“Mr. Providence” Vladine Biosse, above left, will fill in for the injured Angel Camacho Jr. at Twin River Casino on Friday, May 13th, 2016 against fellow Providence, R.I., native Peter Manfredo Jr. Camacho sustained a broken foot and Biosse answered the bell, setting the stage for an intriguing intra-state showdown dubbed “THE BATTLE FOR THE CAPITAL” at Twin River. Biosse boasts two nationally televised wins on ESPN in addition to a thrilling win over Joey Spina in 2012, also in Rhode Island. The former college football standout fights for the first time since July when he battled New Jersey’s Chris Chatman, above right.
Opportunity knocked, and “Mr. Providence” answered.
With undefeated super middleweight Angel Camacho Jr. sustaining a broken foot, forcing him to withdraw from his upcoming megabout against Rhode Island icon Peter Manfredo Jr., fellow Ocean State veteran Vladine Biosse has answered the call to face Manfredo at Twin River Casino on Friday, May 13th, 2016.
“THE BATTLE FOR THE CAPITAL” between “The Pride of Providence” Manfredo (40-7, 21 KOs) and “Mr. Providence” Biosse (15-7-2, 7 KOs) takes place nearly nine years to the date of Twin River’s professional boxing debut, which occurred May 11th, 2007 and starred Manfredo in a knockout win over Ted Muller.
“It’s a great opportunity for me to go out there and showcase my talent versus his talent,” Biosse said. “It’s an honor to share a ring with a man who I’ve been friends with outside of the ring even before boxing. He’s shown me nothing but love, so to go in there and share a ring with a man like that and compete, it feels good.”
A former track star at Hope High School in Providence and college football standout at the University of Rhode Island, the 33-year-old Biosse rose to stardom on the regional circuit with nationally televised wins over Joey McCreedy and Tim Connors on ESPN’s Friday Night Fights.
The affable southpaw became the toast of the town at the age of 29 in 2012 when he dominated fellow Providence native Joey Spina in a breakthrough unanimous decision win at Twin River to earn state bragging rights and capture the then vacant New England Super Middleweight Title.
More than a year later, Biosse put his belt on the line against Rhode Islander Rich Gingras and fought to a controversial draw, his last fight in Rhode Island until July of 2015. Biosse faced a laundry list of talented 168-pounders over the next two years, among them J’Leon Love, undefeated World Boxing Council (WBC) Silver Super Middleweight Champion Callum Smith, Andre Dirrell and Ukrainian standout Sergiy Derevyanchenko.
No stranger to tough fights, Biosse now faces another Rhode Island foe in Manfredo (40-7, 21 KOs), who’s ending a 2 ½-year layoff with his first fight since November of 2013 when he stopped Gingras in the eighth round of a scheduled 10-round fight.
Limited seated tickets for “THE BATTLE FOR THE CAPITAL” are priced at $66.00, $151.00 (VIP) and $201.00 (VIP) and can be purchased online at www.cesboxing.com, www.twinriver.com or www.ticketmaster.com, by phone at 401-724-2253/2254 or at the Twin River Casino Players Club.
Standing room tickets are also available for $46.00 directly through Twin River Casino and can also be purchased online at www.twinriver.com or www.ticketmaster.com or at the Twin River Casino Players Club. All fights and fighters are subject to change and tickets are non-refundable.
The Manfredo-Biosse headliner at “THE BATTLE FOR THE CAPITAL” is one of nine fights on a stacked card featuring two title bouts in addition to the professional debuts of two accomplished amateurs from Worcester, Mass.
Worcester’s Khiary Gray (12-0, 9 KOs) also returns on May 13th and puts his Universal Boxing Federation (UBF) Northeast Junior Middleweight Title on the line against Fort Meyers, Fla., vet Quinton Willis (10-3-2, 5 KOs) in an 8-round bout while unbeaten New Haven, Conn., welterweight Jimmy Williams (10-0-1, 5 KOs) faces St. Petersburg, Fla., veteran Manny Woods (15-4-1, 5 KOs) in a six-round bout.
Undefeated Springfield, Mass., junior welterweight Zack Ramsey (7-0, 3 KOs) steps back into the ring for the first time since 2014 to face 20-fight vet Issouf Kinda (17-3, 7 KOs) of New York in a six-round bout and regional standouts Nick DeLomba (8-1, 2 KOs) of Cranston, R.I., and the undefeated Freddy Sanchez (7-0, 5 KOs) of Worcester face off in a 6-round bout for the vacant New England Super Featherweight Title.
The May 13th undercard also features a six-round rematch between Stoughton, Mass., super featherweight Travis Demko (4-0, 1 KO) and Mohamad Allam (2-1, 1 KO) of Holyoke, Mass. The two faced one another in September with Demko winning by unanimous decision in a 4-round bout.
Also returning to Twin River, unbeaten Framingham, Mass., lightweight Julio Perez (4-0) faces Providence’s Cido Hoff (0-0-1) in a 4-round bout. Worcester’s Kendrick Ball Jr. makes his professional debut in a 4-round super middleweight bout against Providence’s Tunde Odumosu while fellow Worcster native Jamaine Ortiz debuts in a 4-round super lightweight bout against Skowhegan, Maine vet Josh Parker (0-2-1).