BY AVERY GOODSTINE for WEEKLY VOLCANO | 7/31/2026
Get ready to put up your dukes and roll with the punches as Tacoma’s Emerald Queen Casino prepares to bring a night of live professional boxing to the EQC Event Center on Saturday, August 8. General tickets are on sale now, and you can save up to 20 percent when tickets are bought at the Emerald Queen gift shop in Tacoma.
The day before, on August 7, people are invited to watch the official weigh-ins in the foyer of the Event Center. This event is free, open to the public and starts at 5 p.m., with doors opening at 4 p.m.
The Main Event, powered by World Fighting Championships, will have a stacked lineup of boxing powerhouses, including some local names like Dedrick Crocklem, Julio Ocampo Hernandez, Augustin Tovar, Virgil Green, Josue Cadena, Gerardo Esquivel, Jahelel Brito Carrillo, Shamar Woolery, Derrick Holm, Cameron Sevilla Rivera and Reth Duir.
The complete lineup is as follows:
- Julio Ocampo Hernandez vs. Travis Castellon (super lightweight)
- Dedrick Crocklem vs. Dustin Browne (lightweight)
- Augustin Tovar vs. Virgil Green (super lightweight)
- Josue Cadena vs. Gerardo Esquivel (super lightweight)
- Haidon Allen vs. TBA (super featherweight)
- Jahelel Brito Carrillo vs. Juan Nunez Rojas (super bantamweight)
- Shamar Woolery vs. Derrick Holm (super welterweight)
- Cameron Sevilla Rivera vs. Evian Rodriguez (light heavyweight)
- Reth Duir vs. TBA (super lightweight)
World Fighting Championships was founded by Matt McGovern in 2012 as a way to provide high-quality, high-energy combat entertainment for fans across the country. By prioritizing regional fighters, McGovern said they try to push them to the next level.
This boxing event will be special for a number of reasons. McGovern said having nine fights on one card is an unusually large number.
Another unique aspect of the lineup is that multiple Tacoma boxers will be fighting each other: Gerardo Esquivel against Josue Cadena and Shamar Woolery against Derrick Holm.
“You don’t normally get fighters to fight each other in the local market on this level because they want to protect their records, they want easy fights,” McGovern said. “And it’s kudos to these that are competing on our show because they’re willing to take tough fights and fight local people that they might have even practiced against, and are willing to fight them. And you don’t see that very often in pro boxing.”
One of the co-headliners of the fight, Dedrick Crocklem, is another local fighter from Tacoma. As a professional boxer, he currently has a winning record of 7-0 with three knockouts. As an amateur, his record was 173 wins and 13 losses. At only 21 years old, he’s a nine-time national champion and a five-time junior Olympic champion.
Crocklem started boxing when he was eight years old and described himself as a “bad little kid” who was always getting into fights.
“My uncle asked me why I would be stupid and get put in jail for fighting,” he said. “I put my interest into boxing. … This sport that you can beat up on people and not get in trouble for it.”
Crocklem said he remembers his uncle bringing him to the Tacoma Boxing Club on a Saturday morning.
“We went over there to go look around at it, straight it out a little bit,” he said. “I came back home the next day, telling my mom I really want to do this. My mom said the only way I can box is if I get my reading level up in school. I start reading more every day. My reading level started improving, and within a couple weeks, I was boxing.”
As he progresses in his professional boxing career, Crocklem said he hopes to become a world champion boxing legend and ultimately claim the title of one of the best fighters in the world.
With the event a week away, Crocklem said he’s “more than ready” to fight and represent his city.
“I’m more than excited to put on a show for my city, put on a show in front of all my fans, all my people. You know, I’m ready to display my talent,” he said.
McGovern agreed Crocklem has a shot at becoming a world champion and encourages people to see him now for $50 before he fights on a card that costs $10,000 to get into.
World Fighting Championships’ other venues include the Hard Rock Casino in Sacramento, ilani in Ridgefield, Dakota Magic Casino in North Dakota and the Avi Resort & Casino in Nevada. McGovern said EQC is “one of the best” hosts.
“The team there is awesome,” he said. “The venue is awesome. The crowd’s usually sold out and very energizing. People are great to work with in the area. The fighters, they have some of the best fighters in the country.”
McGovern said EQC has a decades-long reputation for hosting some of the best fights in the country. For the last few years, World Fighting Championships and EQC have had a great partnership. Every year, World Fighting Championships has hosted 10 fights at EQC, five boxing and five mixed martial arts, and every show except for one has sold out.
As far as what fans can expect from the event, McGovern said “it’s a party,” with “world-class” lighting and sound production comparable to fights at MGM Grand Garden or T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
“We have a huge sold-out crowd, we have a live DJ, so any second we have available to play music we do, and people get up and dance and party,” he said. “So we do party before, and then we have an after-party after the event on the casino floor. And people usually stay all night or all weekend.”
This article paid for by EQC
