Bruce “Pretty Boy” Boyington will fight in Maine for the first time in nearly two years Saturday night.
The veteran featherweight from Brewer will face Taylor Trahan of Littleton, New Hampshire, in the main event of the 15-bout NEF 32 at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee in Lewiston.
The fight will be contested at a catchweight of 150 pounds.
“I’m very excited to be fighting back in Maine,” said the 38-year-old Boyington, whose most recent forays in the cage have included bouts at Madison Square Garden in New York City and Penza, Russia.
“I feel so good right now, I’ve made a lot of good changes in my life and I just want to show that to everybody.”
Truth be told, a return to Lewiston wasn’t originally on Boyington’s fighting agenda for 2018.
Boyington, who had gone 2-1 for the national-level World Series of Fighting promotion in 2016 and 2017, was signed to a contract with that organization but had been on a hiatus of sorts. It coincided with the WSOF’s efforts to rebrand itself as the Professional Fighters’ League with plans to kick off yearlong tournaments in various weight classes during 2018 with an ultimate prize of $1 million to each champion.
That left Boyington, who last fought for WSOF on Dec. 31, 2016, coming off a loss to undefeated WSOF featherweight champion Andre Harrison, with what loomed as a year without a fight for that promotion.
He was given the OK to find a fight and ultimately moved up in weight class to challenge 11-1 hometown favorite Nate Andrews at CES 45 in Lincoln, Rhode Island, last Aug. 17. Boyington lost via second-round submission.
It was a fight that ultimately led to Boyington being dropped from the Professional Fighters’ League featherweight tournament picture.
“About a week before Christmas I got a call from (PFL owner) Ray Sefo, and he essentially said he had to make some cutbacks and they were going to go from 12 to 10 fighters in the featherweight class and I didn’t make the cut,” said Boyington, whose picture nevertheless remains on the featherweight page of the PFL website.
The loss to Andrews — Boyington’s third straight defeat against competitors with a combined 47-6 record — was cited as a reason for the release, though at the time Boyington didn’t believe he was risking his PFL future by taking that bout.
“It was more or less just a payday for me,” he said, “and while I’m disappointed I lost, knowing now what was at stake I never would have taken that fight.
“There is something in the contract that suggests something about taking the risk if you do fight outside the contract,” he added, “and not even outside the contract but if you fight and you lose they have the right to let you go, more or less.”
Boyington is still weighing his options with the PFL but now sees himself as a free agent.
“I’m not overly worried about that one promotion especially,” he said. “At my age I’m just happy to be able to do what I love doing.”
Instead Boyington is focused on this opportunity to return to his MMA roots in facing the 26-year-old Trahan.
Trahan (7-8) is coming off a win over Conor Barry last month in New Hampshire that ended a two-fight losing streak. One of those two losses was by first-round TKO to Boyington’s Young’s MMA teammate, Aaron Lacey.
“It’s going to be exciting,” said Boyington, whose 14-11 pro record includes 12 previous bouts for New England Fights. “I never want to be complacent as far as an opponent goes because Taylor’s a tough guy, but I look at this as an opportunity to go down there, make this comeback and do some things I don’t usually get to show in the cage.”
Ewer seeks second NEF belt
Among other pro fights on the NEF 32 “Super Saturday” card, undefeated C.J. Ewer of Hampden will attempt to capture his second promotional championship in as many fights.
Ewer (3-0) won the NEF middleweight belt last August with a first-round stoppage of Rumford’s Mike Hansen and now will move down in weight from 185 to 170 to take on Kemran Lachinov for the vacant NEF welterweight title.
The Massachusetts-based Lachinov (5-2) has campaigned as a welterweight throughout his pro career and is riding a three-fight winning streak. His most recent victory came by unanimous decision over Gill Pinheirro on Nov. 11 at FC Premier 24 in Agawam, Massachusetts.
One of Ewer’s Young’s MMA teammates, Lacey, seeks to bounce back from his first pro loss when he takes on veteran Josh Parker (6-9) in a featherweight clash.
Lacey won his first four fights before taking on veteran Vovka Clay last Nov. 18 in Manchester, New Hampshire. Lacey and Clay were involved in a close battle for the Combat Zone promotion’s vacant featherweight title, but a deep cut on Lacey’s head forced a doctor’s stoppage of the bout in the second round with Clay awarded the victory by technical knockout.
On the amateur side, 18-year-old Jayda Bailey of Levant will attempt to follow up her successful debut last November when the Hermon High School senior faces Floridian Amanda Gallo in a three-round bantamweight clash.
B.J. Garceau of Bangor, who battles Type I diabetes, will make her debut in the cage against Sarah Ziehm of Central Maine BJJ in the Lewiston-Auburn area. Garceau plans to use the bout to promote the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.
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