Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, April 5, 1993 TAG: 9304050244
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CHRIS BACHELDER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
TV PUTS PANNELL IN BOXING SPOTLIGHT
Last week, on a day like many, Steve Pannell slammed a punching bag for 10 rounds in the center of Holiday Health Spa, a cozy weight room on Melrose Avenue.No sauna or massage here. Pannell had to move some equipment to dodge the bag's imaginary jabs, but he's not complaining. These snug surroundings beat the backyard, his former training facility.
"What round you in?" asked a weight-room regular between sets of squats.
"Seventh," Pannell said through his mouthpiece, then he rattled the room with a flurry of punches only a bag of sand could endure.
Earlier in the day, Pannell ran along city roads where a couple of drivers recognized him and tapped their horns in salute.
If you don't know Steve "The Storm" Pannell, check your local listings. Roanoke's unbeaten light heavyweight may be working the bag at the spa today, but Thursday he will step into a ring in Atlantic City, N.J., for the fight of his life.
\ A really big show
Pannell (12-0, 11 knockouts) is packing his trunks for Resorts International, where he will box Ernest Mateen (14-0-1, five knockouts) of Brooklyn, N.Y.
The scheduled 10-round light heavyweight bout is a young talent showcase on ESPN on the 13th anniversary of the cable television network's "Top Ranked Boxing," the longest running boxing series on the air.
Pannell and Mateen will slug it out at 9 p.m., and a junior welterweight fight between Charles Murray (27-1) and Tony Martin (27-3-1) will follow.
"I'm almost too excited. More nervous than anything," the 6-foot-4, 178-pound Pannell said during a training break at Steve's. "I found out about the fight about a month ago. At first I was ecstatic, and then the butterflies hit. I knew I had to get ready.
"You see where I train. This is all I've got. Mateen comes from a fightin' city. I've had to work twice as hard to compensate for the facilities he's got."
Pannell will make $3,500 for the fight, $2,500 more than his previous best payday, his pro debut in August 1991. The 23-year-old orthodox boxer said Thursday's exposure could "lead to big things," and he's right, says Ron Katz, the East Coast promoter and matchmaker for Top Ranked Inc., which arranges Top Rank Boxing for ESPN.
"It won't be our usual show," said Katz, who closed the deal with Pannell's manager, Jim Westmoreland. "It's much bigger. George Foreman and Tommy Morrison will be there. ESPN executives will be there.
"We've got two undefeated light heavyweights, and it's a real showcase. The winner will go on to bigger and better things. If [Pannell] performs well and looks good, I'm hoping to do something with his manager to promote him in the future."
\ Scouting report
It isn't likely this fight will go the distance. Mateen hasn't boxed past the sixth round, and Pannell never has seen the fifth.
"I know I have eight [rounds] in me," Pannell said. "I'd have to gut out the last two."
Here's what Pannell knows about his 6-1, right-handed opponent:
"I've been hearing he's wild," he said. "He barrels in and throws roundhouse punches. What I'll try to do is stay close, stay in his chest with straight punches to counter his wildness.
"He swells up a lot. I've got to try to swell his eyes and cut him up before he gets to me."
It sounds like a grim business, and Pannell admits that "it's not fun boxing." But, he said, the opening bell drives away fear and nerves.
\ Ignoring omens
It seems a good thing Pannell doesn't believe in omens. Two events in the past two weeks have hampered his preparation for the big night.
In his last victory, March 21 against Blair Muhammed, Pannell received a head butt and a 1 1/2-inch gash above his left eye. The wound required 10 stitches, and fear of re-opening the cut is keeping Pannell out of the sparring ring.
"What you get from sparring is timing," Pannell said. "But I think I have the physical ability to make up for it."
Days after the Muhammed fight, Pannell learned his coach quit because of a disagreement with Westmoreland.
Pannell will be coached by Harold Bennett, who has worked Pannell's corner several times. Bennett, from Winston-Salem, N.C., joins the small entourage of Westmoreland and trainer Kevin Edwards.
"I got cut and I lost my coach right at the front door of the fight," Pannell said. "But I'll be all right. I can't put my head down now." \
Roanoke on the map
Pannell's contract for Top Rank Boxing lists his hometown as Winston-Salem, N.C., Bennett's hometown. Will he be announced at ringside as a North Carolinian?
"Nooooo," said Pannell, a William Fleming High School graduate who started boxing at age 10. "It's Roanoke, Virginia. I love the Star City."
Pannell, who is a highway worker for the Salem District of the Virginia Department of Transportation, said if he makes money in boxing he would like to invest in equipment and a building to get area youth interested in the sport.
"When I travel, you should see the old trainers' eyes light up," he said. "They say, `You from Roanoke? That used to be a fightin' town!'
"I say, `Yeah, well, it ain't no more.' I want Roanoke to be a boxing city again."
\ A `Storm' builds
A Big Apple boxer paid the price for Pannell's nickname.
"Let me tell you how I got it," said Pannell, eagerly. "They sent me down to Danville to spar this guy from New York. They all said, `I believe he'll knock Steve out.' People always say, `My goodness, boxers from New York are so tough.'
"They wanted to see what he had. I was his test, and he failed pitifully. I killed him. Afterwards, he said, `You know, you got a lightning-fast jab. And you got a right hand like thunder.'
"Put those together, and it makes a storm."
A Star City Storm with an eye on the big-time.
\ STAR CITY STORM-BOXER STEVE PANNELL, ROANOKE
DIVISION: Light heavyweight
AGE (YEARS PRO): 23 (2)
RECORD: 12-0 (11 knockouts)
HEIGHT: 6-4
WEIGHT: 178
LAST FIGHT: March 21, third-round technical knockout over Blair Muhammed in Florence, S.C.
NEXT FIGHT: April 8, 9 p.m., vs. Ernest Mateen (14-0-1) of Brooklyn, N.Y., at Resorts International in Atlantic City.
STORM REPORT: William Fleming graduate . . . Tall with powerful right . . . Outweighed by 11 of 12 opponents. . . . Never fought past fourth round . . . Can't spar for Mateen fight because of cut over left eye . . . Fight televised on ESPN's Top Rank Boxing at 9 p.m.