(From left) Tyrell Boyd and Derrick Vann box at Benedictine College Preparatory’s 15th Annual Boxing Smoker on March 8.
This article has been edited since it first appeared in print.
Beneath dozens of green-and-white championship banners, with spotlights punching their way through a haze of cigar smoke, Tyrell Boyd ducks and weaves, avoiding the nasty right hand of his opponent, Derrick Vann. Boyd (then 14-0-0) is a southpaw (lefty); Vann is orthodox (righty). Boyd wears yellow gloves; Vann wears black. Boyd is strong and smooth, but Vann is longer, and his right hand is reaching Boyd’s face.
After repeatedly slipping and rolling away from Vann’s jab, Boyd begins to look tired, but he also begins to land hooks of his own. In the fifth round, he sends Vann to the mat, but Vann forces himself to stand up.
“Let’s hear it for this gentleman getting back on his feet,” shouts the ringside announcer.
The scene, evoking a night at Boston Garden in the 1970s, actually took place March 8, 2025, at Benedictine College Preparatory’s 15th Annual Boxing Smoker.
Held at the Goochland County school’s McMurtrie-Reynolds Pavilion, the fundraiser for Benedictine supporters ages 21 and up was in large part organized by River City Promotions. Since its founding in March 2022, the local boxing promoter has put on seven events around the region. Co-founder Eric Ash is clear on his goals for the future.
“We’re not just doing this to be based in Richmond,” Ash says. “We are doing this to be an international powerhouse.”
If Ash’s goals seem ambitious, he says he’s been told that before.
He also owns Vintage Boxing, one of the premiere gymnasiums for the sport in the metro Richmond area. The company has risen to that lofty status in less than 10 years. His business partner, Liz Cane, is the CEO of River City Promotions, and she is the state’s only female boxing promoter.
Cane’s background is in advising small businesses. She found a new appreciation for boxing after getting to know Ash.
“I grew up watching boxing with my dad,” Cane says. “I thought I understood it. When I met Eric, I realized this is way more complex than I thought it was.”
Ash grew up fighting at West Side Boxing Club in Mechanicsville, and he was later the captain of the club boxing team at Virginia Military Institute. After graduating, he secured a license to fight professionally, but he never got the chance.
“I got frustrated with it,” he says. “There wasn’t any management or guidance prevalent here in Richmond.”
The experience prepared him for scouting young boxing prospects. Now, Vintage Boxing and River City Promotions serve as a hub for boxers who want to be a part of amateur or professional bouts.
“Eric does the matchmaking at our events because he knows the fighters,” Cane says. “He’s the visionary, and I’m the implementer. I find the pieces, the people, the places, to make it happen.”
River City Promotions' Eric Ash and Liz Cane with fighter Tyrell Boyd
Ash’s work to build River City Promotions has taken him to Colombia, Italy, Saudi Arabia and beyond. “Every time we go overseas, we’re scouting, trying to contract people,” Ash says. He will also sometimes help fighters sign with other promoters and rely on that connection to bring them in for a River City Promotions fight.
He tries to offer guidance that was lacking from his own professional path, which started 25 years ago.
“These boxers, they’ve always got somebody in their ear,” he says. “They think there’s a whole lot of money in it, but when you first start out, there’s not. You have to invest in yourself.”
The industry, Cane adds, is notoriously corrupt: full of side deals, backroom negotiations and mind games.
“We’re trying to change the sport for the better,” she says. “We like to do clean business, and we try to do business with good people.”
At the McMurtrie-Reynolds Pavilion, Boyd finally knocked Vann to the mat for good in the seventh round. The crowd erupted, and Boyd moved to 15-0-0 as a professional fighter.
“Everyone was pleased. I got a call from the head of school telling me we did a great job,” Ash says. “It was a good card with some great fights.”
The next sanctioned bouts for River City Promotions are set for Nov. 5 at River City Roll.
“Richmond has historically not been a boxing city,” Ash says, “but boxing is on fire right now.”
