Joseph Sabino Mistick: For Ukraine, the good fight

Fight night on Pittsburgh’s North Side was in the final hours of St. Patrick’s Day. There was a packed house at the Grand Hall of the Priory to watch a six-bout card of prizefighters, some local and others from out of town. And it turned out to be much more than a night of boxing.

Heavyweight Joey Turk, the North Side’s very own, fought Isaiah Margheim, who was game but came up short, as Joey won a unanimous decision after four rounds. Joey is undefeated now at three wins, no losses and one draw, but those are just his pro fights.

Starting when he was a kid, Joey fought as an amateur 73 times, as many as three fights in one week, while becoming a seven-time Golden Gloves champ. As sometimes happens, life got in the way of his plans to turn pro back then, and he spent 10 years away from the ring.

Last year, at age 38, when nearly all boxers have hung up their gloves and are living off their memories, Joey climbed back into the ring. “I always regretted that I didn’t do this when I was young, but you know what? If its your dream, it’s never too late to chase it,” Joey says.

The guys who watch Marco Machi train Joey hard at Machi’s Exercise Warehouse in Bloomfield get it. Some of us are nearly twice his age, and none of us like being told that we are too old for anything. We have bought into Joey’s dream, and we go to all his fights.

After Joey’s latest win, we could have gone home happy, but it’s good we stayed. The final and main bout pitted Oleh Dovhun, the world-ranked WBA-NABA super-bantamweight champion against Juan Centeno, a very good Nicaraguan fighter out of Miami.

Dovhun, called “The Ukrainian Pitbull,” attacked early and relentlessly, constantly moving forward, steadily grinding out a unanimous decision after 10 hard-fought rounds over the tough Centeno. But that was just the story in the ring.

In the crowd, it was clear from the beginning that this was a lot more than a prizefight. The entire hall was decorated in Ukrainian blue and yellow. We all stood for the singing of the Ukrainian national anthem and “The Star-Spangled Banner” at the beginning of the bout, some of us humming along if we didn’t know the other’s lyrics.

What seemed like hundreds of Ukrainians and Ukrainian Americans, waving blue and yellow Ukrainian flags, chanted their champion’s name as one, loudly and repeatedly from the start to the finish of every single round. And the hall exploded with their cheers after every Dovhun flurry or landed punch.

They were in that ring with him and willed him to win, not just for him or for them, but for their country. Dovhun said as much from the center of the ring after the bout, asking for continued support for his country’s fight for freedom.

Heywood Broun, an early-20th century journalist, said, “Sports do not build character. They reveal it.” What happened on the North Side in the final hours of St. Patrick’s Day 2023 proved that he was right.