Newly crowned North American Boxing Association (NABA) super flyweight champion John “Scrappy” Ramirez (10-0, 8 KOs) made a statement two weeks ago during the DAZN opener on the Zurdo Ramirez card -Dominic Boesel, presented by Golden Boy Promotions in association with Zurdo Promotions, live from Toyota Arena in Ontario, CA.

Ramirez’s statement was, “I’m here to take control!”

Ramirez, 25, fighting in nearby East Los Angeles, patiently set up Mexican opponent Jan Salvatierra until he exploded midway through the first round when he landed a powerful hook right that made Salvatierra falter. Ramirez showed composure beyond his years, blinding Salvatierra with a jab and following up with a straight right that landed on the button, which not only dropped his foe 8-1, but also knocked him out of the ring in an instant Knockout Candidate of the Year at 2:25 of the first round.

“When you land a shot like that,” Ramirez explained, “you can feel everything. I knew it was a money shot. I was sure the fight was over right after the right hook because that he retired. Going into the fight, I knew we were on completely different levels. He’s a good fighter that I wanted to fight on the big opportunity on DAZN.

“It feels good to win my first title belt, but I wasn’t surprised. All I had to do was be patient, stay focused and have faith. Winning the title was my main focus. I’m ready to fight anyone with a belt at 115 lbs. I’m her to take control and prove that I’m the best. I’m glad people around the world have seen me fight , but it wasn’t overnight like some have said. I’ve been working hard for five years.”

Ramirez is a downtown LA sports legend whose journey began on the grill, not in a ring, when he was a key member of the Lincoln High football team, portrayed in a 2015 documentary, “ESPN 60: Letterman”. The players came from a crime-ridden section of Hollywood riddled with drugs and guns. Ramirez was a 5’4”, 160-pound running back on a team that, from the Pop Warner competition, qualified for Lincoln High, which had had no success in football. Lincoln High went on to become a three-time league champion, highlighted by his appearance in the playoff semi-finals in his senior year, which ultimately led to ‘Scrappy’ earning a spot on the Los Angeles soccer team. Angeles Valley College.

“Scrappy” was moved to the fast lane by 3 Point Management (3 PM) after fighting 10 times in less than a year and a half. And he wants to get back in the ring as soon as possible.

“I’m ready to go,” he concluded. “I’m looking to get all the world title belts and be part of some cool stuff.”

Express press service

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Weddings have become intimate, bespoke and private. And, following the trend, the tourism department is gearing up to turn the state into a wedding destination. The ministry will soon announce a detailed marketing plan for this purpose. He also began seeking answers from tourism stakeholders across the state by undertaking a survey.

“We are looking at a holistic plan. We have succeeded in making the state the best honeymoon and leisure destination for families and retired couples,” says VR Krishna Teja, Director of Kerala Tourism.

“Now the idea is to make Kerala a place for destination weddings. We need to create an ecosystem for this. We have finalized the master plan, but we need to polish it according to the suggestions of business partners.” Even at the n the pre-Covid era, the state was chosen as a wedding destination by North Indian and international tourists, and the hotels of the Kerala Tourism Development Corporation (KTDC) have hosted many such weddings.

“Whether it is having a wedding on the beach, one in the backwaters or hill stations, Kerala has it all. The only focus should be to make sure everything is comfortable for customers and nothing should be cumbersome,” says GS Rajmohan, Marketing Manager, KTDC. Anish Kumar PK, CEO of The Travel Planners and former President of the Association of Tourism Trade Association (ATTOI), says the trend is being seen globally.

“People started looking for safe and secluded places. We have received a lot of tourists from North India who choose to organize weddings here”, explains Anish Kumar. Jibran Asif, director of Abad Hotels and Resorts, stresses the need for a large inventory and sufficient infrastructure to cater to large crowds.

“Kerala is equipped for small weddings as it only requires less inventory. When it comes to larger crowd, we need to scale and need holistic development to meet the crowd. Promoting the state as a wedding destination can make a great contribution to tourism, with all ancillary products being promoted with wedding tourism,” says Jibran Asif. According to Jose Dominic, director and co-founder of CGH Earth, while the destination scores highly in terms of individual vacation destination, the regulatory environment makes it difficult.

“Comparing with other destinations such as Goa and Rajasthan, Kerala offers natural sights, but our barrier is the restrictive environment. A wedding is a festive event and the state excise rules are very restrictive », explains Dominic.

“FACING THE CHALLENGES”:
A German business delegation said businesses could be forced to close as the supply of raw materials has been compromised due to logistical problems.

Even companies in China whose factories operate under so-called closed-loop systems could be forced to stop work due to parts shortages or logistical problems that make it nearly impossible to move people and goods across the country. said a European chamber of commerce.

“A few companies are currently operating in closed-loop production. These companies are facing challenges and could close very soon due to lack of logistics and workers,” Maximilian Butek, chief representative of the Delegation of German Industry and Trade in Shanghai, said in a LinkedIn post on Monday. .

“Their workers for closed-loop production have been working for over three weeks and need to be replaced,” Butek said.

Butek added that most members of his association cannot “operate production sites because they cannot have raw materials delivered to them and cannot deliver their products to their customers. Logistics in Shanghai does not work.

Officials in China’s financial hub have encouraged companies to restart production that has been halted due to the city’s strict COVID-19 bans using closed-loop systems in which workers live on-site in their factories.

While some, like Tesla Inc and Quanta Computer Inc (廣達電腦), which make laptops for Apple Inc, have restarted operations, the experience has not been smooth.

Tesla only has inventory for just over two weeks based on its new closed-loop schedule, a person familiar with the matter said, while workers locked in Volkswagen AG’s Shanghai factory do not have an adequate supply of auto parts needed to manufacture vehicles.

Meanwhile, cargo deliveries at Shanghai Pudong International Airport are increasingly disrupted, said Taipei-based air and sea freight forwarder and logistics specialist Dimerco Express Corp (中菲行).

Before the city’s lockdown, around 1,000 shipments could arrive per day and around 80% would be picked up by truck, said Kathy Liu (劉辰), Dimerco’s director of global sales and marketing.

However, because there are not enough trucks to pick up the goods, that pick-up rate has dropped to just 10%, she said.

“There are more and more shipments piling up at the freight forwarders’ warehouse or bonded warehouse,” Liu said. “So that’s caused a lot of problems, because we don’t have enough space to store all these pending shipments, but they keep coming.”

The problem remains inter-provincial road transport and the various restrictions and health requirements imposed locally, forcing truckers to manage a range of policies.

Truckers wanting to travel between Shanghai and northern Jiangsu province typically had to wait two to three hours each time to take COVID-19 tests, Dimerco said.

Earlier this month, Beijing demanded that highways remain open and unobstructed.

China’s Ministry of Transportation has ordered no COVID-19 test checkpoints to be set up so that traffic on main highway lanes remains smooth.

Other logistical issues still exist, causing delays, Dimerco said.

“A lot of truckers see the potential risk, so they’re not willing to take orders for these routes,” Liu said. “It’s a very difficult time, not only for us, but also for those like couriers or online e-commerce businesses.”

Dimerco has only managed to keep its Shanghai warehouse open by allowing staff to sleep in the facility since March 28.

Supply and logistics problems are not limited to Shanghai.

Butek said delegation businesses in the Yangtze River Delta found that logistics weren’t working there either, “since different cities have different rules.”

“For technical personnel, who have to run quality assessments or machine maintenance in other parts of China, it’s almost impossible to commute or travel,” he said.

“Customers may turn to other sources in China if the situation does not change soon,” he added.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Hundreds of people took part in the American Lung Association’s Air Climb Struggle at TIAA Bank Field on Saturday.

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This marked the 14th year of the event and community members were challenged to climb over 1,600 steps.

The goal: a world without lung disease.

Action News Jax spoke with Jack Avery, who serves on the American Lung Association’s Ascent Committee.

“I have COPD,” Avery said. “I want to prove that COPD can’t kill you. You can kill him. This is my 14th ascent and it is the most wonderful exercise in the world.

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Avery said he wanted to encourage others who feel they can’t participate in times like the Fight for Air Climb due to their COPD.

“I say get up and do it,” Avery said. “You can do it. It can be done.”

He expressed the importance of keeping your lungs cool, as he said he was a former smoker who had to deal with the effects of smoking.

“Quit smoking,” Avery said. “If you smoke, throw them away.”

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American Lung Association board member Kate Mays hopes people will support the cause in any way they can. She has a 4 month old daughter and wants to teach her how to live a healthy life.

“It’s a great organization that raises awareness and funds a lot for lung research,” Mays said. “I’m just proud to be here.”

Individuals, families, firefighters, first responders and corporate crews from across North Florida took part in the climb.

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Organizers say money raised at the Fight For Air Climb Jacksonville will fund the Lung Association’s efforts to end lung cancer and lung disease, as well as support The Lung Association’s COVID-19 Action Initiative. the organization. The COVID-19 Action Initiative is a $25 million investment to fight COVID-19 and protect against future respiratory virus pandemics.

Organizers say they raised more than $114,000 on Saturday.

More than 300 participants took part in the climb, including 41 teams.

CLICK HERE make a donation.

©2022 Cox Media Group

Morty hangs them up.

Veteran umpire Dean Morton will officiate his final National Hockey League game on Saturday. He will retire at the end of the season.

Morton’s curtain call will come as the Calgary Flames host the Detroit Red Wings. will take to the ice for his final game alongside referee Brad Meier and linesmen David Brisebois and Brad Kovachik. Don Van Massenhoven will be responsible for the referees. Meier is also retiring at the end of the season.

The dispatch began earlier this season as the teams worked their final games under Morton.

Ottawa is showing some respect to Dean Morton, who is retiring next month. pic.twitter.com/qAR8hvrzWf

— Everyday Senses  (@EverydaySens) March 9, 2022

The Petersborough native is the only current NHL official to have played in the National Hockey League. Morton, a defenseman, scored a goal in his only game with the Detroit Red Wings, assisted by Hall of Famer Steve Yzerman.

He made his NHL debut as a referee on November 11, 2000, working a game between the San Jose Sharks and New York Islanders.

Morton recently played his 1,000th NHL game at Buffalo. From the NHLOA:

Morton had a successful playing career. The homebody defenseman who liked to play a tough style of hockey played 3 seasons in the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) from 1985 to 1988. With the exception of his first 15 games with the Ottawa 67s (1985- 86), the hard-hitting defenseman played his entire major junior career with the Oshawa Generals, reaching the Memorial Cup in his second year (1987). The Detroit Red Wings selected him in the eighth round, 148th overall in the 1986 NHL Entry Draft. Morton, turned pro in 1988 after his junior days were over when he joined the Red Wings’ minor league affiliate, the Adirondack Red Wings of the American Hockey League (AHL), helping the team win the championship from the 1988 Calder Cup to his first season.

The following fall, after having an excellent training camp in Detroit where his physical play was noticed, Morton took a break when he managed to crack the roster of six defenders to start the season with the big club. On the first day of the 1989-90 NHL season (October 5, 1989), “Mortee” made his NHL debut as a player at the Calgary Saddledome wearing the No. 5 jersey with the Detroit Red Wings, facing the Flames who had just won the Stanley Cup in the spring of 1989. The Red Wings would lose that game 10-7 to Barn-burner, but the native of Peterborough, Ontario made history that night by becoming only the third player in NHL history at the time to score a goal in his first game of the NHL regular season. It would be his one and only NHL game as a player. He was sent to miners after the initial trip and never returned to Motor City. He spent the next three seasons between the American Hockey League (AHL), the defunct International Hockey League (IHL), the ECHL and the Colonial Hockey League (CoHL) where he retired in 1993 with the Brantford Smoke.

During his last season as a professional hockey player, Morton was told by a few officials that he should attend the North American Officiating School this summer and trade in his stick for a whistle. He went on and attended the clinic that summer (1993) and quickly caught the eye of supervisors Willy Norris (NHL) and Ken Bodendistel (OHL/CHL) that weekend. From there, he was asked to start working on the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) and Ontario Hockey Association (OHA) lines for the upcoming season. Dean spent the next 3 years working on games throughout the province of Ontario as a linesman. The American Hockey League (AHL) hired him part-time in the fall of 1996 to work as a linesman while continuing to work in the OHL and OHA. He would eventually make it to the Calder Cup Finals that year between the Hershey Bears and Hamilton Bulldogs.

The summer of 1998 would change his career as an official when the OHL asked him to wear the orange stripes on a trial basis. Morton accepted the challenge and went from linesman to referee in the OHL that season. Morton not only enjoyed his new role in the game, but his natural talent was quickly recognized when he was selected that same year to make the league finals. NHL On-ice Officials Supervisor Dave Newell, who attended the Spring Championship Series, approached him shortly after that year and offered him the opportunity to join the NHL Internship Program. the now defunct NHL for the following season. He would spend the 1999-2000 season as an NHL intern working in various leagues across North America, including the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (LHJMQ), the Western Professional Hockey League ( WPHL) and the West Coast Hockey League (WCHL). The National Hockey League offered him a minor league referee contract in the summer of 2000.

Just over 11 years after making his NHL debut as a player, Morton returned to the NHL, but this time as a referee on November 11, 2000 when he appeared in a game between the Sharks of San Jose and the New York Islanders at the old Nassau Veteran Memorial Arena in Uniondale, NY. He spent a total of 8 seasons under minor league status before being promoted to a full-time NHL position in the summer of 2008. He also made his post-season NHL debut on the 17th April 2014 in Denver, CO when the Minnesota Wild were in town to play the Avalanche. Morton was also selected in 2019 to play in the NHL All-Star Game in San Jose, Calif.

Morton spoke with Hometown PTBO’s Pete Dalliday about his career earlier this month:

Congratulations to umpire Dean Morton on a terrific career – all the best in retirement!