COLUMBIA – Chris “The Irish Ghost” Fitzpatrick’s boxing career has taken him all over the country, from his start in the dry heat of Las Vegas to the August humidity of the Deep South.

But it will be an altogether different type of heat he will try to bring when the undefeated middleweight (6-0) climbs into the ring tonight at the Radisson in Columbia to take on former amateur foe Torrence King – headlining heat.

For the first time since he moved to Columbia from Ohio over a year ago, Fitzpatrick’s fight is scheduled to be the card’s main attraction. It’s something the 22-year-old boxer says he’s totally comfortable with even at this relatively early stage of his pro career.

“I’m pretty cool with it,” he said Thursday afternoon. “I’m pretty confident in what I do. I just have to go out there and do my job. I want to put on a good show for the fans for sure.”

Pleasing the crowd is only part of a fighter’s job description – avoiding blows in the process is also quite important – but Fitzpatrick says it’s not hard to deliver for the crowds that frequently flock to Palmetto Boxing shows.

“The atmosphere is crazy, and the crowd – they're a bunch of (fight) freaks, that’s the only way I can explain it,” he said. “They love it and I love going out there and performing for them.”

Palmetto Boxing promoter Andrew Stokes says he’s been fortunate to have been able to give fight fans such action over so many cards in such an unpredictable sport.

“I did some amateur boxing in the military, but I wasn’t very good at it so I learned the business side of it,” said Stokes, who is the brother-in-law of former world champion “Tremendous Travis Simms, who is also scheduled to fight tomorrow night. “Things just evolved into my training amateurs and promoting boxers. I’ve been lucky. As a promoter, you can feel like you have some great fights lined up and it just doesn’t happen for one reason or the other, but over the last 10 or 12 shows we’ve had some great fights.

Doors will open at 6 p.m. and fights start at 7 p.m.

Advance tickets are $25, $35 and $45 for ringside seats.

A total of 12 bouts are scheduled, with planned special appearances to be made by Aiken’s current world champion Paul “The Punisher” Williams (a regular spectator at Palmetto Boxing shows) and former world titlist Luis “The People’s Champ” Collazo.

Other fighters scheduled for the card include Brian Miller, Stefan Scott, Mike Faragon and female fighter Angel Gladney. Stokes said Gladney could be fighting for a world title sometime over the next 12 months or so.

“Angel comes to fight and it’s always good to see her,” he said. “She’s undefeated (3-0-1) and will be fighting a girl out of Arkansas. (Gladney) came up through the amateurs here and we’re looking to have her in a title fight here in the next year. Usually with a male fighter you have them fighting (for titles) with around 25 fights, but with female fighters it’s only about half that because there just aren’t as many of them out there.”

Stokes says while he does feature some out-of-state talent from time to time, he prefers to keep local fighters front and center at Palmetto Boxing cards.

“Some of the up-and-coming fighters we bring in are guys from out of town, but people in South Carolina like their own,” he said. “Chris moved down here from Ohio and he wants to bring another world title to South Carolina like Paul Williams. (Williams) is one of the most sought after fighters and feared fighters in the world and he’s from right here. Chris understands how important the state has been in boxing and we’re going all out in promoting him. He wants to see South Carolina get the recognition it deserves for producing guys like Paul and Diego Corrales and Joe Frazier.”

Fitzpatrick says he fell in love with the Palmetto State almost immediately.

“My mom was living down here and she told me how great the people were and I decided to give it a shot down here,” he said. “This is the best place I’ve ever been. I love it here and basically I want to finish my career here in Columbia.”

That career continues tomorrow night when Fitzpatrick faces an opponent in King who came looking for him, and not the other way around, as is often the case for fighters working in front of the home folks. Stokes says King called him and asked for the fight with Fitzpatrick, who defeated King in an amateur bout some years ago.

“Chris beat him in the amateurs and Torrence called us looking for the fight,” Stokes said. “(King) said he had some payback for Chris, so I think that will be a good one.”

Fitzpatrick, for his part, says he’ll do whatever he needs to do to get the job done – whether that is boxing his way to a victory number seven, or to banging his way to one.

“From what I heard, I fought him in the amateurs, but I don’t really remember because I fought so many (over 150 fights),” he said. “I’m glad that he’s coming to fight because it will make for a good show, but he doesn’t have what it takes to last with me, so we’ll see what he’s got. I’ll demonstrate how well I can fight and how well I can box, and I’ll bang with him if he wants to bang, but if he does that he’ll get knocked out. ”