SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA – Upstart
promotional company O.P.P. Presents, headed by Mark Nanney, brings world
class professional boxing back to the fight town of Sacramento on
Friday, August 24th with their initial event, “Hot August
Fights,” at the beautiful DoubleTree Hotel. Perennial light heavyweight
contender and hometown favorite Otis “Triple OG” Griffin will headline
in the eight-round main event as he begins another trek towards his goal
of becoming world champion at 175-pounds, along with a supporting
bursting with promising local talent.
“It is almost like reinventing
myself,” says Griffin of returning to Sacramento with the help of O.P.P.
Presents. “I have been through a lot of ups and downs throughout my
career with tough decisions and outright robberies. I still have always
fought my way back to the top. If you look at it, I have fought eight
title fights and about five title eliminators and I’m poised to go right
back up to the top. We are going to do five shows here in my hometown
of Sacramento, and bring boxing back to the capital city, which has been
a hotbed for boxing over the years and I am excited about it.”
New promoter Mark Nanney is
determined to give Griffin the best opportunity possible at achieving
his career goals, while developing the next wave of potential contenders
and champions out of the area. “It started out with my partner Mr.
Pratt, who managed Otis Griffin the past four years,” says Nanney,
explaining how this event came together. “His involvement pretty much
set us in the direction of putting on cards here in Sacramento. We knew
Sacramento as a fight town in the ‘80s, and we want to give the fans
what they have been looking for the past 20 or 30 years. Mike Ortega,
who has been known in the area for his great amateur career, and Juan
“Chico” Martinez, are two of the names that are looking to jump out and
get as much exposure as possible. It’s a card full of local Sacramento
talent, and we expect to draw out the Sacramento fan base.”
In addition to a new promoter, local
fight fans should be excited that a new venue has decided to play host
to the sweet science. “The DoubleTree was a venue that opened their
doors to us,” says Nanney. “There is another local promoter in town in
Nasser Niavaroni, and with all due respect, he’s been doing it for many
years, but we did not want to step on any toes and get involved in any
of his sites. We wanted to start out fresh, and the DoubleTree gave us
that opportunity. We look forward to establishing a new arena in
Sacramento and that is why we chose the DoubleTree.”
Not only have O.P.P Presents and the DoubleTree committed to the August 24th event, but a five-fight series has been planned, with the second event
penciled in for the month of October. “We are looking to do three or
four fights at the DoubleTree, and then with either the fourth or fifth
fight, step into the Sacramento Memorial Auditorium, with Otis Griffin
in the main event fighting for either a regional title or a world title
elimination bout,” outlines Nanney.
For Griffin, this new partnership
with O.P.P Presents gives the career-long road warrior the ability to
fight on a level playing field, something “Triple OG” has rarely seen in
recent years. “I have been right there so many times,” says Griffin.
“To quote the Rosie Perez saying, ‘Sometimes when you lose, you actually
win and sometimes when you win you actually tie.’ I can say that
because I have been robbed. You have to realize, I’m a fighter out here
on my own without a promoter right now. I’ve been doing this
independently. So when people left me for dead, it is not like I had a
promoter like a Golden Boy anymore or a Don Chargin or anybody like
that. It was just Otis Griffin and my manager Mr. Pratt. We put together
these wins the hard way on the road against credible opponents and
former champions and we got back into the limelight that way. So that’s
what we are going to do with Mark Nanney and O.P.P. Presents. We are
going to roll right back into the driver’s seat again.”
“We want to let the people of
Sacramento that we are here to stay, and we are here to bring the fight
game back to the people of Sacramento,” states Nanney. “We want to bring
the sport back to the level it was here twenty or thirty years ago,
when big time boxing was thriving in the city. We are building the stars
of tomorrow, like Mike Ortega, Juan Martinez and a great blue collar
fighter in Larry Ward, who will turn around his career with O.P.P. The
main thing is, follow these shows and you will see a little bit of
everything. You are going to see former world champions come through as
well as the stars of tomorrow that are going to keep this chain going.”
Tickets for the event, promoted by
O.P.P. Presents, are available by calling 925-787-9586 or at the
DoubleTree gift shop, all Dimple Record locations as well as online at
OPPBoxing.com.
