Putting a ring inside a diamond: Shearns Boxing Promotions and Kendrick Ball plan event at Polar Park

WORCESTER — While Polar Park is best known for being the home of the Worcester Red Sox, it has hosted a plethora of wide-ranging events since it opened on May 11, 2021.

High school football and baseball games and the EBW Football Classic starring Holy Cross have also been held at the 9,508-seat gem in the Canal District. And there have been movie nights, firework shows, holiday spectaculars, wine festivals, and food truck and beer festivities.

Now you can add boxing to the list.

On Sunday, Chuck Shearns, who heads up Shearns Boxing Promotions, and Kendrick Ball, the owner of Camp Get Right, signed a letter of intent with Polar Park officials to host a pro-am boxing show Aug. 4, with a rain date of Aug. 5, that is tentatively titled Punch-Out at Polar Park.

“It’s a scary undertaking,” Shearns said of what he believes will be the first outdoor boxing show involving professionals in the history of the city, “but I just think it’s going to be so cool.

“There is nothing like an outdoor professional boxing show. There is nothing like it.”

Ball seconded the emotion.

“I think it’ll be really great,” he said. “Put on some good shows and hopefully have everyone come out and support. And if everything works out well, we’ll do it again.”

First things first, of course.

Ball began talking about pairing boxing and Polar Park since construction – his son, Kendrick Ball Jr., was involved with that as a member of Laborers Local 243 – began on the ballpark at 100 Madison St. And he had always wanted to get into promoting after having done just about everything else in boxing.

So, Ball began reaching out to, among others, Shearns about being a partner in such a venture.

“It was 100 percent Kendrick Ball,” Shearns said of who, well, got the ball rolling with the ample assistance of City Councilor Khrys King. “He’s been saying since Polar Park was built, ‘We’ve got to do a show there. We’ve got to do a show there.’ … And I said, ‘OK, let’s look into it.’ ”

After King successfully sold the idea of a boxing show to Worcester Red Sox president Charles Steinberg, he coordinated a meeting between Ball and Polar Park officials, including vice president of special events Hannah Butler, in February to get an initial idea of of logistics, cost and other factors.

What Ball pitched was that he believed it would not only be great for the city to have a boxing event at Polar Park, but that it should be put on by local promoters. Shearns lives in Leicester and works in Auburn, where he previously resided for many, many years, and Ball is Worcester through and through.

“I thought a local promotor should be able to do it rather than an out-of-town promotor based on (the fact) I spend my money in the city and the other promotors take their money and go out and spend it elsewhere,” Ball said.

Everyone liked what they heard, leading to multiple more meetings, some in person and others by phone, up until Sunday’s agreement in principle.

“Polar Park has been all about it,” Shearns said. “They’ve been really, really good. Some of the feedback we’ve gotten from the city has been really, really good, as well.”

Shearns Boxing Promotions, a family-run operation that includes Chuck’s wife, Karen, and their daughters, Kayla and Olivia, and Ball will now get to work on securing sponsors, including a coveted presenting one.

With the infield off-limits, the plan is to set the ring up in the home plate area. There will be limited ringside seating in a horseshoe shape along with reserved seating in the stands with lower-priced, standing-room seats in the areas beyond the dugouts.

As for attendance figures, Shearns is thinking in the 3,000 to 5,000 range for an initial ballpark estimate.

“I mean, I’ve put 2,000 in the Palladium and if I can put 2,000 in the Palladium, I can certainly break that at Polar Park,” he said. “We’re going to make this an event. We’re going to do some stuff that’s just a little bit different.”

Ball said that will include paying tribute to Carlos Garcia, who retired in September after 40-plus years as a boxing instructor at the Boys & Girls Club of Worcester but continues to remain active in the sport.

The card will feature up-and-coming amateurs along with professionals who have star power and are on the rise.

“We’re going to put on a really, really good show for everyone in the city and in the local Central, Western Mass. areas to come out and see at a good venue,” Ball said.

—Contact Rich Garven at rgarven@telegram.com. Follow him on Twitter @RichGarvenTG.

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Putting a ring inside a diamond: Boxing card set for Polar Park