LEWISTON, Maine — At least one grudge match and three amateur title fights are among the anticipated highlights of New England Fights’ latest promotion scheduled for Saturday night at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee.
The first of 21 bouts — five professional and 16 amateur — is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m.
And while the show is labeled “NEF XVIIII: Made in America,” it is even more homegrown than that with most of the fighters coming from the Pine Tree State.
That includes the main-event fighters, NEF lightweight champion Bruce “Pretty Boy” Boyington of Brewer and Topsham’s John “First Class” Raio.
This duo will square on in a nontitle contest at a catchweight of 150 pounds, with Boyington (10-8) seeking to avenge a controversial loss to Raio (2-7) in February 2014.
Boyington had early control in the first round of the first meeting, only for Raio to reverse the tide with a rear-naked choke hold.
But when Boyington waved with his free hand that he was OK to continue, referee Jimmy Bickford took that as a tapout sign and ended the contest with Raio the victor.
That decision has been the source of continued back and forth between the two fight camps ever since, prompting the rematch.
“I just can’t go in there and beat John,” said Boyington in a recent NEF podcast. “Even his own fans are expecting that. … I can’t just go in there on June 13th and beat John Raio. I gotta go in there and destroy him, or I still lose out on this fight. I know that, and I’m gonna go in there and make that statement.”
For Raio, a second win over Boyington would rejuvenate his struggling pro MMA career.
“In regard to Bruce finishing me quickly, making it easy and not really worrying about the fight too much, I just find it disrespectful like a lot of things he’s said to me, my family and my friends,” said Raio, who is coming off a loss to Dover-Foxcroft’s Derek Shorey in April..
Among the other pro fights on the card, Shorey (2-1) will face Jeremy DiChiana (1-0) in a bantamweight matchup, while Auburn’s Jesse “The Viking Erickson” (4-4) will be in action against Zenon Herrera (0-0) in a lightweight clash.
And Crowsneck Boutin of Portland will make his professional debut in a middleweight battle with Ryan Cowette of Bath. Boutin, NEF’s 2014 fighter of the year after going 3-0 with two stoppages, was 6-7 overall as an amateur while Cowette is 2-2 as a professional.
NEF also will crown its first three amateur champions.
Local rivals Ricky Dexter (3-0) of Brewer’s Team Irish MMA Fitness Academy and Josh Harvey (3-1) of Bangor’s Young’s MMA will battle for the promotion’s lightweight belt, while Billy Leahy (2-1) will face Ryan Glover (1-0) for the heavyweight crown.
Norman Fox (4-1) and Dustin Veinott (3-3) will square off for the NEF flyweight (125-pound) title.
Another amateur bout of interest matches Camden Hills of Rockport wrestling coach Patrick Kelly against Dr. Steven Bang, a bariatric surgeon from Auburn.
The 50-year-old Kelly defeated Bang’s son Steven by third-round technical knockout (unanswered strikes) in his most recent bout at NEF XV last November.
Kelly is 2-0 in the cage while the elder Bang, 45, is 1-0 entering their lightweight clash.
