“Vanilla Gorilla” Crossed returns Saturday in Maryland
Cruiserweight sensation Sam “The Vanilla Gorilla” Crossed (5-0, 3 KOs) of Greenbelt, Maryland, will be stepping back into the squared circle on July 15, at the Sphinx on K in the co-main event. This will be Crossed’s first fight after suffering a broken bone in his right hand in his last bout on Oct.19, 2016, in Charlotte, in which he scored a second round technical knockout of Michael Tillery (0-2).
“I knew I had broken my hand about a minute or so into the fight,” Crossed said. “So I just went out in the second looking for the knockout and I got him out of there.”
“It was my first fight on the road and I had to deal with a lot of adversity, not only with my hand but there was also an issue with weight,” Crossed said. “In North Carolina, the fighters can’t weigh more than 15 pounds apart and my opponent came in at 181 pounds.”
Although Crossed had made the contracted weight of 197 pounds, he was 202 pounds when his manager, Mike Walters, received a call from the promoter.
“Christy Martin called me little before 4 p.m. the day of the fight and explained the situation about the weight disparity issue,” Walters explained. “She told me the opponent came in at 181 so Sam had to reweigh and come in at 196 pounds when we checked in with the commission at 5:30 p.m.”
“I didn’t think Sam would be able to drop that kind of weight with that kind of time constraints, but he worked his ass off and did it. He actually came in one pound under at 195 pounds.”
Saturday night, Crossed will be facing southpaw James Jones (4-10, 3 KOs) of Nashville in his first six round bout.
“I know his record doesn’t look great on paper but I can’t underestimate anyone I face.” Crossed said. “He’s got two wins in a row, and he’s always fighting in his opponent’s backyard. I am pretty sure he got screwed in a few of those fights.”
Tickets priced at $125, $80 and $60, not including applicable service charges and taxes, are available now online at squareup.com/store/walters-
Follow Sam Crossed on Twitter at @SamCrossed301 on Instagram at @VanillaGorilla301 and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/
