The Cross Insurance Arena in Portland this weekend will host its first professional boxing event since 1994 with a Maine fighter competing for a championship.
The Father’s Day Pro Boxing Classic, presented by Banner Promotions Inc., will be held on Saturday at 6:30 p.m.
In the main event, top-10 bantamweights Dylan Price, of Sicklerville, New Jersey, will face Ernesto Irias, of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, in a 10-round fight.
Kendrick Ball, Jr., of Worcester, Massachusetts, will face Britton Norwood, of Las Vegas, in the USBF North American Light Heavyweight championship.
Portland boxer Casey Streeter will take on Jimmy Williams of New Haven, Connecticut, for the New England Super Welterweight Championship.
Boxing legend “Irish” Micky Ward will be present at the event, according to Banner Promotions. Ward is a three-time recipient of Ring magazine’s Fight Of The Year award and is the subject of the Oscar-winning movie “The Fighter,” in which he is played by Mark Wahlberg.
The last time the arena hosted professional boxing, Maine’s Joey Gamache was KO’d by Orzubek Nazarov in a WBA World Lightweight championship fight on December 10, 1994, when the arena was known as the Cumberland County Civic Center.
