The Main Event

Welcome, fight fans, to BallroomBoxing.Com, Web site for the premiere club fight series on the East Coast. In the tradition of shows at fabled fight palaces such as the Blue Horizon, Ballroom Boxing is fast becoming famous around the country for its unparalleled matchmaking, boisterous-yet-classy atmosphere and one great fight after another. Of all the regular boxing promoters on the East Coast - maybe in the country - no one obsesses over making even fights more than Scott Wagner.

When you come to Ballroom Boxing at Michael's Eighth Avenue in Glen Burnie, Md., you don't see the typical matchups of heroes and villians, pit bulls and dog chow. There is no meat wagon dropping off a bunch of stumble-bums ready to fall down for the undefeated, baby-faced hometown kid on the first swing.

You see dig-in-the-trenches, low-down rumbles. Or classic matchups between boxers and punchers. Or undefeated prospects taking on proud, honest veterans. You see fighters enter the crucible, where they find out fast just what they're made of.

Most boxing shows, at all levels of the game, have a winning corner and a losing corner. Nine times out of 10, the fighters in one corner are supposed to win, while the other boxers are there to pad a record or "provide work."

Wagner, after getting a disappointing taste of that type of matchmaking, doesn't care a whit anymore about who wins or loses. He only wants to give his fans action fights. Sounds like hype? You take a phone call from him at 11:30 p.m. "Johnny, what do you think of Whitley against Rucker?"

Nevermind that Whitley has knocked Rucker out already in one round. Wagner doesn't care. He's out there, scheming and dreaming up one compelling matchup after another. And somehow, what might look like a limburger cheese stinker on paper, turns into the blockbuster of the evening.

Wagner will make fights between a killer with a 14-0 record and a guy plugging along at 9-12. Why? Because he does his homework. He knows the fighter with the losing record has been mixing it up with killers. Records mean nothing to Wagner. He's looking for heart and desire and enough skills to push that undefeated prospect to the limit. And if the prospect loses, so be it.

You fight in the Ballroom, you get matched tough. You come out as a fan, you get your money's worth.

It's that simple.