PROVIDENCE — There isn’t a single name you know competing and the ring announcers have more celebrity than those in the ring, but that doesn’t change a simple fact.
Thursday’s Rough N' Rowdy event at the Amica Mutual Pavillion is going to be the biggest fight event in Rhode Island in 2024.
Part boxing, part circus, full-time chaos, Rough N' Rowdy is making its third trip to Providence after successful showings in 2019 and 2022.
You’ve got questions about Rough N' Rowdy and we’ve got answers.
More: What did Rough N Rowdy bring to Providence on Friday? Just your typical organized chaos.
What is Rough N Rowdy?
It started as an amateur boxing event in West Virginia, where two random boxers, usually men, would box, poorly, in front of packed community gymnasiums or halls. The winner received a small cash prize and plenty of bragging rights; the loser went home with nothing but the damage incurred in the ring.
Videos of the event went viral and caught the eye of Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy, who traveled to West Virginia to take part in an event as an announcer. Portnoy eventually purchased the brand under the Barstool umbrella and turned a very regional event into a national one.
Barstool added its own brand of professionalism to the event, creating a pay-per-view broadcast with Portnoy and Dan “Big Cat” Katz as the play-by-play announcers, with other Barstool personalities serving as post-match interviewers. Barstool later added its combat sports expert Robbie Fox on the broadcast with its own boxing expert, Mike “Large” McCarthy on for the prefight weigh-ins and backstage interviews.
What Barstool didn’t change was the goings-on in the ring. While a small handful of bouts have fighters with some experience, many of the fights are resident tough guys just trying to land haymakers while simultaneously trying to figure out how to breathe.
Winners still make a bit of money and earn opportunities to battle in Rough N' Rowdys down the road. Losers get nothing but more than a few have made repeat performances at other events.
More: PHOTOS: Barstool Sports' Rough N' Rowdy invades Providence
Is Rough N' Rowdy boxing?
Rough N' Rowdy is boxing like American cheese is cheese. You can call it whatever you want, but it’s not a true representation of the thing that it claims to be. But that doesn’t change its entertainment value.
The organized chaos of the event is the draw. When two professional boxers get in the ring, you have an idea of what you’ll see. With Rough N' Rowdy, you have absolutely zero idea.
Fighters, especially those who are large, are generally gassed after the first round. It leaves fighters vulnerable in the ring, and when haymakers hit, bodies fall.
While it’s mayhem in the ring, there is professional organization amid the chaos. Barstool works with West Virginia Sports Promotions to handle the behind-the-scenes work that allows the event to be sanctioned by Rhode Island’s State Boxing Commission.
If you go to the Amica Mutual Pavillion, which is likely to be referred to as the Dunk by Portnoy more than a couple of times on the broadcast, on Thursday night or buy the pay-per-view at BuyRNR.com, you’ll see some actual boxing. But you also see a lot of fights that definitely are not.
Who will be at Rough N' Rowdy?
In the last two Providence iterations, Barstool stacked the cards with locals but managed to find a headliner. In 2022, the most anticipated fight of the night featured Adam “Pacman” Jones — yes, the former NFL defensive back.
Thursday's event doesn’t have one fight to lean on and, unlike the last trip to Providence, no Barstool personalities will step into the ring. Barstool’s social pages are promoting a bout between two 7-foot giants, which would, in fact, be the biggest fight of the night.
There is at least one local featured in Thursday’s main events. North Providence’s Vicky D’Errico will make her third appearance at Rough N' Rowdy in Providence, taking on a woman going by the moniker, “God’s Work.”
The rest of the 20-bout card features just that — nicknames used by the fighters to promote themselves to earn recognition as Rough N' Rowdy boxers.
While the boxers might not bring the star power, Barstool’s personalities will. Portnoy will be on the broadcast and you can expect him to do more than a few of his popular YouTube pizza reviews from familiar Rhode Island spots.
Katz will be alongside Portnoy, as will Fox. Caleb Pressley, host of the viral “Sundae Conversation” and Adam "Rone" Ferrone, who cohosts a popular sports podcast with current Philadelphia 76ers guard Patrick Beverly, will bring their humor to post-match interviews.
"Jersey Jerry," who captivated the internet three weeks ago when he spent two straight days trying to make a hole-in-one on a golf simulator, will be there as will "Frank the Tank," who’s gone from random man being interviewed about New York’s terrible public transportation to an internet star as the world’s most pessimistic sports fan.
Plenty of people will attend Thursday’s event to see the fights, but there will be more than a few hoping for a face-to-face encounter with Barstool’s personalities.
Is Rough N' Rowdy worth the price of admission?
The 2019 event was held at the Convention Center and was sold out, with spectators crowding around the ring area when they weren’t in line for $12 beers. It provided an insane atmosphere and people got more than their money’s worth.
In 2022, Rough N' Rowdy changed venues and went to the Dunk. The lower bowl was filled and, while the atmosphere wasn’t as absurd as during the first event, it was still a large, loud crowd that made for a good night.
How Thursday night will feel is anyone’s guess. Barstool traditionally holds Rough N' Rowdys on Fridays or Saturdays, but put out a blog on Wednesday that said it wanted to get back to Providence but couldn’t find a Friday date that worked on its calendar. This Friday, the Providence Bruins have a home game and, even if they didn’t, the AMP is likely to have been taken for walkthroughs and practice as the Providence men’s basketball team gets ready to host Georgetown, and former PC head coach Ed Cooley, on Saturday night.
A healthy amount of tickets are available for Thursday’s Rough N' Rowdy, ranging in price from $30 to $150.
So what will the crowd look like? Will curiosity draw fight fans in? Will Providence College students skip the bars Thursday night and get a headstart pregaming for the Georgetown game?
No idea.
But it’s going to be fun to see what happens.
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Barstool Sports' Rough N' Rowdy returns to Providence on Thursday, Jan. 25
