Saturday Saved: Meeting Boxer Billy Bailey

As most of you know that have followed me on Facebook, you probably know about my flight back home yesterday.

I had a connection flight from Fresno to Phoenix to Charlotte yesterday. It was on my flight from Phoenix to Charlotte that I unexpectedly met a professional boxer. I literally sat next to professional boxer Billy "Goat" Bailey and his beautiful wife Lucia. He was on his connection flight from Bakersfield to Phoenix to Charlotte to Cleveland for his fight against hometown favorite Ronald "The American Dream" Johnson on Saturday night.

It was interesting because when we both got on the plane, he had the aisle seat while I sat at the window. The middle seat was vacated, and he turned around to notice a woman had the same seat as another in the back of the aircraft. He joked and said that the woman would have to go to cargo in order to stay on the plane. At that point, everyone was on the plane, and our middle seat was still vacated. So before takeoff, the woman took the seat. The woman was Billy's wife Lucia, and I had no idea of that until she introduced herself to me. She was given a free drink because of the mishap with the seat arrangement.

They asked me if I lived in North Carolina, and I asked them where they were from. He said Bakersfield, CA, and then I asked them if they were visiting family in Cleveland. Then he said he was on his way there for his boxing match against Ronald Johnson. I was stunned at this point especially when he told me a minute later that he was on the same card that features boxing star Hector "Macho" Camacho Jr! He's defending the WBF Light Heavyweight title in the bout.

Just before takeoff, the flight attendants asked us to turn off all of our cell phones. Then we heard a cell phone go off, and it turned out to be Billy's phone. That's when I said, "It looks like you'll be going to cargo now!" LOL!

Lucia was nervous of flying when the plane took off, but was okay after that. She told me she was a hair stylist back in California, and Billy said he worked for the city there in the Bakersfield area, too.

It wasn't long after that I was asked what I was doing in Fresno, and I told them about my line of work. I even told them about attending the Red River Shootout football game in Dallas, Texas in October between the Oklahoma Sooners and Texas Longhorns. That's when he told me a little bit about Texas since he lived there previously, too. From there on, we discussed sports especially NASCAR and college football as well as California and the Carolinas. The guy follows sports very well for someone that obviously has a hectic schedule and training regime to maintain.

I told them that I had done some sports writing and wrote on my site for money on the side as well. That's when he told me of a friend of his that created movies and brought them to life through writing, too. So they asked for my website and email not long after I told them about the lawsuits I have against me from....well...most of you know by now who they are(Amiable Amy & DJ Tammy). I didn't tell them that because I wouldn't want to be sued by them two and subsequently punched by a professional boxer in the process if they were injured reading my site, too. LOL! They laughed when I told them I write wrestling storylines on occasion as well.

He told me of a match he had in Philadelphia which led to him having to flee out of there in a hurry as well as his first professional match where he tore his ACL. Since he follows boxing very well, I asked him about Manny "Pacman" Pacquiao. We both agreed about how dominant he was in his last fight against Ricky Hatton. I asked him if a Pacquiao/Mayweather fight was coming, and he said it would happen eventually.

About midway through the four-hour flight, Lucia had left her seat and grabbed her bag of peanuts she brought on board. She was generous enough to share them with Billy and I. But one thing I took note of(as did the flight attendant) is that she was very considerate in not throwing the peanut shells on the ground. Instead, she threw them in a plastic cup which was a clear indication of what type of people they are.

I was honored that they asked me for my email address as well as invitation to be friends on Facebook(which he already accepted). I told them I would make a movie on my site with them as the stars which they're looking forward to. I came up with another idea in mind for that today as well. No, I'm not telling any of you yet what that is!

He loves the sport of boxing and his persistence and determination(he's been boxing since he was 15 which is now for 16 years of his life) has kept his dream alive of making it big in the sport.

Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures of them because I was heading home after my flight to Charlotte and they still had their connection to Cleveland not long after getting off the plane.

For more about Billy Bailey, check out this article written by Jackie Gibson: Billy Bailey: Born To Box

He was scheduled to have his first televised fight in July against Anthony Ferrante(pictured above with Bailey) in Philadelphia, but it was switched even though everyone has said it was the best fight on the card. So now, this is Bailey's first televised match this Saturday.

His fight against Cleveland resident Ronald Johnson is on InDemand Pay-For-View on Saturday night. Here's the card:

Hector "Macho" Camacho Jr vs Israel Cardona for vacant WBC Caribbean Boxing Federation light middleweight title: Camacho has won six straight fights, and a win for him here against a tough Cardona would be another step forward to being considered an elite boxer.

Ronald "The American Dream" Johnson(10-1) vs Billy Bailey(9-4) for WBF Light Heavyweight Title: Johnson is back after a two year layoff, and will have the crowd in his corner. However, Bailey has a granite chin and has already fought three times this year which could give him the advantage. According to Johnson, he has not studied any film of Bailey, but is aware of his toughness.

Other boxers scheduled to fight are Cleveland fighters Aaron Williams, Juan McPherson, Cortez Bey, and Michael Bey Jr.

The event is at Cleveland State University's Woltstein Center on Saturday night.

Both Billy and his wife Lucia were very kind, considerate, and smart people. I'm really looking forward to them checking out this post as well as the Basic Bloganomics website. All I can say is that you have gained another fan in me, and I'll be tuning in tomorrow night! Good luck to you on Saturday my new friend!

Photos courtesy of bakotopia.com and phillyboxinghistory.com

You’re invited to join Saturday Saved – The Best For Last. Please grab this code at [[ WmotH ]] Saturday Saved-The Best For Last link is meant for Saturday Saved participants only

Saturday Saved link is only meant for Saturday Saved participants. If you are not joining Saturday Saved with your own Post but register a non-Meme Post here, a dishonest link will be deleted. Sorry, but that's how the Meme Rule works.

Please enter the your Saturday Saved Post URL by clicking on Master Linky Banner below.

Posted in: Billy Bailey, boxer, boxing

Reactions: