Clark vs. Halicky headlines 15-bout cage match card

• Event set for Saturday at Carnes Center

By KIM NORTH, Times Leader Sports Writer


Let’s get ready to cage fight!

That will be the cry Saturday night at the James E. Carnes Center just west of St. Clairsville on Roscoe Road as Hard Knocks II?will get underway.

Doors to the facility will open at 6 p.m., with the fighting set to begin at 7:30 p.m.

Headlining the 15-bout card will be a pair of local fighters in Travis “The Terror”?Clark (Morristown) and Josh “Huggy Bear”?Halicky (Shadyside). The 205-pounders will meet in the main event.

“After I won a cage fight in Steubenville on Thanksgiving Eve, he (Halicky) called me and wanted to fight,” explained Clark, an Ohio state wrestling champion at 160 pounds during his senior season at Union Local in 1998.

“We gave him a date of Feb. 2, but he called back and said he wasn’t ready yet,”?Clark (2-0) continued. “So we gave him as much time as he wanted, and now he said he’s ready. I hope so.”

Halicky, who played football at St. Clairsville High School before graduating in 1997, has worked as a Correctional Officer for eight years, six in Columbus and the last two at Belmont Correctional Institute.

“I can’t wait,” he remarked. “I haven’t fought in a cage in quite some time, but I’m ready.”

According to Clark, Halicky has a hard right hand and is in immaculate shape.

“He has heart,”?said Clark, who fights out of the Bull Pen Fight Club, which is based in Triadelphia, WV. “He trains hard and he’s coming after what he wants. Not too many people call you out, but he did.”

Halicky agrees with his opponent.

“I fight as hard as I can,” he allowed. “If I hit someone with my right, I can knock them out.”

But the 29-year-old Clark said he isn’t about to let that happen.

“I’ve trained too hard and too long to get beat.”

According to Clark, cage fighting isn’t anything like competing in the Toughman.

“It’s a lot different than the Toughman, which is usually a slugfest,” he noted. “You’ve got to be talented, don’t get me wrong, but you’ve got to be able to handle yourself on the ground, handle kicks and handle Jujitsu -- the submission.”

In addition to the two locals in the main event, several other Ohio Valley products are penciled on the card. They include Blaine’s Bruce Blake (135); Bridgeport’s Josh Baker (145); Moundsville’s James Yoho (160); New Cumberland’s Dan Baker (170); Moundsville’s Kyle McGill (170); Shadyside’s Josh Pyles (170); Clayton Anderson (185) of Dallas; Barnesville’s Rodney Reed (177); Follansbee’s John McAllister (190); Cameron’s Roger Kupfer (185); Weirton’s Rich Greathouse (205); Wellsburg’s Nate Loughran (265); and Moundsville’s Eugene Henry (265).

Baker, Anderson, Reed, Kupfer and Loughran fight out of the Bull Pen Fight Club, along with Jason Erdos (190) of Butler, PA; and Triadelphia’s Chris Goldbaugh (205).

All fights will be three, three-minute rounds with competitors wearing six- and eight-ounce gloves. The action will take place inside a 22-foot by 22-foot, four-sided cage.

Finals in the “Miss Cage Girl Contest” are scheduled for Wednesday night at the Overtime Sports Bar in Bellaire.

North can be reached at knorth@timesleaderonline.com