Worcester's Kendrick Ball Jr. fights for USA New England super middleweight championship as boxing returns to Palladium on July 15

WORCESTER — Fireworks aren’t limited to the Fourth of July in the city this month.

There will be a plethora of pugilistic pyrotechnics when the New England’s Future 10 boxing event takes place at 6 p.m. Friday, July 15, at the Palladium.

The scheduled 11-fight card is laced with talented area fighters, including Kendrick “Peppa” Ball Jr. of Worcester, who will fight for the USA New England super middleweight championship in the main event. That’s one of four title bouts.

“It’s a really good competitive card,” said A.J. Rivera, president and matchmaker of Rivera Promotions Entertainment, which is putting on the show. “Styles make fights. Sometimes it’s not necessarily the record, it’s the fighters’ styles (that create quality matchups).

“We have a lot of good matchups and big, exciting fights. It will be a good show.”

Ball (18-1-2, 12 KOs) will enter the ring for the first time since he defeated Ronald Montes of Columbia in the fifth round by technical knockout on April 29 at American International College in Springfield.

That win on the heels of a decision by the Massachusetts State Athletic Commission to change a loss Ball absorbed in his previous bout, in late November, to a no-contest after his opponent tested positive for steroids.

“He’s a hometown kid, so it’s nice for him to get that hometown fight,” Rivera said. “His first fight back from where that loss got overturned was in Springfield and he shook a little ring rust off and won by knockout against a tough, tough guy.

“Now he’s back in the groove, back training, looking to make a statement in front of his hometown fans and just show he’s not the same guy that fought where the loss was overturned. He’s new and improved and moving forward from that.”

Ball, the reigning World Boxing Council USNBC Silver super middleweight champion, will be looking to add another belt in the 168-pound weight class to his collection.

He faces a formidable challenger in undefeated Angel Camacho Jr. of Providence (16-0, 5 KOs). Whether Camacho is rusty or well rested remains to be seen as this will be his first bout since March of 2019, which, coincidentally enough, was also at the Palladium.

Worcester will also be represented at New England’s Future 10 by:

• Cruiserweight Demek “Joey" Edmonds, who will take on Aquila Prote, who is making his professional debut. A four-time New England Golden Gloves champion as an amateur, the 27-year-old Edmonds is 5-0 since turning pro 16 months ago with all his wins by knockout, four of them in the first round

• Edwin Rosado (1-9-1, 1 KO), who will meet Oscar Bonilla (8-3-2, 1 KO) of Bridgeport, Connecticut, for the USA New England super lightweight title. This will be Rosado’s fourth bout at the Palladium, although his lone win came here at the Lincoln Street Armory in his pro debut in 2006.

• Heavyweight Jake Paradise (4-2, 4 KOs), who will looking to make it five straight wins overall and three in a row at the Palladium when he takes on Enzo Baptista Guimares, a Bostonian by way of Brazil who has been KO’d in all four of his professional bouts.

• Featherweight Ranse Andino, who returns to the ring for the first time in nearly four years to face Isaiah Cruz of Springfield (2-0, 1 KO). Andino comes in 1-1 with his victory by knockout at the Palladium in his pro debut more than five years ago.

The Central Mass. talent pool also includes Wilfredo Pagan of Southbridge (6-1-2, 3 KOs), who will take on Agustine Mauras of Lawrence (7-13-3, 3 KOs) for the USA New England welterweight belt. Long a fan favorite, all six of Pagan’s wins have come in Worcester.

Pagan is 42 and been fighting professionally since 2017. While he’s often the oldest boxer on a card, that won’t be the case this time.

Paul Iannuzzi, a Providence native who resides in Killingly, Connecticut, will be two months shy of turning 53 when he meets Brazilian Lucinei Santos in a junior middleweight bout.

Unbelievably, this will be the pro debut for Iannuzzi. No fighter in boxing history has ever been older when he or she turned pro.

Tickets are priced at $40 for general admission, $55 for mezzanine and $80 for ringside. They can be purchased in person from Rivera Promotions Entertainment CEO Jose Antonio Rivera, A.J. Rivera and any of the participating fighters or from the Palladium (thepalladium.net).

Contact Rich Garven at rgarven@telegram.com. Follow him on Twitter @RichGarvenTG.

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Worcester's Kendrick Ball Jr. among local fighters on card as boxing returns to Palladium on July 15