Uncasville, CT – CES Boxing hosts Hall of Famer promoter and author J Russell Peltz for a special book signing at its upcoming Summer Heat boxing event Saturday, August 20 at Mohegan Sun Arena.
Peltz, a matchmaker and promoter for more than five decades known throughout boxing for his successful string of first-class events at The Spectrum in South Philadelphia from the mid-1970s to early ‘80s and later at the Blue Horizon in the ‘90s in North Philadelphia, is signing copies of his recently-published memoir Thirty Dollars and a Cut Eye, which was named the 2021 Book of the Year by the West Coast Boxing Hall of Fame.
The book details Peltz’s half century in boxing, which began in Sept. 30, 1969 at the age of 22 when he sold out the 1,346-seat Blue Horizon with a main event featuring Bennie Briscoe and Tito Marshall. A former copy editor for the Evening Bulletin in Philadelphia, Peltz later became the Spectrum’s Boxing Director in 1973 and soon turned the 18,000-seat venue into the boxing capital of the East Coast. Over the next seven years, Peltz promoted several noteworthy bouts, including the 1976 WBC world junior lightweight title bout between champion Alfredo Escalera and challenger Tyrone Everett, which drew a record attendance of 16,019, the largest crowd for an indoor fight in Pennsylvania. Peltz left The Spectrum in 1980 to promote in Atlantic City.
Peltz has promoted or co-promoted more than 40 world championship bouts, including 10 title defenses by WBA bantamweight champ Jeff Chandler, WBA welterweight champion Meldrick Taylor’s 1982 title defense against Glenwood Brown, and the IBF world super middleweight title bout between Joey DeGrandis and Charles Brewer at the Blue Horizon in 1992 in addition to fights on ESPN, USA Network, HBO, Showtime, and major networks ABC, CBS, and NBC. He is also credited with developing the career of former world champions Charlie “Choo Choo” Brown, IBF junior lightweight champion Arturo Gatti, IBF light heavyweight champion Prince Charles Williams, IBF junior welterweight champion Gary Hinton, Marvin Johnson, Matthew Saad Muhammad, Kassim Ouma, and Jason Sosa.
The International Boxing Hall of Fame inducted Peltz in its 2004 class. The legendary promoter also received the James J. Walker Award from the Boxing Writers Association of America in 1999 for “long and meritorious service,” the Career Achievement Award from the Philadelphia Sportswriters Association in 2000, and later that year was inducted into the World Boxing Hall of Fame in Los Angeles. Peltz currently resides in Boca Raton, FL, with his wife, Linda, and works as a boxing advisor and manager. Thirty Dollars and a Cut Eye is also available online at Amazon.com as well as Barnes & Noble, Walmart, and Better World Books. Copies will be available for purchase August 20.
CES’ Summer Heat kicks off at 7 pm August 20 and features the return of heavyweight Cassius Chaney of New London, CT; Carini, Sicily, heavyweight Juiseppe Cusumano; undefeated Irish super middleweight Francis Hogan of Weymouth, MA; fast-rising bantamweight prospect Angel Gonzalez of Hartford, CT; undefeated Springfield, MA, welterweight Jalen Renaud; and Rhode Island’s Gary Balletto III; and female welterweight Stevie Jane Coleman of Colombia, CT. Tickets for Summer Heat are available at CESFights.com, MoheganSun.com, or the Mohegan Sun box office.
Additional details for Summer Heat are available online. For more information, follow CES Boxing on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter at @CESBOXING.
INFORMATION
CES Boxingis one of the top promotions in the northeast and one of the few to successfully promote both mixed martial arts and professional boxing. Launched in 1992 by longtime boxing judge Jimmy Burchfield Sr., the promotion is the only in professional boxing to boast two reigning WBC Youth world champions in lightweight Jamaine Ortiz and featherweight Irvin Gonzalez. CES Boxing recently teamed with UFC FIGHT PASS, the world’s No. 1 streaming platform for combat sports, to showcase its events to a worldwide audience, and worked as a promotional consultant for the Mike Tyson-Roy Jones Jr. pay-per-view event in November of 2020.
Mohegan Sun Arena is one of the busiest Arenas in the United States and is ranked consistently among the top venues in the world according to Billboard Magazine, Pollstar and VenuesNow. Mohegan Sun Arena finished 2021 with its first “#1 Indoor Arena” ranking for its capacity in the world according to Pollstar and VenuesNow, ranked among the top 10 venues in the United States regardless of size based on ticket sales, and was named “2021 Innovator of the Year” by Celebrity Access for its ViacomCBS residency. In recent years, the award-winning venue has also been the “#1 Casino Venue in the World,” “#1 Social Media Venue in the World” and a seven-time national award winner for “Casino of the Year – Arena” by the Academy of Country Music. For more information on concerts and other great events, visit MoheganSun.com. For information on this week’s schedule, call the Entertainment and Special Events hotline at 1.888.226.7711.
