Published: October 02, 2009 12:53 am      

Taylor to get Halloween rematch at War Memorial

JOHNSTOWN — The Halloween night boxing event at Cambria County War Memorial Arena has a colorful name: “Fright Night Fights.”

There’s a catchy slogan “This time, it’s personal.”

But WBF Cruiserweight Champion of the Americas Andres Taylor looked past the pre-fight hype on Thursday.

Taylor’s championship belt will be at stake during the Johnstown native’s rematch with Leo Bercier, the Great Falls, Mont., fighter who handed Taylor his only loss.

“He put a blemish on my record. This guy took something from me,” said Taylor, 30, who is 10-1-1 with six knockouts. “I was undefeated. Now I have a loss on my record. I can never get that back. But I can pay him back.”

Bercier (8-10-1 with four knockouts) won the fourth, fifth and six rounds to earn a 57-56 decision over Taylor during their June fight in Youngstown, Ohio.

“I thought I was going to knock him out in the first or second round,” said Taylor, ranked 27th in the U.S. and 102nd in the world. “I usually don’t do this, but I figured I was going to give the fans what they paid for. I tried to be a little bit cute in there. I slipped a little bit and the guy caught me with a punch and put me down. I got back up, but after that I fell into his fight and ended up losing the fight by a point.”

The entire TKO Boxing Promotions & Team TaylorMade Boxing event will be recorded by Speros Video as part of the “Ringside Boxing” TV series. The two-hour tape-delayed airing will have a potential worldwide audience of 130 million homes in North America, Europe, the Middle East and the Caribbean Islands. Fox Sports Pittsburgh will air the program on Nov. 17, Nov. 29 and Dec. 1.

“It’s huge,” Taylor said. “This is like an infomercial for the talent around this area. You’ve got Jesse Lubash. You’ve got me. This is going to put us in 130 million homes. They can see our skill displayed. It’s going to help us move up to the next level. Now we’re not going to be just regional. It’s going to be global.”

Undefeated Pittsburgh welterweight Jesse Lubash (12-0) will make his fourth appearance in Johnstown, where he’s a fan favorite.

“The fans here are in my heart. I really appreciate their support,” Lubash said Thursday. “I’ll put on a good show for you.”

Other highlights on the card include 18-2-0 super middleweight Joey Gilbert of Reno, Nev.; former Russian amateur stars, the Chudinov Brothers – super middleweight Fedor and middleweight Dmitry; and undefeated York fighter Carney “Beeper” Bowman.

“This is one that Andres really wanted,” said Calvin Taylor, the boxer’s father and co-trainer. “We’ve all been working hard to make this one happen.”