Former Undisputed Welterweight and Junior Welterweight Champion Zab “Super” Judah got up close and personal with students at Martin Luther King, Jr. Elementary School in Newark, Monday, November 1st, as part of a Main Events/Sovereign Enterprises School-Community Partnership program. Judah and three other professional fighters are slated to appear at Prudential Center on next Saturday’s all-star HBO boxing card.
Designed to highlight career opportunities within the boxing community, the program began with a school assembly featuring Judah, Newark’s Angel Concepcion, Brooklyn’s former US Olympic Team standout Sadam Ali and Middletown’s Tyrone Luckey. Winners of a school wide essay contest read their work and students were treated to a boxing video.
Judah was deeply moved by his experience with the MLK students. He advised the kids, “Don’t let anybody tell you that you can’t. You can be anything you want to be. Cream big!””On Saturday, Nov. 6th, Main Events and Zab Judah will host ten MLK students, who will be chosen based upon criteria set by MLK Principal, Dr. Glenn Wilson, when Judah takes on hard-punching Argentine knock out artist Lucas Matthysse. In addition to catching all the action at the fights, the students will tour the back of the house at the spectacular Newark arena, view the television set up, observe event preparations and walk through the locker room area to learn how a major event comes together in the final hours.
The Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School is a place where students from diverse academic inclinations and backgrounds grow educationally, emotionally, and socially. The school provides students with meaningful avenues for exploration throughout their elementary school experience. The course offerings and extra-curricular activities are inimitable. MLK strives to create an atmosphere where each and every student is provided the attention necessary to achieve his/her individual success. The school’s mission can only be accomplished by the growing cohesiveness of the educational staff, community based programs and stakeholder partnerships.
Internationally recognized as one of the top boxing promotional firms in the world Main Events, founded by Dan Duva in 1978, is based in Totowa, NJ. Now in its 31st year in the boxing business, Main Events promoted some of the biggest pay-per-view, closed-circuit and HBO Championships bouts of all time as the sport’s number one incubator for new talent. More than 30 years after the company’s birth, Main Events is still turning out boxing stars and future world champions.
Sovereign Enterprise is an initiative of four men of color that have combined their experience and expertise in the areas of professional sports, economic development and business management to build a long-term platform of education, health and financial wellness for people of color; especially those of African American and Hispanic descent.
As part of their social/community mission Sovereign is dedicated to effecting personal and social change in people of color through a systematic approach to education and programming designed to empower and support self-reliance and self-determination for individuals and our communities.
