LEWISTON — The first boxing night held at the Lewiston Armory since 1999, “Gettin’ Gritty in the City,” started off with a bang. 

Ten-year-old Thomas Gabri, one of seven boxers fighting for Lewiston’s Cugno Boxing team, came out swinging early and often to earn a decision win over Paul McColgan of Private Jewels. The Pee Wee 9-10 Male fight was decided pretty early when Gabri’s plan came to fruition almost immediately. 

Thomas Gabri, 10, of Greene reacts after he won 75-pound pee-wee match against Paul McColgan during the Gettin’ Gritty in the City boxing event at the Lewiston Armory on Saturday. Gabri boxes for Cugno Boxing of Lewiston. Daryn Slover/Sun Journal

“Keep punching him and punching him,” Gabri said of his strategy. “Just keep hitting him in the body and the face, and he got tired out.” 

Gabri said there were “a lot of times” where he knew he had McColgan on the ropes. 

In the third fight, Cugno’s Breanna Ingalls fell to Stephanie Moss of Champ’s Boxing in a Senior Female Novice match. 

Moss took control early, and in the third and final round the referee stopped the fight twice to countdown Ingalls to make sure she could continue. 

Emma Jones of Edward Little High School was originally supposed to fight, but her opponent dropped out before Saturday. Jones, though, still showed up at the Armory, in a dress, to show support for her Cugno Boxing teammates. When Vanessa Volpi’s opponent dropped out before the eighth fight on the card, Jones stepped up.

Jones changed into gear — shorts, shoes and hand wrap loaned by teammates — and fought Volpi in an exhibition. 

“I’m always ready to fight (mentally),” Jones said. “I wasn’t prepared to fight at all, I had Braden (Littlefield’s) shorts and wrap on and someone else’s shoes, but I just hopped right in. I feel like I did good, I was excited.”

After Jones fought, Lewiston High School’s Crispin Kamundala stepped into the ring with Armando Crenca of Big Six.

Kamundala had defeated Crenca once before, and after the three rounds on Saturday, he thought he notched another win. 

The third round was Kamundala’s most ferocious. Following the instructions of his coaches, he was swinging harder and harder as the fight went on. 

“The first two rounds, something was off and they said I didn’t give my all the first two rounds,” Kamundala said. “They don’t think I went fast early, so the third round I had to give it.”

Kamundala lost to Crenca in a close match.

“Everybody was saying I won the fight, but we’ll see next time,” Kamundala said. “I thought I won, but that happens sometimes.”

In what was probably the fight of the night, Cugno’s Aaron Waite fought Joao Wade Faria of Portland Boxing in a 165-pound match. 

Both fighters were throwing haymakers, many to the head, but neither cracked under the pressure. 

Waite took the victory in front of his hometown, a win that meant a lot to him.

“It’s an honor to fight here where we train,” Waite said. “It was a huge opportunity, it’s become a home. Fights here should happen more.”

During the fight, both fighter’s seventh of their respective careers, Waite tapped into what he’s learned in the gym that sits directly under the ring on the Armory’s gym floor.

“It’s hard work, in and out, there’s no game plan that’s going to get you through,” Waite said. “It’s just hard work, like it is downstairs (in the practice gym). I just trust what they say and did the best of my abilities. It makes me feel really proud.”

Glenn Cugno, the head coach of Cugno Boxing, said he’s working on securing all future home fights to be held at the Armory, and not at elementary schools in Lewiston as they have been.

“It’s a great place to fight, it’s been a long time coming,” Cugno said. “It’s under new management now, so they want us to rent here instead of the school, so we’re working on fighting here.

“Last time it was here, I was fighting. Me and Joey (Gamache). This place, honestly, is the best place in the state to fight.”

Littlefield capped off the Cugno lineup of boxers Saturday night, entering the ring to the tune of Meek Mill’s “Dreams and Nightmares,” the only boxer to have his own walk-up music.

Littlefield went on to defeat Pierre Robinson of Rochester Fight Factory. Littlefield claimed to not know during the fight if he had the edge on Robinson, but to the audience’s eye it was clear Littlefield put on a show.

“Listen to my coaches, do what we worked on in the gym and it paid off,” Littlefield said. “It was a pretty close fight, a tough fight. He was wheeling a lot of shots, so I had to duck my head and dodge.”

Cugno was excited about how the night turned out. 

“Sixteen fights is a great night, and the kids put on a show, from the little ones, all the way up,” Cugno said. “I look forward to the fights being here.”

Editor’s note: Updated to correct information about the Moss-Ingalls bout.

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