The Neutral Corner

La Romana, Dominican Republic -- This is what's great about the Dominican Republic. A lot of the arenas are named after athletes. Unlike Citi Field or Tropicana Field, you have Coliseo de Boxeo Pedro Julio Nolasco. It's in La Romana and it's a small open-air venue with a gym attached. It's dedicated to the memory of Nolasco, who won a bronze medal at the 1984 Olympics, the first medal ever won by a Dominican boxer.

My friend Anthony Bobring took us to La Romana, where we saw the gym and spoke with Hector Julio Avila, who once fought Joan Guzman, and Johnny Nolasco, Pedro's nephew. A few miles away, next to the baseball academy shared by the Texas Rangers and Toronto Blue Jays, was a 20,000-seat arena named after Eleoncio Mercedes, the former WBC flyweight champion from La Romana.