With local Irish amateurs Tim Egan and Declan Friel on the card, the Fire Department of New York [FDNY] boxing club raised $80,000 for charity at its10th annual “Thrilla in Camilla” show at St. Camillus Church in Rockaway Beach, Queens.
The event, under open skies, included eight FDNY pugilists against opponents from various clubs in the New York.
“We donated $50,000 to Tunnel to Towers [Foundation] and another $5,000 each to the Patrick Brady Foundation, the FDNY Foundation, the Fire Family Transport Foundation, the Fight for Firefighters Foundation, the NY Firefighters Foundation and the Friends of Firefighters Foundation,” said FDNY Boxing Club president Bobby McGuire. “A great night.”
Tunnels to Towers has been a major beneficiary of FDNY boxing proceeds before. This current donation brings to $300,000 FDNY’s support to Towers in the past three and a half years. The Foundation provides mortgage-free homes to Gold Star/fallen first responder families, builds smart homes for injured veterans, and works to end veteran homelessness.
Members of Donal Ward’s BUA Boxing Gym in Astoria, Dundalk’s Timmy Egan and Donegal product Declan Friel were both victorious on the “Thrilla in Camilla” card. Egan outpointed Bronx firefighter Oliver Patrouch in their 165-pound scrap while Friel recorded his first amateur win with a commanding performance over emergency medical technician Patrick McKeown in the 158-pound division.
The other results were [FDNY boxers listed first]:
Welterweight - John Marrero [FDNY EMS St. 3] lost a split decision to Merrick Hickaro [Woodside Boxing Club];
Bantamweight - Stephanie Valentin [FDNY Eng. 294] came up short in an action-packed scrap with Despoina Karatziou [Mendez Boxing Club];
Cruiserweight - Kyle McGrath [Champs Boxing] defeated Jeremy Witherspoon [Woodside];
Heavyweight - Jason Bergin [FDNY Ladd. 5] was victorious via split points over Aiden Haran [Woodside];
Heavyweight - Sean Massimo [FDNY Ladd. 59] beat Eric Wendt [FDNY Div. 3]; and
Super Heavyweight - Dmitriy Teplitskiy [FDNY Ladd. 173] edged the game Josh Bungalso [Woodside].
