Happy New Year! I’m finishing up New Year’s Day by watching AMC’s Rocky Marathon, reflecting on our accomplishments in 2008, and looking forward to a very exciting 2009. If you missed Rocky, just wait for another holiday, but if you missed this year’s “Little Italy” Christmas Boxing Event, you’ll have to wait until next year.

Mark Machi fakes a knockout at the second annual “Little Italy” Christmas Boxing Event.
Photo Courtesy of Steve Mellon, Post-Gazette

The annual Christmas event at the former Roth Carpet building is a decades-old tradition that was brought back in 2007 by Mark Machi, owner of the Exercise Warehouse Gym and vice president of the BBA. In his Post-Gazette article “Taking a jab at restoring Christmas boxing tradition”, Timothy McNulty goes beyond the ring to tie together decades of boxing and politics in Pittsburgh. Whether you missed this year’s fights or were cheering ringside, I recommend reading the article for its unique coverage of local history as we look to the future.

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