Fall River fighters come away victorious as pro boxing returns to the city after 30+ years

For the first time in over 30 years, professional boxing returned to the city of Fall River this past weekend at the Fall River PAL.

The event, presented by Boston Boxing Promotions, featured several Fall River fighters.

In the main event, Fall River’s Kyle Cusick (5-3, 1 KO), fighting out of the Fall River PAL, defeated Johnny Kim (also a Fall River native). Cusick won a dominant unanimous decision winning all rounds on the three judge’s scorecards.

Russ Kimber, fighting out of Peabody, MA, went on to defeat Stephen Langlais (Love’s Boxing in Fall River) in his last fight before retirement. Langlais put Kimber on the mat twice in the first round with body shots before Kimber rallied and stunned Langlais with a right hook. In a hotly debated decision, the referee stopped the fight as Langlais was still on his feet but not returning punches, giving Kimber the TKO win.

Chris Aiello, fighting out of the Fall River PAL, defeated Aquilla Prote. Aiello put a combination of body and head shots together to floor Prote in the 1st round to win via knockout.

Mario Ramirez, from Knuckleheadz Boxing in Ventura, California, defeated Michael Taylor of Cortland, NY. Ramirez won a 4 round split decision over Taylor.

Also on the card, Radiel Rodriguez, fighting out of Cuba, defeated Brandon Baue from Missouri. Rodriguez won via 1st round knockout.

Before Saturday, the last pro card to take place in Fall River was in 1991 and featured future world title challenger Ray Oliveira of New Bedford and heavyweight Peter McNeeley, who 4 years later would set Pay-Per-View records for his fight against Mike Tyson in Las Vegas.