and then went over his outstanding career.

(All Pictures taken by Stan Janousek, professional fight name Stanley Yanachek)

Vito then took questions about his fights with Marvin Hagler, Emile Griffith, Alan Minter, Hugo Pastor Corro, Bennie Briscoe and Eugene Hart which was very entertaining!

Due to the snow storm, tonight’s meeting has been postponed until next Tuesday, March 21st, starting at 7 p.m. ET, at O’Neill’s Restaurant, located at 64-21 53rd Drive in Maspeth, New York.

Ring 8 will have their next meeting on Tuesday night (March 14th), starting at 7 p.m. ET, at O’Neill’s Restaurant, located at 64-21 53rd Drive in Maspeth, New York.

Our guest speakers will be Top Rank publicist Lee Samuels and the former undisputed Middleweight Champion of the World Vito Antuofermo.

President Jack Hirsch opened the meeting as John Holden led the membership with a flag salute and a 10 count.

President Hirsch asked the membership to keep Paulette Balog in our prayers as she lost her mother a few days ago.

President Hirsch introduced our guest speaker for the night, NYS ringside physician Dr. Robert Polofsky. Dr. Polfsky, who has been a ringside physician for 20 years,  gave a wonderful talk on Concussions in boxing. He stated that there no tests that shows a concussion, so how do we know when a boxer has one.

Arthur Mercante Jr.talked on a few of his fights that he refereed and how much the doctor plays more of a part today then in years past.

Bob Duffy made a presentation to Larry Stanton as he received the Ring 8 Uncrowned Champion Award. He was unable to attend the organization’s original awards festivity last December, at the Ring 8 Holiday Event & Award Ceremony. His brother also talked on him and stated that Larry actually had his 1st Pro fight at the age of 14 when they were short a fighter and Larry stepped in.

President Hirsch talked on a few up-coming Amateur events, including the following:

Next Meeting Thursday, February 23rd at the Plattduetsche Park Restaurant, located at 1132 Hempstead Turnpike, Franklin Square, NY 11010 ( 1.5 miles east of Belmont racetrack ) starting at 7:00 PM with a buffet style meal.

Our guest speakers will be Joe Smith Jr., and the NYS ringside physician Dr. Robert Polofsky. We will also be giving Larry Stanton (29-17-2, 17 KOs), who fought professionally between 1969 and 1983, the 2016 Ring 8 Uncrowned Champion Award. He was unable to attend the organization’s original awards festivity last December, the 30^th annual Ring 8 Holiday Event & Award Ceremony.

Stanton’s most notable victories were against Bruce Strauss (54-27-2), Tony Petronelli (42-3-1) and Sammy Ayala (11-0). He fought a draw with two-time world title challenger Vilomar Fernandez (22-6-1) and lost a controversial decision to 1976 Olympic gold medalist Howard David, Jr. (6-0).

As most of you know, Joe Smith Jr., who was honored by Ring 8 at our Holiday Party in December, recently scored a knockout over the Legendary Bernard Hopkins in a bout shown live on the HBO Network.

Joe Smith Jr. is a Union 66 Laborer between fights when he’s not using his concrete fists to knock out opponents in the ring. His nickname “The Irish Bomber” is fitting with 19 of his 23 victories coming by way of knockout. His rapid rise up the Light Heavyweight ladder is impressive, fighting under the banner of Joe DeGuardia’s Star Boxing.

Joe grew up in Shirley Long Island. He is the oldest of 7 brothers and 1 sister. Joe started boxing at 13 years old. Boxing was a way to stay off the street and out of trouble and became a big part of his life. As an amateur, Joe had a very successful career. With just about 50 amateur fights, Joe won many titles including the Title World Champion in 2006, Junior Olympic Champion in 2004, 2005, and 2006, Empire State Champion in 2006, 2007 and 2008 and the New York Metro Champion in 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009. One of the most memorable times in Joe’s life was in 2008 when he celebrated the birth of his daughter and just weeks later became a New York Golden Glove Champion with an impressive win over Sean Monaghan.

Joe and his team signed a promotional contract with Joe DeGuardia’s Star Boxing in September of 2014. Joe had numerous offers to sign with other promoters but felt that Joe DeGuardia was his best option. Joe made his Star Boxing debut a smashing one by blasting out the tough Maxell Taylor in 1 round on December 20th, 2014 fighting for the first time in his backyard at The Paramount in Huntington, NY. The bout was televised on MSG Network. Joe returned to The Paramount on April 18, 2015, and thrilled the sold out crowd with an exciting 2nd round KO over Cory Cummings. Capping off a busy 2015, Joe fought again on September 11, knocking out Dion Savage in the 9th Round at the Paramount and on December 5, 2015 Joe scored the biggest win of his career to date when he defeated fellow New Yorker Will Rosinsky at The Barclay’s Center in Brooklyn, NY.

This bout propelled Joe into a nationally televised main event on June 18, 2016, against the top rated Light Heavyweight in the world Andrzej Fonfara. Joe stunned the entire Boxing world by knocking out Fonfara in one round in a bout seen worldwide on the NBC network. The fight was held in Fonfara’s hometown of Chicago and Joe had a huge contingent of fellow union workers from Local 66 Laborers Union cheering him on.

Dr. Robert Polofsky, DO – is a Board Certified in Family Practice. He is a physician member of the NY State Athletic Commission and USA Boxing Inc.

On a VERY sad Note, Paulette Balog’s mother passed away recently. Our thoughts and Prayers go out to Paulette and all of her Loved ones!