Terence Crawford Signs New Multi-Year Agreement With Top Rank


LAS VEGAS (Sept. 6, 2018) – Top Rank is proud to announce that pound-for-pound superstar and the current WBO welterweight world champion Terence “Bud” Crawford has agreed to new multi-year agreement with the company. Crawford, who originally signed with Top Rank in 2011, has captured world titles in three weight classes and won the award for best fighter at the 2018 ESPYS.

“I am the best fighter in the world, hands down. ESPN is the biggest brand in sports and Top Rank is the biggest promotional company in boxing,” Crawford said. “This was a no-brainer for me and my team. All of the super fights that the world wants to see will happen. Mark my words. Like I’ve said before, I want all of the champions in the welterweight division.”

“Terence ‘Bud’ Crawford is the world’s best boxer,” said Top Rank CEO Bob Arum. “We will continue our ongoing campaign to establish him as one of the world’s most recognizable athletes.”

“Without a doubt, this is one of the most lucrative deals for an individual fighter in the history of boxing,” said Brian McIntyre, Crawford’s trainer/manager. “The deal that I helped put together with Top Rank and ESPN is unprecedented in the modern boxing landscape. If you think you’ve seen the best of Terence Crawford, you ain’t seen nothing yet. To all the pretenders out there who want a piece of him, you’ll get what is coming. With Top Rank and ESPN in our corner, we are going to make some of the biggest fights in the history of boxing. We will continue to show the world that Terence ‘Bud’ Crawford is one of the greatest fighters to ever lace up a pair of gloves.”

Crawford (33-0, 24 KOs), the pride of Omaha, Nebraska, is 11-0 with eight knockouts in world title bouts. He captured his first world title – the WBO lightweight crown – with a unanimous decision against Ricky Burns on March 1, 2014. Less than four months later, he cemented his status as a pound-for-pound elite with a ninth-round TKO against then-unbeaten Yuriorkis Gamboa in front of nearly 11,000 fans in Omaha. Crawford made one more defense of his lightweight title before moving up to 140 pounds.

Crawford cleaned out the 140-pound division, going 7-0 in the weight class and unifying all four major world title belts with a third-round knockout against Julius Indongo in August of last year. With nothing else to accomplish at 140 pounds, Crawford set his sights on the welterweight division. In his welterweight debut, June 9 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Crawford battered the previously undefeated Jeff Horn en route to a ninth-round stoppage victory to capture the WBO title.

Crawford, though, has unfinished business at welterweight. Armed with the backing of Top Rank and the company’s new seven-year deal with ESPN, he is ready, willing, and able to take on the division’s other world champions.




Unbeaten Michael Dutchover Headlines on Sept. 21 in Ontario, CA

PHILADELPHIA, Penn. /ORANGE, Calif. (Sept. 5, 2018) – Michael Dutchover (10-0, 7 KOs), a fast rising talent in the junior lightweight division, headlines a prospect rich card on Friday, Sept. 21, from the Doubletree Hotel in Ontario, Calif.

Dutchover collides with once-beaten Luis Alberto Lopez (12-1, 5 KOs) of Mexico in the “New Blood” 8-round main event.

Dutchover, 20, hails from Midland, Tex., but has relocated to Santa Fe Springs, Calif. to take advantage of the rich sparring readily available to him in the greater Los Angeles area.

“I first came out to Santa Fe Springs the summer before my senior year of high school,” Dutchover said. “That’s when I met my current trainer Danny Zamora. He put me in with world champ Darleys Perez [WBA lightweight]. After that experience, I knew once I turned professional that I would want to live and train in this area.”

To prepare for Lopez, Dutchover has been clocking rounds against current WBA super bantamweight champion Danny Roman. The former cross country standout at Midland High School credits the elite level sparring for his rapidly evolving game.

“You have to be patient against guys like Danny Roman,” said Dutchover, who is promoted by Banner Promotions and Thompson Boxing. “He is too skilled for you to walk in there and think you are going to lay gloves on him. That’s been my biggest growth area. Just learning how to settle into a patient rhythm and capitalize on angels once I see them.”

Dutchover’s patience was on display in his latest outing, a second round, one-punch destruction of Sergio Martinez in July.

“I was setting him up from the first round,” Dutchover said. “He was leaving himself open and throwing lazy jabs. I sat on the right moment and delivered a right hand that ended his night.”

For his fight against the little known Lopez, Dutchover will rely on the experience he’s built up to this point.

“He has a good record on paper, but I know he hasn’t fought the level of talent that I have,” remarked Dutchover. “I’m heading into the fight with a lot of confidence.”

Tickets for “New Blood” are priced at $40, $60, & $100, and are available for purchase by calling 714-935-0900, or online at ThompsonBoxing.com.

All fights will be live streamed on TB Presents: New Blood via Thompson Boxing Facebook page, YouTube channel, and ThompsonBoxing.com.

The livestream starts at 8:00 p.m. PT / 11:00 p.m. ET with Beto Duran as the blow-by-blow announcer and Steve Kim providing expert, color commentary.

For regular updates on our fighters, events, and promotions, please check Banner Promotions Facebook Page , and follow us on Instagram and Twitter @BannerBoxing

Photo by Carlos Baeza / Thompson Boxing




QUOTES: FIGHT WEEK MEDIA WORKOUTS FOR KAZUTO IOKA, MCWILLIAMS ARROYO, LOUISA HAWTON AND BRENDA FLORES

Los Angeles, CA (September 5, 2018) SUPERFLY 3 rivals three-time world champion Kazuto Ioka, (22-1-0, 13 KO’s), of Osaka, Japan and WBC Super Flyweight Silver Champion McWilliams Arroyo, (17-3-0, 14 KO’s), of Fajardo, Puerto Rico, worked out for the Southern California media on Wednesday in anticipation of their highly anticipated showdown this Saturday, September 8 at the ‘Fabulous Forum’ and televised on HBO Boxing After Dark beginning at 9:45 p.m. ET/PT. Fighting in a scheduled 10-round title bout, their clash will open the televised triple-header.

Also training in front of the media were female fighters ‘Bang Bang Lulu’ Louisa Hawton, (8-1-0, 4 KO’s) of Perth, Australia and Brenda Flores, (12-4-1, 2 KO’s), of Tijuana, Mexico who will clash in a ten-round bout for the Interim World Boxing Council Atomweight World Title which will be featured on the undercard international live stream.

Kazuto Ioka

“I attended Superfly 2 while I was on vacation after I retired. While watching each of the three top fights, I know I could compete and be victorious against any of the fighters in the series that night. I loved the atmosphere at the Forum and wanted very much to fight on Superfly 3. I wanted another challenge like this.”

“I have a lot of respect for Arroyo but I have prepared very well in Las Vegas with Ismael Salas to be victorious.”

“It would mean a great deal to me if I can become the first four-time world champion from Japan but first I have to conquer Arroyo.”

McWIlliams Arroyo

“There’s a lot of hype around Ioka but I’m the best fighter he’s faced. I had a great win against Carlos Cuadras, I was overlooked then and feel that I’m being overlooking now. None of that will matter on Saturday night when I’ll be victorious and ready to move on to bigger fights.”

Louisa Hawton

“This is my chance at redemption and at the same venue, the Forum. I loved fighting there in February and can’t wait to put on a show on Saturday night and win the title in front of the great fans.”

Brenda Flores

“I need to dictate the pace and use my strategy to be victorious. I’ve known Louisa for a long time and I know how to beat her. We work so hard to get in the ring and this is a serious business but most importantly I need to win.”

———————————————-

Emanating from the “Fabulous” Forum in Los Angeles on Saturday, September 8 and televised on HBO Boxing After Dark beginning at 9:45 p.m. ET/PT, SUPERFLY 3 is headlined by a 12-round WBC Super Flyweight Final Elimination Bout between former world champion JUAN FRANCISCO ‘El Gallo’ ESTRADA, (36-3-0, 25 KO’s), of Sonora, Mexico and two-time world title challenger FELIPE ‘Gallito’ ORUCUTA, (36-4-0, 30 KO’s), of Nicolas Romero, Mexico. Estrada vs. Orucuta is promoted in association with Zanfer Promotions.

Co-featured over 12-rounds for the vacant WBO Super Flyweight World Title, three-division world champion DONNIE ‘The Snake’ NIETES, (41-1-4, 23 KO’s), of Bacolod City, Philippines, moves up one division to face rival countryman and #2 world ranked challenger ‘Mighty’ ASTON PALICTE, (24-2-0, 20 KO’s) of Bago City, Philippines.

Opening the telecast, three-division world champion KAZUTO IOKA, (22-1-0, 13 KO’s), of Osaka, Japan, battles WBC Super Flyweight Silver Champion MCWILLIAMS ARROYO, (17-3-0, 14 KO’s), of Fajardo, Puerto Rico in a 10-round title bout.

Featured on the outstanding live-streamed undercard, ‘Bang Bang Lulu’ LOUISA HAWTON, (8-1-0, 4 KO’s) of Perth, Australia will face BRENDA FLORES, (12-4-1, 2KO’s) of Tijuana, Mexico for the Interim World Boxing Council Women’s Atomweight World Title.

Advance tickets for SUPERFLY 3, priced at $150, $100, $75, $50 and $25 can be purchased HERE. The Forum is located at 3900 W. Manchester Blvd, Inglewood CA 90305. Doors on the night of the event will open at 4:00 p.m.

SOCIAL MEDIA

#SUPERFLY3

Twitter

@GalloEstrafaOfi

@AstonPalicte

@HBOboxing

@theforum

@WBCBoxing

@Zanfernews

@ALAPromotions1

360 Boxing Promotions

Website, www.360promotions.us Facebook, @360BoxingPromos, Twitter, @360BoxingPromos

@TomLoeffler1, Instagram, @360BoxingPromotions




4 DIVISION WORLD CHAMPION JUAN MANUEL MARQUEZ CONFIRMED FOR 4TH ANNUAL BOX FAN EXPO, MEXICAN INDEPENDENCE DAY WEEKEND, SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 15, IN LAS VEGAS


Las Vegas (September 5, 2018) – 4-Division World Champion Juan Manuel Marquez has confirmed that he will appear and hold a Meet & Greet with his fans at the Las Vegas Convention Center for the 4th Annual Box Fan Expo on Saturday September 15, 2018 from 10am to 5pm, during Mexican Independence Day weekend. The Boxing Expo will also coincide with the highly anticipated rematch between Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez vs Gennady ‘GGG’ Golovkin, that will take place later that evening at the T-Mobile Arena.

Marquez will make his first appearance at this years’ Expo from 11am to 12pm at the Box Fan Expo Booth Store and will be signing gloves, photos and personal items. Fans will have an opportunity to also take pictures with this Boxing Legend also known as “Dinamita”

Marquez joins Errol Spence Jr., Andre Ward, Abner Mares, Mikey Garcia, James Toney, Mayweather Promotions, WBC, WBA, Thomas Hearns, David Benavidez, José Benavidez, Badou Jack, Mia St.John, Jessie Vargas, Erik Morales and Fernando Vargas as an early commitment to this year’s Box Fan Expo.

About Juan Manuel Marquez
Marquez is a Mexican former professional boxer who competed from 1993 to 2014. He is the third Mexican boxer (after Erik Morales and Jorge Arce) to become a world champion in four weight classes, having held nine world championships including the WBA (Super), IBF and WBO featherweight titles between 2003 and 2007; the WBC super featherweight title from 2007 to 2008; the WBA (Super), WBO, Ring magazine and lineal lightweight titles between 2008 and 2012; and the WBO junior welterweight title from 2012 to 2013.

In a career that spanned over twenty years, Marquez was known for being a fast and highly technical boxer who was exceptionally skilled at combinations and counterpunches, yet also willing to engage in slugfests with opponents. He was also credited for his toughness, and never lost a fight by stoppage. His most notable bouts include his four-fight saga with Manny Pacquiao and his fight against fellow Mexican Marco Antonio Barrera. Marquez is considered to be one of the greatest Mexican boxers of all time, and is ranked by BoxRec as the 30th greatest boxer of all time, as well as second best Mexican fighter of all time, pound for pound. In 2008, The Ring ranked him as the world’s second-best active boxer, pound for pound.

About Box Fan Expo
Box Fan Expo is the ultimate boxing fan experience event, which allows fans to meet-and- greet boxing superstars of today, current and former world champions, legends of the sport and other boxing celebrities. Fans can expect to experience various interactions such as autograph and photos sessions, FaceOff with your favorite boxers, pictures with the Ring Card Girls, Live DJ Music, chance to win prizes, purchase merchandise and memorabilia from different booths Exhibitors, “ALL UNDER ONE ROOF”. You won’t want to miss this must-attend Expo!

Box Fan Expo has been a huge success with fans and boxing industry people. Many boxing stars have attended the last three Expos such as Floyd Mayweather, Mike Tyson, Roberto Duran, Tommy Hearns, Marco Antonio Barrera, Roy Jones Jr., Marcos Maidana, Sergio Martinez, Keith Thurman, Danny Garcia, Tim Bradley, Deontay Wilder, Amir Khan, Shawn Porter, Fernando Vargas, Zab Judah, James Toney, Vinny Pazienza, Mikey Garcia , Mia St.Johns, Leo Santa Cruz, Badou Jack, Terry Norris , Riddick Bowe , Earnie Shavers, Leon Spinks, Danny Jacobs, Abner Mares, Jorge Linares, Brandon Rios and many more…

Exhibitors such as boxing gear, apparel, new equipment’s, energy drinks, alcohol, supplement products, broadcasting media, sanctioning bodies and other companies who wish to participate will once again have a chance to showcase their brand to fans, media and the boxing industry.

Tickets to the Box Fan Expo are available online at:
https://boxfanexpo.eventbrite.com

Throughout the next few days leading up to the Event, there will be weekly updates on the many stars that will commit their appearance at the Boxing Expo. And for anyone in the Boxing industry or other Exhibitors (non-industry), who would like to be involved and reserve a Booth,

Contact Us:
Telephone number: (514) 572-7222 or Las Vegas Number (702) 997-1927

For any inquiries please email: boxfanexpo@gmail.com

More information on Box Fan Expo visit: http://www.boxfanexpo.com

Follow Box Fan Expo on Twitter and Instagram at: @BoxFanExpo

Follow Box Fan Expo on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/BoxFanExpo




CANELO VS. GGG2: HBO PAY-PER-VIEW TELEVISED UNDERCARD CONFERENCE CALL TRANSCRIPT

LOS ANGELES (SEPT. 5, 2018): THE MODERATOR: All these great fights I’m about to introduce will be live from Las Vegas T-Mobile Arena on September 15 as part of a special HBO Pay-Per-View Undercard featuring the highly-anticipated rematch between Lineal Middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez versus WBC, WBA and IBO Middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin.

In the opening fight on this great fight card, on HBO Pay-Per-View telecast is pound-for-pound, king and former division world champion, Roman ‘Chocolatito’ Gonzalez from Nicaragua. He will make his highly-anticipated return against experienced Mexican warrior, Moises Fuentes in a 10-round super flyweight battle.

We also have on this great fight card former IBF middleweight world champion David Lemieux from Montreal, Canada versus Irish warrior Gary “Spike” O’Sullivan of Cork Island will go head-to-head in the 12-round middleweight slugfest.

If you think those two fights are great, we also have as the co-main event, breakout Mexican star Jaime Munguia, who will make his second defense of his WBO junior middleweight world title against rugged Canadian contender, Brandon Cook. Both fighters will also be sharing their comments on the call today.

This epic event will be produced and distributed live by HBO Pay-Per-View beginning at a special time at 8:00 p.m. ET, 5:00 p.m. PT. Tickets are selling fast. You can still purchase tickets online at www.tmobilearena.com or www.axs.com.

Fight fans can also watch the fight on closed-circuit locations in Vegas at the MGM Grand, Mandalay Bay, mirage and the Luxor. Tickets may be purchased at any MGM Resort Resorts International box office with a major credit card, or online at www.ticketmaster.com.

At this time I would like to introduce Juan Carlos Torres of Zanfer Promotions.

JUAN CARLOS TORRES: Hey, Robert, thank you very much, and thank you to everybody here involved. We are very excited, again. Last year, we were a part of the biggest fight of the year, and here we go again. And not only that, but the undercard — of course, this is probably one of the most anticipated fights in the undercard because Chocolatito’s comeback, everyone wants to see him back; and Moises Fuentes is ready to take that challenge. He’s excited.

He also wants to prove that he’s not finished. He’s been a world champion a couple of times already, and he’s excited and very excited to be a part of this and we want to thank Golden Boy and 360 and Tom Loeffler for this amazing opportunity, and we just want to be ready. We just want to be there already.

So thank you to all of the participants in this call, and all the sponsors and everybody involved. Thank you.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Juan Carlos. Thank you.

Now, I’d like to hand it off to Tom Loeffler.

TOM LOEFFLER: We have a great working relationship with Mr. Honda of Teiken Promotions. We’ve done so many fights and had Roman on shows together with GGG. Chocolatito was the pioneer of the Superfly series.

We have the Superfly 3 screening this Saturday on HBO, and because of the success, because of this excitement that Chocolatito brought to the ring here in the United States, it allowed this whole series to be spun off from his success. The fight game special with Jim Lampley comes on after the Superfly series, and between Chocolatito and GGG on Sunday’s show has been a tremendous pairing.

When the Pay-Per-View starts out with Chocolatito as the first fight on the Pay-Per-View, you know what quality show this is going to be. He’s fighting Moises Fuentes as you mentioned, a very rugged Mexican warrior.

So many people are looking forward to seeing Chocolatito back in the ring. It’s been a year now and the fans can’t wait to see him, one of the most exciting, one of the most respected fighters in the sport back in the ring.

So we are excited about this show. We keep working together with Golden Boy to put this whole show together.

And at this point, I can turn it over to Carlos Blandon. Carlos is Chocolatito’s manager.

CARLOS BLANDON: Well, hello to everyone. We are really happy with Taken Promotions, Mr. Honda, with 360 Promotions, Tom, everyone in HBO; with all the sponsors that have helped this event come through, we are really happy, to Roman and us as a team, I think this is the best stage possible for Roman for his comeback, and we are very happy and thankful to God that we are given this opportunity, and we know that Roman has been training and will not give anything less than the best.

TOM LOEFFLER: Thank you, Carlos.

With that, we’d like to introduce Moises Fuentes who can say a few words, and then Roman can say a few words after Moises.

MOISES ‘MOI’ FUENTES: Thanks to Zanfer Promotions and to everybody involved for this opportunity. I have the opportunity of a lifetime to fight against a great Roman Gonzales. I’m very well prepared for this fight. I’m ready.

We feel strong and if God’s willing, we’re going to be victors that day and again, thank you to everybody.

TOM LOEFFLER: Thanks. Also acknowledging Zanfer Promotions, great friends of ours. We’ve done many fight together, and representing Moises together with Juan Carlos.

With that, someone who doesn’t need any introduction, unanimous pound-for-pound champion, and as I mentioned, everyone is looking forward to his comeback into the ring on September 15.

So with that, I want to introduce Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzales.

ROMAN ‘CHOCOLATITO’ GONZALEZ: I’m very happy and thankful to God, HBO, 360 promotions. I’m very excited to be on the card with Canelo and GGG. I believe it’s a great opportunity. I’m very excited and I’m very happy and I can’t wait to give a great fight.

Q. Roman, it’s been one year since your fight with Srisaket Sor Rungvisai, obviously a rough knockout loss. In the one year since that fight, what kind of doubts did you have about what you still had left to offer boxing as you were getting ready for your comeback? Did you have doubts about what you could still do?
ROMAN ‘CHOCOLATITO’ GONZALEZ: It was definitely a very difficult year from the loss that I suffered to Srisaket Sor Rungvisai.

I believe the wisdom to be able to overcome this situation — I believe that I’m back in the ring and I’m coming in great condition and I definitely want to win the fight, like every other boxer, and I believe that I am starting to set up my comeback.

Q. You’ve done so much and you’re going to be in the Hall of Fame someday, for sure. You’ve won titles in four weight classes and made a lot of history and been in a lot of great fights. At age 31 and in a small weight class, what do you still want to accomplish and what do you believe is left for you to do?
ROMAN ‘CHOCOLATITO’ GONZALEZ: I’m very happy because of the situation and the accolades you just mentioned, about probably being in the Hall of Fame, but I feel that I still would like to obtain a fifth world title.

Q. In a different weight class?
ROMAN ‘CHOCOLATITO’ GONZALEZ: Yes.

Q. Just out of curiosity, also, what’s the exact contract weight for this fight?
ROMAN ‘CHOCOLATITO’ GONZALEZ: 115 super flyweight.

Q. Given that you were undefeated for so many years and then you’ve had losses back-to-back to the same opponent, do you think that it was just a bad style match up for you that caused you to have the two losses in a row, or is it something else?
ROMAN ‘CHOCOLATITO’ GONZALEZ: I believe the knock out — very strong boxer and he does have a difficult style, a style that complicates boxing. When I was inside the boxing ring, I got hit and I feel he’s a really good boxer and great champion.

But at the same time, I also feel — I’m able to be back in the ring.

Q. What about the fans —
ROMAN ‘CHOCOLATITO’ GONZALEZ: I don’t give too much importance to the fans that don’t want to follow me. I give importance to the fans that do follow me. Everybody has their own opinion and their way of choosing the fighter they want. I love them all and I wish that God blesses everyone in this fight.

I’m very happy and I feel this is a great opportunity, and I’m ready to be able to overcome this tough year and be able to fight again.

Q. If September 15, do you believe this is your coming out party? Everyone is expecting you to win and to do good and come out on top. But what happens if that day, you come out on top? Is that a dream come true? Would that be a dream come true?
MOISES ‘MOI’ FUENTES: Absolutely. You know, I have a chance like everybody else. Nothing is written in boxing. I feel that I can beat Roman. It will definitely be something out of a dream, but I’m ready to fight and I hope I can beat him that Saturday.

Q. Roman, we know that you have a very important relationship in your life with God. I’m wondering, what kind of advice or conversations you might have had with God in the last year or so, as you’re looking whether to retire, whether to come back, and after your losses? What has that relationship been like, and how important has that been in guiding you?
ROMAN ‘CHOCOLATITO’ GONZALEZ: I’m so thankful to God. I believe God keeps being my guide and always will be my God and I pray to God for everything and I thank God for all the blessings I’ve got through boxing and for being healthy. I ask God to take care of me in the ring, and I believe that I will succumb to whatever God’s will is on September 15.

Q. Are you nearer the end of your career than the beginning, and do you think about your legacy, and how would you like people to remember you on the day that you retire at some time in the future? How do you want people to remember you?
ROMAN ‘CHOCOLATITO’ GONZALEZ: I believe everything that you put this God’s hand, that will come true, so I want people to see me as somebody to give them hope, a champion that will be a great fighter, made it possible, coming from nothing.

Q. How close did you actually come to retiring and is there a point where you felt you would retire and what changed your mind in terms of coming back and fighting?
ROMAN ‘CHOCOLATITO’ GONZALEZ: Very close. I really wanted to retire because I wanted to spend time with my children, which I had not been able to, due to so much determination within my career and the training and whatnot. But at the same time, I spoke to my family, and my family encouraged me, as well as myself, to be able to fight in the ring and I feel it wasn’t my time. It wasn’t my time, and now I’m ready to fight once again September 15.

Q. How much of your decision was that you didn’t want to end your career on the type of loss that you had last year?
ROMAN ‘CHOCOLATITO’ GONZALEZ: No, that has nothing to do with it. I wanted to fight. I believe I’ve received a lot of blessings for world titles, being ranked for a time as the No. 1 pound for pound, and I believe that is enough, but I was just happy to have the opportunity again.

Q. You haven’t fought in a year now. How has that rejuvenated you? How has that helped refresh your mind and your body over the past year?
ROMAN ‘CHOCOLATITO’ GONZALEZ: I feel I’ve rejuvenated a lot. It’s really helped me be able to come back.

Q. If you win, do you feel you’re in position to fight for another title? You have a lot of caché in the sport. Where do you feel you would be if you win this fight?
ROMAN ‘CHOCOLATITO’ GONZALEZ: Yes, I want to first finish this fight and then I’ll look forward to the next fight.

TOM LOEFFLER: We’ve put together one of the best shows, Pay-Per-View shows. We’ve got so many compliments on having Chocolatito on, Fuentes and Munguia, Brandon Cook, Lemieux and Spike O’Sullivan. It was a great team effort and I think this undercard is really going to complement the biggest fight and the biggest show of the year.

So we’re excited coming up, we’re just finalizing the last week here, and we’ll see everyone next week in Las Vegas.

BRANDON ‘BAD BOY’ COOK: I’m happy to be a part of this. Canelo and GGG are two of my favorite fighters to watch the last couple years, after the first fight, and just to be in the same building as them is just like a dream come true, especially fighting for a world title. It’s been everything I’ve ever asked for, and I’ve worked so hard to get to this position.

Pretty much I’m walking around trying to get a bunch of tests done because they pretty much told me yesterday that all my medical stuff isn’t good enough. We had everything already done. They told us a couple weeks ago that it was all good to go, and then all of a sudden we get a call yesterday saying I’ve got to get a full eye exam done again, a full physical done again and a full blood test done again, and I’m leaving in a couple days.

So I don’t understand why all of a sudden they just tell us now, when we sent our stuff in three or four weeks ago. That’s the only thing I’m kind of a little bit upset about right now, but whatever. It is what it is.

I just can’t wait to get there and show everybody a great fight. I know Munguia is one of the toughest guys coming up right now, and I’m up for a challenge. I can’t wait to show the world who I am. Nobody knows who I am. Some people know who I am, but they are going to know who I am after September 15.

JAIME MUNGUIA: I’m very happy to be able to participate in this big eventful of stars. I’m happy, also, that I get to participate on the show date. I’m ready. I have trained really, really hard. I need to focus a lot. I’m excited and I can’t wait, and I’m ready for Saturday, next Saturday’s fight.

Brandon Cook is a really good opponent, a really strong opponent. He has a lot of experience and is a strong and tough opposition. I need to be very careful with him because I’ve seen a couple of fights, and he looks when he’s hurt, he’s the most dangerous. I need to really focus on the fight and really be at my best on Saturday.

Q. Given the narrative and the things happening surrounding the main event of the fight, is there a different pressure on how you approach the fight in terms of your performance, so that all of that doesn’t completely overshadow the bout that you will engage in and making your presence known in boxing on such a huge platform and such a huge night, starting with Jamie.
JAIME MUNGUIA: No, I don’t have any pressure, extra pressure. I’m very relaxed. I know that I cannot have those things, pressure, because I need to do my job. That’s what I need to do. I need to focus on my job and my fast and my training, and the rest will take care of itself.

Q. Brandon, can you answer that same question?
BRANDON ‘BAD BOY’ COOK: Yeah, pretty much it’s the biggest of the year obviously, but I’m just happy to finally fight for a world title and to be on this stage is obviously amazing. I’m just going to do my thing like I always do.

The pressure; there no pressure, really. I’m not supposed to win, right. That’s what everybody is saying. I’m a 14:1 underdog right now and I’ve been underdog a couple times, so I know how it feels. Once that bell rings, I’ll going to do what I do best. I’m coming to fight.

The crowd doesn’t phase me. When I went to Montréal, from that ring, everybody was saying the craziest thing to me. I don’t care. I like to feed off that.

So it is what it is and I’m just really excited to be part of this amazing card. It’s going to be fun.

Q. So do you think that maybe this is a help to you in your approach to this fight? The focus will primarily be on the main event of the card but with such intense scrutiny focused on the main event, do you feel almost like you can move around and prepare in more peaceful circumstances than usual?
BRANDON ‘BAD BOY’ COOK: Pretty much for me, I think there will be a ton of people watching this and they will be getting ready for that main event and Jamie and me are going to give the people what they want to see. They are going to enjoy this fight and with we are going to get them wound up and ready to go for the main event. I know he can fight, and I can fight.

This stylistic match going to be a great fight and it’s just going to open a lot of doors, whoever wins, obviously. He’s the next up-and-coming kid. He’s tough. He’s strong. He’s young. But I don’t care. I’m just coming to do what I got to do, and I can’t wait to get in there. I’m ready. I had two fights fall on me this year and this whole summer I’ve been training. It’s everything I’ve ever wanted. I can’t wait to get out there and do my thing.

JAIME MUNGUIA: I learned a lot in the last fight. I learned not to get desperate, and in training camp, and what I trained in, and I’m basically with the mind-set to go in and do my job, and that’s it. There is nothing extra. There is no pressure, just do my job, what I do every day in the gym, and I always feel relaxed.

This is nothing new for me. It’s a fight between me and Brandon and nothing else. The rest of the card, it’s different. I cannot have any control over what happens in the main event or the other cards. I just need to do exactly what I’m doing in training camp, and that’s it.

Q. Jamie, 2018 has been a big year for you. It’s been a year of a lot of turbulence, and a year of a lot of news, a lot of activity. How do you feel this year is going for you?
JAIME MUNGUIA: A lot of turbulence, a lot of news and a lot of good results. I have a lot of activity, a lot of surprises, also. But of course, this year has been the biggest of my career so far. But the reality is that I cannot lose focus because everybody wants my title and everybody’s after me. I used to be the one who was hunting; now I’m the hunted one. So, I’ve got to keep focusing and I’ve got to keep working on the gym.

Q. In a few weeks, you will be fighting. How different is this challenge?
BRANDON ‘BAD BOY’ COOK: I think he’s just more of a powerful young kid — more of a better boxer. I take any fight. I don’t care who it is. They are both really good. Obviously Kell Brook had his little ankle injury going on and I never ended up getting the fight, but one door closes and another one opens.

Jamie Munguia was the prospect of the year last year, so to be fighting someone like this is amazing to me. Like I said, I’m going to do everything I can to take that title back home with me. I know it’s going to be a tough fight, but I’m ready. I’ve been training all summer, man. I can’t wait for this. This is a huge opportunity for me and my life, and that’s why I quit my job last year so I could train full-time.

This is what I want and this is why I’m here, where I am today.

Q. Brandon, what have you noticed from Munguia, particularly the last two fights that have been on HBO, it seems like he’s not hardly hit. What do you see in him?
BRANDON ‘BAD BOY’ COOK: I pretty much, what I see is when he gets somebody hurt, he tries to take their head off. His offense is pretty much his defense. He comes forward and just throws bombs, right. He’s a tough kid. He throws everything into every punch. I’m sure he says that he’s going to try to change that a little bit, but I know I’ve got to keep my hands up tight and be smart.

I think once he feels my power, he’ll probably change his style up a little bit. I watched the lie a.m. Smith fight a couple times and Smith hit him a ton of times, but Smith didn’t hit him with too many good, clean punches, but the fight before that with alley, he pretty much just rolled alley over. I think alley is too small for Munguia. Munguia looked way bigger than him.

Size makes a big differs, too. He’s going to come in close to 170 pounds and I’m going to come in close to 168-ish. He’ll be a lot taller than me, but you’ll see the difference in our body types. I’ve been training so hard this summer for this, and this opportunity just came out of nowhere. I only had five weeks’ notice but I’ve been training all summer for this.

I did three different races — I’m a dual athlete, this opportunity came up and I jumped on it. It’s going to be a tough fight obviously but I’m ready for what he wants to bring me.

Q. You feel you’re a bigger puncher than Liam Smith, right??
BRANDON ‘BAD BOY’ COOK: Growing up, any time I would hit somebody, they always drop. I’ve been in a ton of street fights. That’s what got me into boxing obviously. I know how much power I have. You don’t just develop power. You’re born with it and I was born with power.

I might not have been born with the best boxing skills but I’ve learned a lot over — I turned pro in 2011, I learned a lot about how to box now. I’ve just got to be smart, like I said, and throw my punches. I know how hard I hit, and if I can hit his square in the chin, like I did to Butler or anybody else I hit, they are going to feel it. I think, no offense to Liam, but I think I hit harder than Liam Smith.

We’re going to see what happens when it comes next Saturday night.

Q. Brandon, you mentioned you were in a lot of street fight as a kid. At what point did you start boxing at the gym?
BRANDON ‘BAD BOY’ COOK: Not till pretty much I was 19 years old. Pretty much I was fighting people all the time, knocking people out all the time. And then my coach today, one of my best friends, brought me to the gym because he used to fight. He’s like, you’ve got to try this out.

So I ended up going to the gym. First day in the gym, I called on the coach. He literally beat the crap out of me for three rounds, and I’ve never been beat up before. So I was like, whoa, this is — I had to come back. I kept coming back, coming back, and then only had three amateur fights but my fight is more of a pro style. When I first started, I kind of came forward and just tried to rip their head off pretty much.

I’ve learned a lot, now, but if it wasn’t for boxing, I wouldn’t know where I’d be. Like I was doing a lot of stupid things when I was a kid, and I’m happy where I am today.

Q. What’s your coach’s name and what is the gym you went to in Ontario?
BRANDON ‘BAD BOY’ COOK: My coach’s name is Mike Guyett and the gym I train at is Ajax Boxing Club.

Pretty much we have our own little — we go in wherever we want, do whatever we want. He has a couple fighters, but pretty much he just trains, he putts all his time into me, and he knows a ton about boxing. Nobody is going to know who he is, but he’s like a boxing-cyclopedia. Anything you ask him, he’ll know about it. I don’t understand how he knows so much about boxing. Any time there’s a fight, any time there’s reports, he reads the boxing sheets every day. He knows everything. It’s crazy.

Q. How do you spell his last name?
BRANDON “BAD BOY” COOK: G-u-y-e-t-t. And he’s pretty much the same age as me and we’ve been doing this since I’ve been 18 years old, he’s been training me.

So we just have a good connection and he learns a lot and I learn more every time I work with him. It’s been a good run, and look, we got to a world title shot, so we must have done something right.

Q. How close is the gym that you train at in relation to Toronto? Is it close?
BRANDON ‘BAD BOY’ COOK: It’s not far at all. It’s like 30 minutes. I travel all over the place for sparring because we don’t have much sparring in Ajax.

Like I go to a bunch of different gyms for rounds and just to try — especially to fight someone like this, I’ve been sparring with a lot of bigger guys, guys that are like 175, 180 pounds, just because I know how big Jamie is, and he’s big and tall, and he’s going to come in huge on fight night. We try to mimic every fight who we spar with, right. So, every fight, we try to find guys that are going to be the best suitable for who I’m going to fight.

Q. You mentioned earlier that you quit your job full-time to focus full-time on training. What did you do before you became a boxer full-time?
BRANDON ‘BAD BOY’ COOK: I installed windows my whole life pretty much. I was working ten to 12 hours a day, getting up before work, 5:00 in the morning, running, going to work all day and then going to the gym. I did that my whole career until right after the fight with Kanat Islam.

So I’ve only had two fights without a full-time job, and the last two fights, I was — finished strong and most energy I’ve ever had.

It makes a huge difference being able to actually train full-time like the rest of these people do. I ended up breaking up with my ex-two years ago, and I ended up, sold my house last year and made a good amount of money, so I pretty much pay myself to train full-time. I wouldn’t be ready for this fight if I wasn’t training full-time.

Q. You were supposed to fight Kell Brook late in July and you’ve been in training camp for a long time. How did you manage not over training by being in camp for so long and training for so long?
BRANDON ‘BAD BOY’ COOK: First I was supposed to fight Kell Brook, and three weeks before the fight, he ended up pulling out with an ankle injury and three weeks later they give me Sam, and before we get on the plane they tell us he has an eye injury from sparring.

I was just about peaked for that fight, but Eddie Hearn still let us go. Went to England for a week, had a little bit of downtime, checked out England. I still ran and did a workout but that was pretty much my week to recover and chill out.

Then I went right back, as soon as I get back, I got back into my training because I had a big race coming up and all of a sudden, we got the call for this. So really, we only had five weeks’ notice, but I was already in really good shape. So, it wasn’t for me getting ready for those races, I probably wouldn’t be in the shape I’m in right now.

But this is the best shape I’ve been in in my life. I have no excuses. The best man is going to win next Saturday night. I’m really happy with this opportunity to show everybody that there’s actually really good names coming out of Canada.

Q. You’re what would you like fans to know about you going into this fight on the 15th?
BRANDON ‘BAD BOY’ COOK: I’m like the normal guy. I do everything that I’m supposed to do. I train — one thing about me is I train hard. That’s one thing that everybody that knows me; one of the hardest trainers — I’m pretty much the hardest guy that works in the gym. I do everything I can to win fights. Obviously, I don’t have — when I first started boxing, I didn’t have the best boxing skills, but I’ve learned a lot.

Once I come there next Saturday night, and when I fight, people are going to enjoy the fight, because the style of matchup between us, too, is going to give people a lot to think about. It’s going to be obviously a tough fight for both of us.

We’re going to be getting hit a lot, but obviously I don’t want to get hit too much. I’m sure he doesn’t want to get hit too much. This is a dream come true. Any kid, man, that grew up in boxing, always wanted to fight for a world title, but to be on the GGG-Canelo undercard is just the creme of the crop. Icing on the cake.

This is everything I ever wanted. I just want to show everybody that we’ve been working really hard to get to this, and I’m not just coming in to get paid. I’m coming there to fight. I’m coming there to give people what they paid for, and that’s a good fight.

Q. Who are your role models in boxing?
BRANDON ‘BAD BOY’ COOK: To tell you the truth, the two people fighting in the main event. I’ve been watching those two since I started boxing.

But the very first — like the very best guy that I ever watched was Mike Tyson growing up. His demeanor or walking into the ring and knocking people out is just something like I’m always, wow, this guy is nuts.

I just love the way he just came in there and knocked people out just out cold just like that. People would pay top dollar just to go see that. I would even go pay to see a round. Obviously, the skill level is not as good today, but he was really small for a heavy weight. He’s always been a guy that I’ve always loved, and Mike Tyson — I don’t know, everything about him, I just like it. I love him.

You’re just going to see me, I’m going to have a big smile on my face and when that bell rings, I change my whole demeanor. I can’t wait.

Q. Do you think about the legacy of some of the other fighters from Tijuana, and how has that helped shape your career?
JAIME MUNGUIA: I had a lot of motivation because of them. As a kid, I used to watch them fight and I remember a lot of them.

When I was a kid, I wanted to be like them, and there’s been a lot of motivation because of those guys.

Q. Do you intend to stay in Tijuana for training, at least in the near future?
JAIME MUNGUIA: I’ve been training in L.A. for my last two bouts, but I don’t have any problems training in Tijuana, either.

Q. And you were part of the big public media workout at Bank of California Stadium, and you have some fans there. How did you like that experience?
JAIME MUNGUIA: I love it. The reason why is I saw everybody — the people really put their hard work and money into the sport and buy tickets, and I saw that and I loved it. Most of the people that know a lot about boxing, a lot of the people that were there gave me a lot of love, and that was even better to keep working and more motivation for the next fight.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you all for your questions. We are just going to have the fighters make their last comments.

Brandon, would you like to make a last comment?

BRANDON ‘BAD BOY’ COOK: Yeah, I just want to thank everybody for being a part of this, and you guys are going to enjoy this fight next Saturday night because we’re both coming to fight. I’m giving everybody the best show I can, and I’m just really happy for this opportunity for me and my team. We’ve come a long way and this is going to be amazing. I can’t wait to be there, in Vegas, on the biggest card of the year.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Brandon.
Jaime, any last comments?

JAIME MUNGUIA: I want to invite everybody, all the people to read about this and see the fight on Pay-Per-View. You’re going to have a main event that’s going to be incredible between Canelo and Golovkin, and you’re going to love the fight I’m going to bring on Saturday.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you. Wonderful. Thanks for those comments.

Okay. Everybody, that concludes Canelo versus Golovkin 2 conference call. Thank you for participating and see you at the fight on September 15.

Canelo vs. GGG 2 is a 12-round fight for the middleweight championship of the world presented by Golden Boy Promotions and GGG Promotions. Munguia vs. Cook is a 12-round battle for the WBO Junior Middleweight World Title presented by Golden Boy Promotions and Zanfer Promotions. Lemieux vs. O’Sullivan is a 12-round middleweight clash presented by Golden Boy Promotions and Eye of The Tiger Management in association with Murphy’s Boxing. Gonzalez vs. Fuentes is a 10-round super flyweight fight presented by Golden Boy Promotions and GGG Promotions in association with Teiken Promotions and Zanfer Promotions. The event is sponsored by Tecate, “THE OFFICIAL BEER OF BOXING,” Hennessy, “Never Stop, Never Settle,” O’Reilly Auto Parts, Fred Loya Insurance, Interjet, Venom, and Fathom Events. The event will take place Saturday, Sept. 15 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas and will be produced and distributed live by HBO Pay-Per-View beginning at a special time of 8:00 p.m. ET/5:00 p.m. PT.

“24/7 Canelo/GGG 2” is streaming on HBO GO and HBO NOW. Canelo’s fifth “24/7” appearance and Golovkin’s third, “24/7 CANELO/GGG 2” is the latest installment of the acclaimed franchise that began in 2007.

Limited tickets for Canelo vs. GGG 2 are still available, and are priced at
$5,000, $2,500, $2,000, $1,500, $800, $700, and $500 not including applicable service charges and taxes. There will be a limit of eight (8) per person at the $5,000, $2,500, $2,000, $1,500, $800, $700 and $500 price levels. To charge by phone with a major credit card, call 888-9-AXS-TIX (888-929-7849). Tickets are also available for purchase at www.t-mobilearena.com or www.axs.com.

Tickets are on sale for the closed circuit telecast of Canelo vs. GGG 2 at MGM Grand, Mandalay Bay, The Mirage and Luxor are priced at $100, not including applicable fees. Seating is general admission at MGM Grand, Mandalay Bay and The Mirage while Luxor will have assigned seats. Tickets may be purchased at any MGM Resorts International Box Office, by phone with a major credit card at (800) 745-3000 or online at http://www.ticketmaster.com/canelovsggg2.

For more information, visit www.goldenboypromotions.com,
www.caneloggg.com and www.hbo.com/boxing. Follow on Twitter @GoldenBoyBoxing, @Canelo, @gggboxing, @OscarDeLaHoya, @hboboxing and @TomLoeffler1. Become a fan on Facebook at www.facebook.com/GoldenBoyBoxing, www.facebook.com/gggboxing, and www.facebook.com/HBOBoxing. Follow on Instagram @GoldenBoyBoxing, @Canelo, @gggboxing, @HBOboxing and @OscarDeLaHoya; and follow the conversation using #CaneloGGG2.

Photos and videos are available for download by clicking here or copying and pasting the link http://bit.ly/CaneloGGG2 into a browser. Credit must be provided to Golden Boy Promotions for any photo and/or video usage.




Russian Contenders Salamov, Idigov and Davtaev Score Impressive Victories in Grozny

All three of Salita Promotions’ Russia-based contenders, light heavyweight Umar Salamov, super middleweight Aslambek “The Hulk” Idigov and heavyweight Apti Davtaev scored impressive victories in Russia today.

Fighting in the main event at the Grozny City Hotel in Grozny, and live in Russia on Match TV, IBF #11- and WBO #15-rated Umar Salamov moved to 22-1, 17 KOs with a two-round KO over Denis Liebau (23-3, 21 KOs) of Frankfurt Germany.

Fighting for the WBO International Light Heavyweight Championship, Salamov came out firing in round two, landing a perfect left hook to the body that dropped Liebau for the count. The official time was 2:15.

WBO #14-rated super middleweight Aslambek Idigov (14-0, 6 KOs) destroyed former African champion Daniel Wanyonyi (27-13-2, 22 KOs) of Kenya in two brutal rounds. Idigov dropped Wanyonyi three times with a series of brutal right hands. The fight was waved off at 2:32. Idigov is now the WBO Asia Pacific Super Middleweight Champion.

Heavyweight crusher Apti Davtaev (16-0-1, 15 KOs) took out the Ukraine’s Evgeny German Skobenko in six dominant rounds. A serious prospect in the big man’s division, Davtaev was way too powerful for the normally capable Skobenko, pushing him around until the fateful round, where a solid mix of unanswered shots brought an end at 2:40.

“All three fighters did their jobs well today,” said their co-promoter, Dmitriy Salita. “They are all future champions and they looked the part today against respectable opponents. I am proud of all them. The work they have been doing at Kronk Gym is really showing through in their dominant performances.”

About Salita Promotions

Salita Promotions was founded in 2010 by Dmitriy Salita, a professional boxer and world-title challenger who saw the need for a promotional entity to feature boxing’s best young prospects and established contenders in North America and around the world. Viewers watching fighters on worldwide television networks including Showtime, ESPN, Spike TV, Universal Sports Network and MSG have enjoyed Salita Promotions fight action in recent years. We pride ourselves on offering our fighters opportunities inside and outside the ring. Salita Promotions looks forward to continuing to grow and serve the needs of fight fans around the globe.




RINGTV.COM, POWERED BY CLEENG, TO STREAM HISTORIC REMATCH BETWEEN CANELO ALVAREZ AND GENNADY ‘GGG’ GOLOVKIN – LIVE ON PPV


NEW YORK (September 5, 2018): RingTV.com and Cleeng today announced a partnership to stream the most anticipated boxing showdown of the year as Lineal Middleweight World Champion Canelo Alvarez(49-1-2, 34 KOs) takes on WBC/WBA/IBO Middleweight World Champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin (38-0-1, 34 KOs) in a 12-round rematch Saturday, September 15.

Canelo vs. GGG 2, presented by Golden Boy Promotions and GGG Promotions, will air live on www.RingTV.com Pay-Per-View in the United States starting at 8:00 p.m. ET / 5:00 p.m. PT, from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. The PPV broadcast will be available to watch in HD on RingTV.com & CaneloGGG.com (video promo). RingTV.com will be the online programming platform for purchasing and viewing the Pay-Per-View, with Cleeng providing all the supporting technology to drive the Sept. 15 event programming.

“Over the past several years Golden Boy Media and Entertainment has changed how fight fans experience the sport of boxing,” said Oscar De La Hoya, Chairman and CEO of Golden Boy Promotions. “We have invested heavily in making sure that boxing fans can choose how they watch their favorite fighters on the RingTV.com platform. We are delighted to deliver Canelo vs GGG 2 to fans across the globe on a world-class platform as we continue in our efforts to make boxing more and more accessible.”

“We’re excited to be a part of this historical boxing event with Golden Boy Promotions. We continue to work closely with RingTV and Golden Boy Promotions to deliver High Quality and engaging events at high traffic volume” Cleeng Inc. VP of America, Sal Romanasaid. “The Ring Magazine has been known as the ‘Bible of Boxing’ since 1922. We’re proud to be partnering with RingTV.com, which has grown Ring’s powerful influence in pro boxing to a rapidly changing, increasingly younger audience, by streaming the best available boxing events and news.”

In the co-main event, breakout Mexican star Jaime Munguia (30-0, 25 KOs) will make the second defense of his WBO Junior Middleweight World Title against rugged Canadian contender Brandon “Bad Boy” Cook (20-1, 13 KOs) in a 12-round battle. Former IBF Middleweight World Champion David Lemieux (39-4, 33 KOs) of Montreal, Canada and Irish warrior Gary “Spike” O’Sullivan (28-2, 20 KOs) of Cork, Ireland will go head-to-head in a 12-round middleweight battle that has Fight of the Year candidate written all over it. Former pound-for-pound king and former four-division world champion Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez (46-2, 38 KOs) of Managua, Nicaragua will make his highly anticipated return against experienced Mexican warrior Moises “Moi” Fuentes (25-5-1, 14 KOs) in a 10-round super flyweight battle that will open the pay-per-view.

About Ring TV:
The Ring was founded in 1922 by Nat Fleischer. The first issue, dated February 15, 1922, was 24 pages and cost 20 cents. The cover featured black and white photographs of American promoter Tex Richard and Lord Lonsdale, a British aristocrat and boxing patron. Originally located in New York City, the magazine relocated to Long Island, New York, in 1990, and then moved to suburban Pennsylvania in 1993. It is now based in Los Angeles.

There have been only eight editors-in-chief in the magazine’s history. Doug Fischer is the current editor. The Ring began awarding championship belts in 1922. The first Ring belt was awarded to heavyweight champion Jack Dempsey, the second to flyweight champion Pancho Villa. The magazine stopped giving belts to world champions in the 1990s, but began again in 2002 when it launched its new championship policy intended to reward fighters who, by satisfying rigid criteria, can justify a claim as the true and only world champion in a given weight class.

About Cleeng USA:
Cleeng offers the smartest way to sell live and on-demand video, direct to consumers. Cleeng helps sports, entertainment and media companies to protect and monetize PPV events, locally or globally. Its SVOD and Pay-Per-View solutions are used by market-leading brands like Foxtel, Sinclair Broadcast Group, Golden Boy Promotions, NHRA, France Télévisions and many more. The company has offices in New York, Amsterdam, Poland, Manilla and Sydney. Cleeng powers over 20,000+ live PPV events yearly, in over 167 different countries and processes over 30,000 transactions per minute.

cleeng.com
Twitter: @cleeng




DANNY GARCIA VS. SHAWN PORTER FIGHT WEEK MEDIA WORKOUT QUOTES


BROOKLYN (September 5, 2018) – Welterweight stars Danny Garcia and Shawn Porter kicked off fight week in Brooklyn Wednesday with media workouts ahead of their showdown for the vacant WBC Welterweight World Championship taking place this Saturday, September 8 live on SHOWTIME from Barclays Center, the home of BROOKLYN BOXING™ and presented by Premier Boxing Champions.

The SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING telecast begins at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT and features a welterweight title eliminator between Yordenis Ugas and Cesar Barrionuevo and heavyweight action that pits unbeaten Polish slugger Adam Kownacki against former heavyweight champion Charles Martin, all of whom participated in Wednesday’s workout.

The media workout also featured fighters competing in streaming action on SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING COUNTDOWN (7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT) as five-division world champion Amanda Serrano attempts to win a world title in her record sixth weight class when she faces Yamila Esther Reynoso for the WBO 140-pound title.

Tickets for the live event, which is promoted by TGB Promotions and DiBella Entertainment, in association with DSG Promotions, start at $50 and are on sale now. Tickets can be purchased at ticketmaster.com, barclayscenter.com, or by calling 800-745-3000. Tickets can also be purchased at the American Express Box Office at Barclays Center. Group discounts are available by calling 844-BKLYN-GP.

Here is what the fighters had to say from world famous Gleason’s Gym in Brooklyn:

DANNY GARCIA

“This is a very important fight for me. This fight is an opportunity to prove that I’m still one of the best fighters in the world. I’m coming to get my belt back.

“Shawn’s style is exactly what I like to go up against. I want him to come forward and walk into my counter punching. I have power in both hands and I’m going to make him feel it.

“If he comes and opens up, I’m going to land a clean shot early. If he can’t recover, then I’m going to have a chance to finish him. I’m going to dictate the pace and fight my fight.

“I’m ready for anything. I’m prepared to fight backwards, forwards or whatever I need to do. I have to set the tempo and dominate. Shawn is very hungry, so it’s important for me to be smart and pick my spots.

“I know he’s going to try to jab his way in. Shorter guys like him tend to go to the body too. He has skills but I’ve had great preparation to be ready for any of it. We have some stuff up our sleeve.

“We’re just working smarter not harder this camp. We’ve worked on our agility a lot and we tried some different things to keep my legs strong.

“I’m really excited for the Barclays Center crowd. It’s great to be back in the ring and I’m blessed to have another world title fight. I’m grateful and I’m going to make the most of it.”

SHAWN PORTER

“This is a huge fight. It’s the biggest fight of my career and my life. I’ve been doing this since I was eight and I can’t think of an opportunity that I’ve wanted more in my life. This is my Super Bowl.

“I’m not looking for any surprises on Saturday. I’m very familiar with his game plan and what he does well. I expect to use my speed, box from the outside, be aggressive and win the fight.

“I think that my ability to mix it up is going to create a problem for him. The variance in my styles and punches is going to be too much for him. I’m going to keep him on his toes, keep him guessing and keep him off balance. That’s the key to winning Saturday.

“The Kell Brook fight is only on my mind because I know that’s a fight someone will watch to try to figure out how to stop me. He’s going to try and hold like in that fight and do it even more than Brook did. Other than that, he has no chance of catching me coming in.

“It’s going to be everything I do that will help me get this win. It’s the work rate, power and a different level of speed than he’s used to. Nobody has my combination of that power and speed.

“I just don’t think Danny can handle me. He says I’m tailor-made for him, but we’ll see on Saturday night.

“Brooklyn is like a second home for me. I’m very comfortable here and I’m excited to perform in front of these great fans yet again.”

YORDENIS UGAS

“I’m very proud and happy to be a top contender at welterweight. I’m ready to fight any champion who is willing to get in the ring with me. I’ll be ready for each of them and we know it’s just a matter of time.

“I want all of the big fights. I want to build my legacy and I’m prepared to go through any of them. I think I could give Errol Spence Jr., Danny Garcia or Shawn Porter a great fight and beat any of them if they step up to the plate.

“I know that I have a tough opponent in front of me. I take him very seriously, but I also know that I have the skills to beat him and make it an exciting fight.

“I want to dominate and make a statement. Barrionuevo is just standing in my way. I know my destiny is to become welterweight champion of the world.”

CESAR BARRIONUEVO

“My goal is to bring my best possible fight and get the victory on Saturday. From there I’m going right for the WBC title.

“Ugas is a strong fighter who has worked his way to the top of the division. I know that this will be a great fight for both of us. May the best man win.

“I have to leave a good impression in this fight so that I can continue to get big fights here in the U.S. I’m going to show everyone what kind of fighter I am.

“I’m very happy to be in this position, but now it is my job to prove to everyone that I deserve to be right here. We’ve watched some of Ugas, but the most important thing is that I am at my absolute best.”

ADAM KOWNACKI

“I’ve had fantastic sparring and feel great. I’ve trained so hard for this fight. I feel like I’ve taken my game to the next level.

“I love fighting at Barclays Center. It’s a great atmosphere. This is a chance to be my breakout fight on Saturday night. I can’t wait to get in the ring.

“I’ve grown a lot as a fighter. I’ve gotten better as my competition has gotten better. It’s a steady rise and I’m happy with where I’m at.

“Martin used to be a world champion and that’s what I eventually want to be. I’m 100 percent focused on him. I have to focus on doing everything to win this fight.

“My trainer Keith Trimble is one of the most underrated trainers in the sport. He’s done a fantastic job teaching me fundamentals. It’s been a tough road for us but this fight is going to bring us a step closer to our goal.

“Martin is a big strong fighter who’s a very good counter puncher. He kind of mixes different styles, but I’ll be prepared for everything he can bring to the ring.”

CHARLES MARTIN

“I’m here to work towards getting my belts back. I’m going to keep working and grind until I’m holding the gold.

“I have the advantage everywhere over Kownacki. I’m just a better fighter but I’m also bigger and stronger.

“We’re just getting everything perfect right now. My team has done a great job getting me here and I feel great. Everything is leading up to fight night in Brooklyn.

“I feel strong and ready. I’m older and wiser now and I’m really taking into consideration what it takes to be a champion. I got a taste of it but next time I’m coming to stay.

“Kownacki is a good fighter. He’s very tough. There are some things we’ve worked on in the gym and we feel prepared for whatever he brings on Saturday.

“When I’m at my best, nobody can beat me. There’s no one in the world who can beat the best version of Charles Martin. I’m the only one that can beat me.”

AMANDA SERRANO

“I’m excited and honored to have a chance to join Oscar De La Hoya and Manny Pacquiao as six-division world champions. I’m going to go out and perform and give the fans some excitement.

“It’s one step at a time for female boxing but this is a very important fight. Things are on the rise but there is still a lot of room to rise up. This fight is another way to show people how many talented female fighters there are out there.

“Moving up in weight has been great. I’ve been able to eat and I feel stronger than ever. I think it’s going to lead to one of my best performances.

“Fighting in Brooklyn is always a great thrill. Barclays Center is right around the corner from house and it’s great to have a lot of supporters out there cheering me on. I love Brooklyn and I’m going to give them another night to remember.

“I want to fight all of the champions out there and continue to do great things in this sport. The sky is the limit and I’m going to keep pushing it.”

YAMILLA REYNOSO

“I’m very proud to be in this position. I feel relaxed because I know my team has worked hard to get me to this big fight in the U.S.

“I can box or brawl. I like to keep my options open and see what the fight calls for. I’m here to put on a good show.

“I have studied Amanda Serrano and I feel like I know her well. She’s a great world champion with a lot of experience, but I’m ready for anything she brings.”

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For more information visit www.SHO.com/Sports, www.PremierBoxingChampions.com, follow on Twitter @ShowtimeBoxing, @PremierBoxing, @DannySwift, @ShowtimeShawnP, @LouDiBella, @TGBPromotions, or become a fan on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/SHOBoxing and www.Facebook.com/DiBellaEntertainment. PBC is sponsored by Corona, La Cerveza Mas Fina.




Hrgovi? and Mansour come face-to-face ahead of WBC International title showdown


Filip Hrgovi? (5-0, 4 KOs) and Amir Mansour (23-2-1, 16 KOs) came face-to-face for the first time at a press conference today at the Esplanade Zagreb Hotel ahead of their WBC International Heavyweight title contest on Saturday at the Arena Zagreb in Croatia.

Hrgovi?, the Rio 2016 Olympic Bronze Medallist, will be boxing in his home country for the first time as a professional as he looks to claim his first major title against the vastly experienced former WBC United States Champion Mansour, who appeared unfazed at the prospect of facing the undefeated 26 year-old on his home turf.

“It’s nothing new for me,” said Mansour. “I’m used to fighting in my opponent’s backyards in different countries, cities and states. This is boxing. When the bell rings, it doesn’t matter how much support you have, it’s just the two of us in the ring, and no one can help you.

“I admire Hrgovi? for agreeing to face me so early in his career. As a boxing fan, I respect him. Whenever you see a guy representing his country and doing well at the Olympics, you’ve got to give him respect. In terms of getting in the ring and fighting, it will be an honour to fight a strong, young contender like him.

“The difference is I’ve been here before. This is his first time. He’s not fought at this level, and he’s going to have to have the fight of his life to beat me. He’s going to need to bring out the warrior in him for the first time, and we’ll see how he does.”

Hrgovi? described Saturday’s event as ‘a dream come true’ as he looks to continue his World title quest with an impressive victory over Mansour. Bolstered by a newly formed partnership with renowned Cuban coach Pedro Diaz, the Croatian amateur sensation intends to prove his professional pedigree at the Arena Zagreb.

“It will be a dream come true to fight in front of my home fans at the Arena Zagreb,” said Hrgovi?. “I have to thank my promoter and my team who have worked hard to give me this opportunity, and also my new coach Pedro Diaz for helping to prepare me for this challenge. I think I have improved a lot since training with Pedro.

“I don’t agree that this is something new for me. I’ve had over 100 fights as an amateur and have been in the sport for 12 years. I fought all the best fighters as an amateur and I can say I am not afraid to face anybody. I will show on Saturday that this is not new for me. I respect Mansour and I think he will be a good test for me. He’s a great fighter, he is brave, but this is nothing new for me.”

The WBC International Heavyweight Championship contest between Filip Hrgovi? and Amir Mansour tops the bill at the Arena Zagreb on Saturday. All the action will be broadcast live on RTL in Croatia. Limited tickets are still available via www.eventim.hr.




Welterweight Legends, Champions & Contenders Predict Danny Garcia vs. Shawn Porter Welterweight World Title Showdown

BROOKLYN (September 5, 2018) – Top welterweight stars of the past, present and future have weighed in with their thoughts on the highly anticipated matchup that pits former welterweight champions Danny Garcia and Shawn Porter against each other for the vacant WBC Welterweight World Title Saturday, September 8 in the main event live on SHOWTIME from Barclays Center, the home of BROOKLYN BOXING™.

The SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING telecast begins at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT and features a welterweight title eliminator between Cuba’s Yordenis Ugas and Argentina’s Cesar Barrionuevo and heavyweight action that pits unbeaten Polish slugger Adam Kownacki against former heavyweight champion Charles Martin.

Tickets for the live event, which is promoted by TGB Promotions and DiBella Entertainment, in association with DSG Promotions, start at $50 and are on sale now. Tickets can be purchased at ticketmaster.com, barclayscenter.com, or by calling 800-745-3000. Tickets can also be purchased at the American Express Box Office at Barclays Center. Group discounts are available by calling 844-BKLYN-GP.

Here is what a group of current and former welterweight fighters had to say about the Garcia vs. Porter world title showdown:

SUGAR RAY LEONARD, Hall of Famer & Former Unified Welterweight World Champion

“I feel the Danny Garcia vs. Shawn Porter fight has the makings of an exciting fight from what I’ve seen of both of these talented fighters. So here is my prediction based on what I feel both fighters bring into the ring

Garcia will win if he uses his jab to keep Porter at bay and off balance, but Porter gains a victory if he connects and hurts Garcia early and makes him abandon his boxing ability and fight like a slugger — as I did with my first fight vs Roberto Duran.

This is how I see this matchup which should be an exciting fight!”

ERROL SPENCE JR., Unbeaten IBF Welterweight World Champion

“I definitely want to fight the winner of Danny Garcia vs. Shawn Porter. That’s a close fight. I always picked against Danny Garcia in the past, and he always proved me wrong. Shawn Porter’s always a tough fight, because he’s going to come forward and give it his all. He’s basically trying to mug you. But for this fight, it’s hard to go against Danny Garcia. I pick Danny Garcia to win a split decision.”

KEITH THURMAN, WBA Welterweight World Champion; Former Unified Champion

“I honestly love this fight, and I consider it a tremendous battle and one of the best matchups of the year. For me, having fought both of them, I do believe that each is capable of hurting the other and getting one another out of there.

“I know most fans are going to lean toward Danny Garcia with his knockout power and the potential for that. Then there is Shawn, who’s got a decent punch, even though he focuses on his output more than his one-punch solid blow and has it in his arsenal to hurt Danny Garcia.

“I wouldn’t bet on Shawn getting the knockout, but I would on Shawn getting the victory, simply because of his output. I think Danny’s only chance of winning is by knockout, but even as a gambling man, I can’t put my money on Danny getting it. I’m taking Shawn Porter by decision.”

MANNY PACQUIAO, Multiple-Time Welterweight World Champion

“I’m going to give the edge to Danny Garcia. They’re both gritty fighters, but I think Garcia is a little more technical with a little more ring generalship. It should be a great fight, and there’s a possibility of me fighting the winner, but we’ll have to see what happens.”

MIKEY GARCIA, Four-Division World Champion

“I think this is a very good matchup. Shawn Porter is the kind of athlete who is always bringing the fight to you with pressure and volume punching. They both come to fight and they can both take it and dish it out.

“Danny Garcia can use his skills to box on the outside and work from a distance. I think Danny will be able to box a little more and win more of the tight rounds in a very close fight. I’m not sure if it will be a split-decision or a unanimous decision. I believe that Danny will use more of those tactics to win an exciting decision.”

YORDENIS UGAS, Top Welterweight Contender

“I have much respect for Shawn Porter, and I think it will be a great fight. ,
Danny Garcia has more technique and he’s also faced and beaten better opponents than Porter. I am leaning toward Danny Garcia to pull off the victory.”

ROBERT GUERRERO, Former Multiple Division World Champion

“This will be a very entertaining fight for the fans. I can see Danny putting up a good fight, but Porter is going to make the fight rough, and Garcia doesn’t like those type of fights. I’m going with Porter to win by split decision.”

VICTOR ORTIZ, Former Welterweight World Champion

“I think it’s going to be a fast-paced fight. Shawn will be pushing forward, making it rough on Danny, and Danny will be trying to control the distance. I’m going with Danny, giving him the slight edge and saying he wins by a decision.”

JAMAL JAMES, Welterweight Contender

“It’s a good one. Shawn is busier than Danny, more active and carries a lot of momentum when he fights. But that’s not always a good thing because Garcia has power with his timing, he might be able to catch Porter coming in. I’m thinking that Shawn Porter pulls it off. ”

BRANDON RIOS, Former World Champion & Welterweight Title Challenger

“That’s a really tough fight to predict. If Danny can counter really well and keep Shawn Porter off of him while Porter’s coming in, then I see Danny stopping him.

But if Shawn Porter is able to pressure Danny like he usually does, I don’t see Shawn Porter stopping Danny, or anything, but I see him winning by split-decision if he can be in his chest all night long. But if Porter gets nailed with one of those left hooks or a straight right hand, I say Porter goes down. I’m going to go with Danny because he knocked me out.”

BRYANT PERRELLA, Welterweight Prospect

“It could come down to how well Shawn Porter can take Danny Garcia’s punches in a fight that’s really hard to predict, and how well Danny can move, given that he’s not known for having fast feet similar to a guy like Keith Thurman.

But if Shawn can get close and smother Danny’s punches, he will make it a difficult fight. But Danny’s got really heavy hands and sits on his shots well, timing and counter-punching guys, so Porter could play into his hands.

Based off of clean, effective hard shots and giving him the edge in the close, competitive rounds, I’m leaning toward Danny Garcia. Shawn is tough as nails, so I see it going the distance, but just the slight edge to Danny.”

SAMMY VASQUEZ JR., Welterweight Contender

“I’m going with Shawn Porter. Not by stoppage, but Shawn creates too much pressure and Danny Garcia doesn’t throw enough punches and doesn’t deal with pressure. You saw that when he fought Guerrero, who wasn’t looking too bad in that fight.

“Danny can win by knockout if he catches Shawn with that hook, but Shawn’s a workhorse and he puts forth far more pressure than I think Danny’s ever seen in a fight. Shawn may not be susceptible to it if he doesn’t have the proper head movement, but I believe that he will.”

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For more information visit www.SHO.com/Sports,www.PremierBoxingChampions.com, follow on Twitter @ShowtimeBoxing, @PremierBoxing, @DannySwift, @ShowtimeShawnP, @LouDiBella, @TGBPromotions, or become a fan on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/SHOBoxing and www.Facebook.com/DiBellaEntertainment. PBC is sponsored by Corona, La Cerveza Mas Fina.




Gennady “GGG” Golovkin Abel Sanchez and Tom Loeffler Media Conference Call Transcript Tuesday, September 4, 2018


The MODERATOR: This is Fred Sternburg, and on behalf of GGG Promotions, Golden Boy Promotions and all of our wonderful sponsors, welcome to Gennady ‘GGG’ Golovkin’s media conference call.

We are 11 days away from the Big Drama Show: The rematch everyone has been looking forward to. Gennady is in his last week of training camp at The Summit in Big Bear Lake, California, where he’s been working hard in preparation for his 21st and division record-breaking title defense.

Joining Gennady on the call today will be his trainer, Abel Sanchez and his promoter, Tom Loeffler.

One note before we start, we’d like to invite you to participate in tomorrow’s Pay-Per-View Undercard conference call featuring Jaime Munguia, Brandon, “Bad Boy” Cook, Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez and Moises “Moi” Fuentes. That call will begin at 1:00 p.m. Eastern, 10:00 a.m. Pacific, so you don’t want to miss that.

At this time, it’s my pleasure to introduce you to Tom Loeffler.

TOM LOEFFLER: Thank you, Fred. You know, we are just excited. The fight’s almost here. It’s the last week of training camp. Abel is up there in Big Bear Lake with GGG. They are finishing up their sparring this week.

We do have the Superfly 3 show this Saturday. It will be televised live HBO. Following the fights HBO will air a special edition of The Fight Game with Jim Lampley which will be all about the GGG – Canelo rematch, so everyone tune into HBO on September 8.

There’s been a lot of things said over the weekend which we can address that on this call, whether it’s the anthems or the gloves, we can touch on that briefly.

The GGG team had nothing to do with approving or disapproving Canelo’s gloves. That came directly from the Nevada Athletic State Athletic Commission.

And also, with the anthems; it was an agreement we had reached as part of the deal; that the anthems be played before the HBO Pay-Per-View telecast.

So there wasn’t any controversy, but controversy sells and we’d just like to address the issues as they come so with that, we can turn it over to start taking some questions.

Q. You must be anxious. How has camp been going and are you looking forward to next week?

GENNADY ‘GGG’ GOLOVKIN: Thank you very much. My training camp is great. I feel very good. My body, my speed, my power, everything is coming back, I feel like I am 25 years old. I needed the time, and now this is the last week [of training] for me.

Q. Gennady, are you afraid or worried that your fan base could turn on you, given some of the remarks you’ve made about Canelo building up to this fight, or are you just speaking your truth?

GENNADY ‘GGG’ GOLOVKIN: Well, first of all, I didn’t really say anything bad. I really said only one phrase and one sentence about that, and I never said anything personal, never offended him personally, and I don’t think that my fans will turn away from me because of what I said — what I had to say.

Q. You mentioned that you feel 25 years old, but I hate to tell you, you aren’t 25 years old. Do you train differently now that you’re ten years older, than you did when you were 25? Do you adapt any different techniques? And Abel, I’d like you to chime in on that, as well.

GENNADY “GGG” GOLOVKIN: I feel great and I still train hard.

ABEL SANCHEZ: To answer that question, I do train everybody similarly. They work together in the strength and conditioning, but in the sparring, obviously we modify that as a fighter gets a little bit older, just so that we don’t leave things in the gym. But he still works as hard as he’s always worked. It’s just a matter of me making the schedule so that it’s best for him.

Q. I’ve been hearing and reading a lot of the comments from Abel, and from Canelo, where Abel has said Canelo ran in the fight and Canelo said, no, that was the game plan of how he wanted to fight.

Did you think that the way that he fought you last September constituted him running in the fight? What was your opinion of the style in which he fought against you?

GENNADY ‘GGG’ GOLOVKIN: It was his fighting style earlier, not just in the September fight. Well, he was always — you know, he always has a way of running on the ring, but it was his style.

However, what happened on our last fight, he was really avoiding fighting close to me. I think that’s exactly what happened, but what he’s trying to say right now, it just proves that he’s not keeping his word. He’s trying to deceive people again, and being dishonest. But it doesn’t matter what he said. Let him say whatever he wants.

Q. This would be a record-breaking victory for you in terms of the middleweight title defense record. Could you express your perspective on what it would mean to you if you were to achieve the record of the most middleweight defenses in the history of boxing?

GENNADY ‘GGG’ GOLOVKIN: Absolutely. It’s very important for me to beat this record. Basically, it’s like two types of victory to beat Canelo and to beat the record. For me, it’s the most important goal at this point.

Q. Tom, if you could chime in on that, as far as your perspective as far as the possibility of seeing GGG take the record that he’s now tied with with Bernard Hopkins?

TOM LOEFFLER: I think when you put it in perspective, it would be a tremendous accomplishment if GGG is able to break Bernard’s record. Most people thought, you know, that was untouchable, 20 middleweight title defenses, and you know, as long as Gennady has been champion, he’s the longest-reigning champion right now in the sport of boxing [since 2010].

And regardless of what you say about both guys, this is the biggest event in the sport of boxing. They agreed to fight each other, and to be on this big of a stage, this platform, the biggest fight of boxing, and if he’s able to beat Canelo and break the record at the same time, as he said, this would be a huge accomplishment for him, all on the same night.

Q. Wondering if there’s any frustration or regret that this fight didn’t happen five years ago or six years ago when both fighters were a little bit younger. Can this still be the mega fight that everyone wants to see?

GENNADY ‘GGG’ GOLOVKIN: Quite possible. Quite possible. But not even five years ago, even two years ago, we couldn’t get them to fight us. They were avoiding the fight every way possible. If you remember, they even gave up one of the belts, the WBC belt, they gave it up, to avoid us.

ABEL SANCHEZ: As far as I’m concerned, no, there’s no regrets. I think that Canelo has grown in the last four or five years, a couple years ago when they gave up the belt, they knew they weren’t ready for this level of fight it’s happening now, and we look forward to this being one of the most memorable fights of the decade.

Q. Abel in your experience, in what age do a fighter’s skills typically decline? Are you still seeing growth and improve out of him?

ABEL SANCHEZ: I’m seeing slight growth, but I think it depends on the weight and the type of fights. You have a guy like Fernando Vargas, who was put in a lot of difficult fights early in his career, and by the time he was 26, he was finished.

And then you have guys like Bernard Hopkins fighting into his 40s and early 50s, so it depends on the kind of fight and how the fighter takes care of himself. Gennady, I haven’t seen anybody dominate him in the ring, not only in sparring but in the fights, and until then, then I can say I would judge a little age. But until that happens, it’s difficult to say he’s getting old.

Q. Where are you with the hand-stacking and the wrapping controversy, and where you guys might be with the Commission and Canelo’s side on that.

TOM LOEFFLER: We want to clarify everything ahead of time with the Nevada Commission so there are no fight week confrontations, especially no fight night confrontations, like we had last time.

We’ll say that the reason why Abel was so surprised by the wraps last time was that every other jurisdiction that GGG has fought in didn’t allow the stacking or the different layers of wrapping, and so that’s why Abel filed a protest, and it wasn’t received very well.

The inspector actually threatened to remove Abel from Canelo’s locker room because of that protest. But in the U.K., Canada and California, you know, all these different jurisdictions, and New York, where GGG’s fought, you know, they wouldn’t allow that.

So this time, we want to avoid any type of confrontations and want to get everything worked out between the GGG side, between the Canelo side and Golden Boy and Nevada Athletic Commission. Everything was amicable with the officials and we want to continue, whether it’s addressing the hand-wrapping, the gloves, any other pertinent information, weigh-in, anything like that. We just want the focus of this promotion to be on the fighters in the ring, not on any controversies outside the ring.

Q. Abel, you’re not going to change the way you wrap Gennady’s hand no matter what they say; right?

ABEL SANCHEZ: No, I don’t believe two wrongs make a right. If I take Gennady or any of my fighters to any jurisdiction where they don’t allow it, I don’t want them to have any kind of thoughts that they don’t have a cast on their hands in this particular jurisdiction, like they had in Nevada and they don’t feel as comfortable. So I want to keep it as much the same for every fight as possible.

Q. Does Gennady have an opinion or does it matter?

GENNADY ‘GGG’ GOLOVKIN: Well, as far as I’m concerned, I haven’t seen how his hands were wrapped. I was fighting him not knowing how he was wrapped. It’s not up to me. It’s not up to me to make a judgment on that.

Q. In the most recent 24/7, Chepo Reynoso said that Gennady is like a donkey, and he does the same thing over and over again. Abel, what is your response to that?

ABEL SANCHEZ: Chepo Reynoso has never had an Olympian. Chepo Reynoso has never had a Silver Medalist. Chepo Reynoso has never had 18 world champions like I have had. Chepo Reynoso talks from Canelo. So when he gets to that level, maybe he can speak in an intelligent manner. But if you look at Gennady’s record, he’s beaten a lot of the champions during his reign; a lot of champions that are champions now he beat in the amateurs. So to hear somebody talk like that is ridiculous.

Q. Gennady, what did you think of that?

GENNADY ‘GGG’ GOLOVKIN: What I want to say is I don’t want to go so low at the level of statements like that. It just shows a lack of class. It shows low class. It just shows a lack of upbringing, lack of intelligence. It just shows, again, how they behave themselves. I’m never able to say anything so low about anybody. So I just don’t want to comment about this anymore.

Q. Canelo has promised he’ll be more aggressive in this fight and fight Gennady more. Do you feel that because he said it — do you believe the emotion going into this fight, that he’ll fight more?

GENNADY ‘GGG’ GOLOVKIN: Well, it doesn’t matter what they say. We’ll see what happens on September 15 because very often what they say doesn’t correspond to what they do. So let’s wait until September 15.

Q. Abel, can you comment, as well?

ABEL SANCHEZ: We’re preparing for September 15. How he talked the first time, how he boasted, how Bernard boasted about being so great that he’s going to knock out Golovkin in the tenth round of the last fight and now what he’s saying about this fight.

I just hope that he’s true to his words. The fans are expecting the Canelo that they have seen in the past, not the Canelo they saw last year. I think that if he’s true to his word, that we’ll get the classic fight we were expecting the first time, two guys that want to win, not one guy that wants to win and the other guy that is looking to survive.

Q. Can you talk about what makes Abel a good trainer?

GENNADY ‘GGG’ GOLOVKIN: You should ask the commission which recognizes him as the best coach in the world.

Q. Compared to the fighter that you were before you started working with Abel, how have you evolved as a fighter in the years that you have spent working with him?

GENNADY ‘GGG’ GOLOVKIN: I haven’t really changed. Most importantly, I haven’t become worse. I haven’t changed for the worse.

I am is really thankful that Abel is not bringing in any illegal and banned substances into my fighting career and hasn’t taught me something which was not — which was not allowed in boxing, so I’m really thankful for him of being such a great coach.

Q. The judging, such as it was, all three judges had Canelo winning the first two rounds, and the last three, I believe, but what do you plan to do to change that in this fight?

GENNADY ‘GGG’ GOLOVKIN: Well, we will continue to implement our winning strategy in this fight, as well. As far as judges, we can’t influence the judges. We can only hope that the judges will be more fair, more adequate and more competent than the last time.

Q. Would you like to see a faster start, so to speak?

ABEL SANCHEZ: You know, Gennady is a fighter that is undefeated right now and he’s got a stain [the draw against Canelo] on his record because of some bad judging, but he has a style that he has been very successful with.

That fight is a 12-round fight, not a two-round fight or a four-round fight. So what we do at the beginning of the fight will be dictated by what Gennady sees.

It’s not a matter of being able to predict what can happen; if Canelo starts of like he did in the middle of last fight, the same way in this fight, it will be difficult to chase him down and make an impact on the judges.

But like Gennady said, hopefully the judges will be as fair as possible. I think we have a great panel of judges this time. And the fight will develop. It’s a 12-round fight, not a four-round fight.

Q. The magnitude and the kind of eyeballs that are going to be on it, how much is this a showcase of what’s going on in the sport, other than what’s happening in the heavyweight division.

TOM LOEFFLER: Both GGG and Canelo, they have tremendous fan bases. This event, just like last September, when they get together, it really transcends boxing and a World Championship fight.

It really becomes an international sporting event, almost like a World Cup soccer match where you have flags and you have the fans chanting, just a similar emotion and energy in the arena, and we expect it to be at an even higher level now, with all the controversy that happened in the scoring in the first fight, and, you know, the delay, the cancellation of the Cinco de Mayo fight, I think it’s going to hit an even higher pitch with the rematch September 15.

So again, whatever controversy there is between the two sides, you have to give them credit that they are getting into the ring. A lot of people talk about fighting each other. This is the second time that GGG and Canelo fought each other in 12 months and that’s what makes it the biggest fight in the sport of boxing this year, because their fan bases, the international level, we have GGG fans coming in from all over the world for this fight.

And I think we’re going to break the level that was set last year for ticket sales, and the Pay-Per-View is also on track to be significantly higher than last year. So I think we’ll see an even bigger event this time in September.

Q. Abel, what’s it been like for you to see the growth in Gennady’s popularity from what it was five years ago or whatever, just to see how many fans he’s made throughout the world?

ABEL SANCHEZ: Well, from the beginning, when I first started working with him eight years ago, I sensed that there was something special about this young man, and he’s proven me right, at least to me, anyway.

It’s like one of my children doing well. All my fighters in my gym are like a family to all of us, to each other, so to see one of our kids succeed in the manner that he’s succeeding, and to have had the adulation of the fans, worldwide, and especially the Latin fans for his Mexican Style of fighting and his style of entertaining. It’s an honor to be included in the same ring and in the same sentence with Gennady Golovkin.

Q. The fan bases of the respective fighters, based on my research, I know for a fact that Canelo has lost a few fans from the first fight. From the way he ran around to the dirty tests to his reaction to the dirty tests. I’m wondering, in your opinion, more than ever, is Canelo’s reputation on the line in this second fight? In other words, if he goes in there and runs around and doesn’t fight Gennady more, is he destined to lose even more of his fans than he already has?

ABEL SANCHEZ: Well, I think he has a chance to redeem himself in the eyes of a lot of fans. Just because he’s losing fans, Gennady’s gaining them and other fighters are gaining them. but as long as fans continue to watch our sport and continue to support us, Gennady will do his part, Canelo will do his part what he needs to do, and if maybe in the future, Canelo will be an afterthought if he doesn’t redeem himself in the way that the fans want him to redeem himself.

He’s got a duty in this fight, not only to himself but to his people, to prove what he was telling all of us was true, and if he does, I think that he’ll be celebrated. Win, lose or draw, he’ll be celebrated because of his approach to this fight.

Q. The result for September 15, do you see any chance to fight the match with

Canelo Alvarez, because the opinion that you have right now from Canelo — guarantee a match with him —

GENNADY ‘GGG’ GOLOVKIN: Well, what I’ve always really wanted to do, I want to punish him. I want to have a fight and punish him for all the bad things that he and his team have done, so basically to put them — to size him down and to put him and his team in their place.

Q. How important is this fight for the sport of boxing, and how important is it for Kazakhstan?

GENNADY ‘GGG’ GOLOVKIN: It is very, very important for Kazakhstan and for Kazakhstan fans, because we are champions right now. We are on the right side. We are not dirty and we will defend our honor and defend our title.

Q. Just wondering, have you ever faced or fought anybody that you have disliked so much as you seem to dislike Canelo, and if so, how does that change your training in terms of controlling your anger at him?

GENNADY ‘GGG’ GOLOVKIN: First of all, I have to say, that I always do my 100 percent, and very seriously approach any training processes, always do my best.

As far as Canelo’s team, you can see they continue to speak this nonsense and discredit themselves. So I have nothing to say about that anymore.

Q. Does it affect his training, the anger at all? Can you answer that, Abel? Do you notice a difference in his training because he’s angry at Canelo? He just said he wanted to punish him.

ABEL SANCHEZ: No, he’s not angry. He’s not angry. He’s got a purpose in the gym and he’s got a purpose for what he wants to do inside the ring.

Canelo has done some things that Gennady feels he needs to pay for and he’ll do that in the ring. In the gym, it’s just another day of training . He’s the same guy that he was before. He trains hard. Just his mentality to this fight seems to be very, very focused on trying to punish Canelo — as he was when he fought Curtis Stevens —

Q. This one just seems to have been going on and on and on, so it’s —

ABEL SANCHEZ: The reason it’s going on is because they keep accusing us of insulting them, and all we’re doing is telling the truth. All we’re doing is telling you what is happening as we see it, as it’s being reported, so he’s the one that tested positive, he’s the one that the consequences for what happened on May the 5th and who we had to fight and what was done, he’s the one that created that. It wasn’t us. And to continue to sweep it under the rug and to continue to not acknowledge the fact that you have screwed up is why this keeps going.

Q. Obviously Bernard Hopkins’ name has been mentioned because Gennady is going to try to break the record, but Bernard Hopkins played a lot of mind games with his opponent — made them fight a little crazy and maybe not to their benefit, most notably in the fight on September 29, 2001 against Felix Trinidad — could a little bit of it be something to get into their heads and maybe make them a little bit crazy, too, and so Canelo — the kind of fight that you guys want him to fight?

GENNADY ‘GGG’ GOLOVKIN: Really I don’t think right now about Bernard Hopkins. I’m thinking about my fight with Canelo, and as far as all the other association, we can talk about this after September 15.

Q. Abel, same thing. Could some of this be a strategy maybe to make the other side a little bit crazy? Apparently it’s a two-way thing, going back and forth.

ABEL SANCHEZ: You know, in this gym, and amongst us here, I think I can include Tom in this, we have a lot of respect for Bernard Hopkins, and we have a lot of respect for what he’s done and what he’s done in boxing and we have a lot of respect for breaking the record. But to break the record and use a page out of his own book would be something even better.

If it’s getting to Canelo, then I guess we’ve accomplished what everybody thinks we’re trying to do. We were not trying to do that. We were just talking about the facts.

Q. You know what’s on the line in terms of the title defense record, but what does this mean to you on a personal level, considering everything that has gone on with Canelo in the last year? What does this fight mean to you just on that personal level?

GENNADY ‘GGG’ GOLOVKIN: For me personally, although this fight happened at a later stage of my career, this is a most interesting fight. This is a most interesting fight because we have an interesting opponent because we have an interesting situation, and it’s a most important fight in my life right now, and also it’s the most important fight for boxing sport right now.

Q. Considering all the harsh words that have been said up in the lead up, when it’s all said and done, however the fight goes, if one of you guys win by knockout, will you go over there and will you shake his hand?

GENNADY ‘GGG’ GOLOVKIN: Well, nobody knows how it’s going to end, what’s going to be the result. But nobody is going to congratulate anybody, that’s for sure.

Q. Do you feel this fight is for your legacy? The title defense record, it’s an amazing achievement, but do you feel that — take that aside. Do you feel come September 15, you’re going to be fighting — you’re going to be fighting for your legacy?

GENNADY ‘GGG’ GOLOVKIN: Of course, everybody understands that. Everybody who is honest understands that’s a part of the legacy — of my legacy in boxing. Those honest people recognize it. Those who are dishonest, they try to forget about this.

Q. Abel, what improvements have you seen from Gennady leading into the fight last year and heading into the rematch next weekend?

ABEL SANCHEZ: Well, I think at this level, maturity and amount of fights; the improvements are minimal. The improvements are a lot of times more mental than they are physical, but how you approach a fight mentally, it’s just as important as the little improvements that we had.

I had a fighter back about 25 years ago, Orlin Norris fought Arthur Williams, first time he looked lackluster; and in the second bout, he knocked his opponent out in the fourth round, and the way he went into the second fight was much much better than the first one mentally.

I think when you get to this level and when you get to this stage in their careers, it’s hoping that everything goes right in the gym, hoping that there’s no controversy and hoping that everything is 100 percent in the training camp, and you go into a fight with a different mode. He goes into a fight that, as he said, he wants to punish Canelo and he has a thought in his mind what he want to do to him. We train hard and we prepare just like we did for the first one, but the mental aspect of it is the most important at this stage in my opinion.

Q. Tom, the first fight sold out rather quickly, and I was looking at the press release you sent out this morning and there’s tickets still on sale. Why do you feel the rematch hasn’t sold out yet, compared to how quickly it sold out the first time around?

TOM LOEFFLER: I think some of it had to do with a lot of fans being disappointed with the Cinco de Mayo fight being canceled. A lot of fans made flight reservations, hotel reservations, and then they were bitterly disappointed.

Naturally that wasn’t because it was Gennady’s fault, but you know, when you go through that expense, I think a lot are waiting until the final couple weeks to actually make the reservations.

As I mentioned before, this fight has a big international fan base coming in. Ultimately, we’re still on track to exceed the revenue that we did in the last fight.

You know, going back to that previous question that Abel had answered as far as Gennady’s legacy, you know, this is a huge fight for Gennady, the biggest fight in boxing this year, but there’s a lot of names in the past that we would have liked to have gotten in the ring who just simply, for whatever reason, chose not to fight Gennady, whether it was Felix Sturm, whether it was Sergio Martinez, whether it was Peter Quillin at the time; it was just the six-year anniversary of GGG’s HBO debut, September 1, 2012.

There was an article on ESPN that listed all these middleweight names, and it had Gennady having this big impact on HBO. Just look at his ratings on HBO. That’s where we’re at right now. He’s kind of have that blue-collar career: He’s willing to fight everywhere, New York, L.A., London, Monte Carlo, Panama, Kazakhstan and Ukraine, and now, he’s at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas against Canelo Alvarez in the biggest fight in boxing.

This is definitely a legacy fight for him, and you know, I think we’ll see the best fighting the best, and that’s really what the sport is all about, and that’s what Gennady’s always wanted. He’s wanted that challenge to fight the best in the division.

Q. Around how many tickets have been sold thus far?

TOM LOEFFLER: You know, I was going to go over that with Golden Boy today, to go over what is remaining. We’re just about ten days out from the fight, but there really aren’t that many that are remaining.

So between the commitments of sponsors and pre-ordered tickets, there are still some tickets available, but you know, after today, we’ll have a better answer for that, and especially going into fight week.

THE MODERATOR: With that, we’ll wrap up the call. Gennady has to get ready for his afternoon session. Thank you for joining us today.

Tom, any last comments?

TOM LOEFFLER: I think we’ve covered everything on this call. We’re all excited about the last week of training camp. GGG arrives into Las Vegas on Monday. We have the grand arrival on Tuesday at MGM Grand. We have the Superfly 3 show this Saturday at the Forum and Jim Lampley’s Fight Game special on HBO talking about GGG fighting Canelo. We’re all looking forward to September 15.

THE MODERATOR: Abel, any last comments from you?

ABEL SANCHEZ: Thank you for everybody’s participation. Thank you for the support. We’re looking forward to a great fight. We’ll see you guys on fight week, and make sure that we put on a great fight.

THE MODERATOR: Gennady, I know you’re getting ready for the Big Drama Show. Any last comments?

GENNADY ‘GGG’ GOLOVKIN: I just want to say thank you very much for everybody. I will see you September 15 in Las Vegas.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you for joining us. We’ll see you next week in Las Vegas.

*************************

“24/7 Canelo/GGG 2” is streaming on HBO GO and HBO NOW.

Canelo’s fifth “24/7” appearance and Golovkin’s third, “24/7 CANELO/GGG 2”

is the latest installment of the acclaimed franchise that began in 2007.

Canelo vs. GGG 2 is a 12-round fight for the middleweight championship of the world presented by Golden Boy Promotions and GGG Promotions. The event is sponsored by Tecate, “THE OFFICIAL BEER OF BOXING,” Hennessy, “Never Stop, Never Settle,” Fred Loya Insurance, Interjet, Venom, and Fathom Events. The event will take place Saturday, Sept. 15 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas and will be produced and distributed live by HBO Pay-Per-View® beginning at 8:00 p.m. ET / 5 :00 p.m. PT.

Remaining tickets for Canelo vs. GGG 2 are priced at $5,000, $2,500, $2,000, $1,500, $800, $700, $500 and $300, not including applicable service charges and taxes. There will be a limit of eight (8) per person at the $5,000, $2,500, $2,000, $1,500, $800 and $700 price levels with a limit of two (2) per person at the $500 and $300 price levels. To charge by phone with a major credit card, call 888-9-AXS-TIX (888-929-7849). Tickets also will be available for purchase at www.t-mobilearena.com or www.axs.com.

For more information, visit www.goldenboypromotions.com, ;;;

www.caneloggg.com ;;;and www.hbo.com/boxing; ;;;follow on Twitter @GoldenBoyBoxing, @Canelo, @gggboxing, @OscarDeLaHoya, @hboboxing and @TomLoeffler1; become a fan on Facebook at www.facebook.com/GoldenBoyBoxing,

www.facebook.com/gggboxing, and www.facebook.com/HBOBoxing; follow on Instagram @GoldenBoyBoxing, @Canelo, @gggboxing, @HBOboxing and @OscarDeLaHoya; and follow the conversation using #CaneloGGG2.

Photos and videos are available for download by clicking here or copying

and pasting the link http://bit.ly/CaneloGGG2 into a browser. Credit must be provided to Golden Boy Promotions for any photo and/or video usage.




FOX SPORTS AND PREMIER BOXING CHAMPIONS SIGN LANDMARK MEDIA RIGHTS DEAL

LOS ANGELES – FOX Sports today announced it has reached a landmark four-year, multi-platform agreement with Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) making FOX Sports the preeminent broadcaster for PBC’s top-tier championship fights featuring its biggest and brightest stars. The announcement was made by Mark Silverman, President, National Networks, FOX Sports and Alan Haymon, President and CEO of Haymon Sports, creator of the PBC series.

“We’re thrilled to expand our relationship with the PBC in coming years and take the world’s best boxers to the next level by exposing them to the widest possible audiences across FOX, FS1 and FOX Deportes,” said Silverman. “While FOX Sports has been invested in boxing as a key property on both FS1 and FOX Deportes, this will be the first time in more than 30 years that boxing will be regularly featured in prime time on network television.”

“We are pleased to continue with FOX Sports to showcase our unrivaled roster of more than 160 of the best boxers in the world, including 60 current and former world champions in the weight divisions that most excite the fans,” says Tim Smith, Vice President of Communications for Haymon Sports. “The PBC on FOX will bring the fans the best boxing and bring our boxers and the sponsors the biggest audience as we continue to pursue the goal of returning this great sport to mainstream prominence.”

With the four-year deal, the FOX broadcast network will feature 10 marquee fight nights in prime time each year, while FS1 and FOX Deportes will telecast 12 fight nights annually. The package includes FOX Sports-PBC Pay-Per-View events. The Emmy Award-winning FOX Sports production team will produce all the live events and more than 175 hours of original PBC boxing content per year across its channels.

“FOX Sports is delighted to support PBC fights with a robust boxing programming lineup across FOX, FS1 and FOX Deportes, including a variety of prefight and postfight shows,” said Bill Wanger, FOX Sports EVP, Programming, Live Operations and Research. “In addition, FOX Sports will promote PBC events across FOX’s multiple platforms, networks and powerful sports programming line-up, which includes the NFL, Major League Baseball, college football, college basketball, NASCAR, USGA, MLS and WWE SmackDown programming.”

To build anticipation for each fight, FOX Sports will surround each fight night on FOX, FS1 and FOX Deportes with top-level ancillary programming including multiple episodes of behind-the-scenes shows on FOX, fight-countdown preview shows, press conferences, fighter face-off shows, weigh-ins and prefight and postfight shows on FOX, FS1 and FOX Deportes. This programming line-up also includes two studio-based PBC-branded shows a month on FOX and FS1, with PBC boxer interviews and profiles. Fight cards will have televised preliminary fights on FOX, FS1 or FS2 and FOX Deportes.

All PBC on FOX Sports events and programming will be streamed live on the FOX Sports app, available in English or Spanish through the FOX, FS1 or FOX Deportes feeds. FOX Sports will offer a platform inside the app to allow viewers to stream the PPV events. In addition, boxing and the PBC will be prominently featured across the FOX Sports website, apps and social platforms.

FOX Sports and FOX Deportes will announce on-air personalities, as well as upcoming airdates and times soon.

FOX Sports and PBC launched the highly regarded primetime boxing series TOE-TO-TOE TUESDAYS on FS1 and FOX Deportes in the fall of 2015, featuring PBC’s brightest up-and-coming boxers. The deal was expanded to include several fight nights on the FOX broadcast network, including exciting title fights such as heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder defending his title in February of 2016, July of 2016, and again in February of 2017, plus the exciting welterweight showdown between Danny Garcia and Robert Guerrero in January of 2016.

The Premier Boxing Champions series is created for television by Haymon Sports. Please visit www.premierboxingchampions.com and follow Premier Boxing Champions on Facebook and Twitter. For more information on FOX Sports, visit FOX Sports Press Pass.

About FOX Sports
FOX Sports is the umbrella entity representing 21st Century FOX’s wide array of multi-platform US-based sports assets. Built with brands capable of reaching more than 100 million viewers in a single weekend, FOX Sports includes ownership and interests in linear television networks, digital and mobile programming, broadband platforms, multiple web sites, joint-venture businesses and several licensing partnerships. FOX Sports includes the sports television arm of the FOX Broadcasting Company; FS1, FS2; FOX Sports Regional Networks, their affiliated regional web sites and national programming; FOX Soccer Plus; FOX Deportes and FOX College Sports. In addition, FOX Sports also encompasses FOX Sports Digital, including FOXSports.com and the FOX Sports app. Also included in the Group are FOX’s interests in joint-venture businesses Big Ten Network and BTN 2Go, as well as a licensing agreement that established the FOX Sports Radio Network.

About Premier Boxing Champions
The Premier Boxing Champions series was created and is produced by Haymon Sports, LLC. It features the most accomplished and decorated array of international professional boxing talent across the most popular weight divisions.




Belfast Amateur Caoimhin Agyarko Signs for Frank Warren

Belfast amateur Caoimhin Agyarko has signed a management and promotional deal with Frank Warren Promotions as he makes the decision to turn over to the professional ranks.

His decision to enter the pro game became easier after witnessing professional boxing first hand a short while ago in his native Belfast.

“I was invited down to Windsor Park for the Frampton fight by Frank and it was just an amazing experience. I met the team, the fighters and everyone were just great to me, it made my decision to sign a very easy one.

“Since I was seven years old it’s been a dream of mine to turn professional.” said the 21-year-old, a feat he has now achieved after a long and successful campaign in the amateurs.

“I’ve had over 130 fights, 110 of them in Ireland only losing 11 times. I won 6 national titles including an Irish senior national title earlier this year. I boxed 40 times for Ireland and boxed for them in the World and European championships.

“I also boxed in the WSB [World Series Boxing] for Italia Thunder in my final amateur fight in April and had a good win there as well.”

Agyarko won his World Series Boxing bout after being drafted into the Italian team and impressed in the professional-styled contest. He managed to defeat and impressively stop his French opponent in the fourth round of their five-round fight; the only boxer to claim a stoppage victory during France Fighting Rooster’s 3-2 victory against the Italia Thunder.

Despite all his success, it was missing out at the pinnacle of the amateurs which was the catalyst to his decision to turn professional.

“My goal was to go to Rio [2016 Olympics] and The Gold Coast [2018 Commonwealth Games] but I narrowly missed out on both.

“I was going to stick around for the next Olympics because I was number one in Ireland and the qualifiers were just around the corner but personally it just felt like it was the right time to turn over to the professional ranks.” said Agyarko.

He continued: “My style of boxing is built for the pro’s and even from a very young age, turning pro is something I’ve always wanted to do.

“I’m one of those fighters which have no problem going on the back or front foot. I’m a big hitter for a middleweight and people think because of this I can’t box but I do like to use my speed and my boxing ability to beat opponents as well and can adapt to any fighter I face.”

Turning professional means Agyarko will be moving away from Belfast’s Holy Trinity boxing club and has migrated to London to join up with boxing trainers’ Al Smith and Eddie Lam at the iBox Gym.

“It’s a great gym with great fighters like Bradley Skeete, Johnny Garton, Johnny Coyle. I was over for twelve days training with them and I enjoyed my time there, so I decided this is where I want to be trained.”

You can follow Caoimhin’s story through his social media accounts:

Twitter- @caoimhinagyarko
Instagram- caoimhinagyarko




Nicola Adams to Fight for Interim WBO World Title

Nicola Adams will face former world title challenger Isabel Millan for the Interim WBO World Female Super-Flyweight title at the Morningside Leicester Arena on October 6th.

Adams (35) has recently teamed up with trainer Dominic Ingle in Sheffield and will be competing for the interim strap in just her fifth outing as a professional. Her last outing was in her native Leeds at Elland road in May where she only needed one round to defeat Argentina’s Soledad del Valle Frias.

The highly decorated amateur will have the opportunity to win her maiden title as a professional and place herself in pole position to fight for the WBO World Female Super-Flyweight title; currently being held by Germany’s Raja Amasheh (21-1-1).

Her Mexican opponent Millan (33) promises to be a worthy competitor for Adams having experienced challenging for world title honours in the past but falling short against five-weight world champion Naoko Fujioka in March 2017.

“Nicola has been asking for a fight like this and I’m delighted that we have delivered for her.” said her promotor, Frank Warren.

He continued: “Isabel Millan is a tough, Mexican fighter, has a good record and has good experience fighting at world level, this is going to be a good test for Nicola.

“The Leicester bill is absolutely stacked with good quality fights and Nicola fighting for the interim world title just adds to what is going to be a fantastic night of boxing on October 6th.”

‘The Time Is Now’ is headlined by Jack Catterall v Ohara Davies. Leicester’s own, Lyon Woodstock defends his WBO European Super-Featherweight title against Archie Sharp. Heavyweight prospect Daniel Dubois takes on former world title challenger Kevin Johnson. Olympian and double gold medallist Nicola Adams will be fighting Isabel Millan for the Interim WBO World Female Super-Flyweight Title and Leicester’s British Super-Featherweight champion Sam Bowen also feature on a major night of boxing televised live on BT Sport.

Tickets are priced at £40, £60, £100, £150, £200 and are available to purchase from Eventbrite and Ticketmaster.




Victor Ortiz vs. John Molina Jr. Los Angeles Media Luncheon Quotes


LOS ANGELES (September 4, 2018) – Former welterweight world champion Victor Ortiz and hard-hitting former title challenger John Molina Jr. spoke with media in Los Angeles Tuesday at a luncheon to discuss their upcoming showdown headlining Premier Boxing Champions on FS1 and FOX Deportes Sunday, September 30 from Citizens Business Bank Arena in Ontario, California.

Joining them at the press conference and competing in televised action on FS1 and FOX Deportes were 2016 Olympic Silver Medalist Joe Joyce and heavyweight Iago Kiladze, who meet in an eight-round showdown, plus rising unbeaten prospect Karlos Balderas, who steps into the ring for a six-round attraction.

Tickets for the event, which is promoted by TGB Promotions and Ringstar Sports, are on sale now and can be purchased at Ticketmaster.com.

Televised coverage begins at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT and also features Uubeaten featherweight contender Brandon Figueroa taking on rugged veteran Oscar Escandon and 2016 Nigerian Olympian Efe Ajagba returning to the ring in a six-round heavyweight fight.

Here is what the participants had to say Tuesday from the Palm Restaurant Downtown Los Angeles:

VICTOR ORTIZ, Former Welterweight World Champion

“John Molina Jr. is an amazing warrior just like myself. He’s got a huge heart and he’s not going to back down and neither will I. It’s going to be a great fight.

“John and I have known each other for many years. I’m not one to bad mouth anybody, but especially this guy. We’re in this to go to war on September 30. I fight violently and I can’t change that. I hope at the end of the day it gives people a fun showdown.

“I’m happy to be back in this position as the main event and for it to be in Southern California is even better. I’m humbled to have this opportunity.

“I still feel strong and powerful and I’m not going to waste this time I have to still compete at the highest level. I’m ready to go out there and put on another war for the fans.

“John Molina Jr. actually told me at the Mayweather vs. McGregor press conference that he was moving up to 147 and I better get out of the way, so it’s funny now that we’re facing-off. We have a lot of mutual respect for each other. It doesn’t change anything though, we’re going to go out there and give it our all.”

JOHN MOLINA JR., Former World Title Challenger

“I’m grateful to Victor Ortiz and his team for accepting this challenge. We have nothing but respect for each other. My only prediction is that September 30 is going to be two guys coming to win and two guys refusing to go home with a loss.

“I know that Victor is going to be up in my face and that’s exactly my style and how I like to fight. It’s got all the makings of an all-action brawl.

“In this business we have to fight people we know very well. This is how we feed our families so we take it extremely seriously. I know we’re both going to be prepared and the best man will win.

“Every time I get into the ring it’s a war. My way of boxing has always been to fight the toughest guys and Victor is certainly no slouch. He’s a tremendous fighter. He’s explosive and it’s going to make it a great fight.

“In a fight like this you’re going to have fireworks. Victor is a big, strong guy who’s coming to win. He wants to get back to the mountain top. But there’s no quit in me. That’s the intrigue for this fight. Can I out will him? We’ll find out on September 30.

“Every fight that I’ve had, has been my biggest fight. Everyone knows that I leave everything in the ring. Every fighter says that, but if you’ve ever watched my fights you know it’s the truth. It’s going be the same thing on September 30.”

JOE JOYCE, Unbeaten Heavyweight Prospect

“I have a plan, and a goal to get where I want to be to win a world title. I’ve settled into Big Bear to train and it’s like my second home. I’m looking forward to making my U.S. debut on September 30.

“I’m going to show the American fans my style and put on a really good show and a strong performance. Stay tuned and watch my progression here in the U.S., because I’m going to be heavyweight champion of the world.

“I’ve looked at Kiladze’s record and he has a good knockout percentage and he has a lot of good experience. He’s a strong guy but I’m just going to have to look a little more closely and work out his strengths and weaknesses and capitalize on that.

“I have a lot of really good sparring up in Big Bear for the next couple weeks and it’s going to get me ready for September 30. It’s a different structure and tempo in Big Bear than it was in the UK. It took a bit of time to adjust but now I feel comfortable and I feel like I fit into the group of boxers we have there. I see myself progressing and getting even stronger.”

IAGO KILADZE, Heavyweight fighting out of Los Angeles

“I have a very good and strong opponent but I am in great shape and I’ve had an incredible training camp. I’m ready to go and I know I’m going to come out with the victory.

“Los Angeles is my adopted home and I love being able to fight here with those close to me watching. It’s going to give me more motivation to win this fight and help once fight week comes.

“I don’t worry too much about what my opponent has accomplished but I am mostly preparing myself to be my best. My team will have a great plan to guide me to this win on September 30.”

KARLOS BALDERAS, Unbeaten Super Lightweight Prospect

“I’m really focused right now on finishing 2018 strong so I can pick it right back up in 2019. I’m going to continue to take my time and move forward, but I have my eye on a world title. My brother Jose Balderas will also be on the card, so we’re looking to both put on a show for everyone watching.

“I’ve been getting better at controlling my emotions in the ring. Me and my brother get mentally prepared in camp so that when we get to the fight, it’s really just another day.

“We’re just going to continue working and growing and building up our fan base step-by-step. We might start fighting on different cards down the road, but for now we enjoy fighting on the same night.

“I don’t think it will be too long until I start moving my up the cards until eventually I’m the main event. I want to close this year strong so that in 2019 I’m in a position to get even closer to a title shot.”

RICHARD SCHAEFER, Chairman & CEO of Ringstar Sports

“This fight between Victor Ortiz and John Molina Jr. is a great cherry on top to a great month for the sport of boxing. This is an all-action brawl that will be toe-to-toe. That’s what the fight fans want to see and that’s what we are going to get.

“This card is absolutely loaded. It is full of young talent and experienced fighters who are sure to put on a great night of action for the fans at Citizens Business Bank Arena.

“I know that Karlos Balderas and Joe Joyce are fired up to have this chance to perform on this platform and I believe the fans are going to be in for a real treat. For Joe it’s a debut in the U.S. that gives him a chance to make a big first impression. Both of these guys are absolutely ready to step into the spotlight.”

# # #

Fans can live stream the fights on the FOX Sports app, available in English or Spanish through the FS1 or FOX Deportes feeds. The fights are available on desktop at FOXSportsGO.com and through the app store, or connected devices including Apple TV, Android TV, Fire TV, Xbox One and Roku. In addition, all programs are also available on FOX Sports on SiriusXM channel 83 on satellite radios and on the SiriusXM app.

For more information visit www.premierboxingchampions.comhttp://www.foxsports.com/presspass/homepage and www.foxdeportes.com.
Follow on Twitter @PremierBoxing, @TGBPromotions, @Ringstar, @FS1, @FOXDeportes and @Swanson_Comm and become a fan on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/PremierBoxingChampions, and www.facebook.com/foxdeportes. Highlights available atwww.youtube.com/premierboxingchampions. PBC on FS1 & FOX Deportes is sponsored by Corona Extra, La Cerveza Mas Fina.




GH3 Promotions Fighters to stay busy in September in October


Nutley, NJ (September 4, 2018) – It will be a busy next six weeks for GH3 Promotions as it’s stable of fighters will be active all over the country.

2018 National Golden Gloves champion Roney Hines (3-0, 3 KOs) will see action on Saturday night at The Showboat Hotel in Atlantic City as he takes on Kendrick Houston (1-3, 1 KO) in a four-round bout. With a win, Hines will return to action on September 22nd in North Carolina as well as on September 28th in Temecula, California.

On that same September 28th date, Undefeated lightweight Thomas Mattice (13-0, 10 KOs) will square off with Zhora Hamazaryan in a highly anticipated rematch that will be seen live on SHOWTIME as part of a ShoBox: The New Generation tripleheader.

On September 29th in Charlotte, North Carolina, undefeated junior middleweight, Joey Alday, Jr. (8-0, 7 KOs) will be back in action in a six-round bout.

Kenneth Sims, Jr. (12-1-1, 4 KO’s) will stay busy when he sees action on October 13th in a junior welterweight bout in Gary , Indiana




John Bauza Returns to the Ring with Six-Round Showdown


(September 4, 2018) – Roc Nation Sports today announced that junior welterweight boxer John “El Terrible” Bauza (10-0, 5 KOs) will return to the ring on Saturday, September 8 to fight Rashard Bogar (4-7, 2 KOs) at the Showboat Atlantic City.

It will mark Bauza’s first fight since May 4, when he defeated Hugo Padilla in a six-round unanimous decision victory (60-54, 60-54, 60-54) at the Birchwood Manor in Whippany, N.J. With a win over Bogar, Bauza would secure his third victory of the calendar year.

Bogar will be coming off a much longer lay-off than Bauza, considering Saturday’s fight will mark his first appearance in the ring in over two years. He last fought on May 16, 2016, when he was knocked out by Maxim Dadashev in the fourth round of a six-round bout.

The timing for Bauza’s fight also has sentimental significance, especially since this time last September, the 20-year-old’s training in Puerto Rico was disrupted by Hurricane Maria. Bauza was ultimately forced to evacuate the island with his family and take time off before resuming his professional in December 2017.

Tickets can be purchased at RisingBoxingPromotions.com. Ringside tickets are $125.00 and reserved tickets are $80.0




WELTERWEIGHT WORLD CHAMPION KEITH THURMAN BREAKS DOWN CHAMPIONSHIP MATCHUP OF FORMER FOES DANNY GARCIA & SHAWN PORTER


NEW YORK (September 4, 2018) – Welterweight World Champion Keith Thurman has an acute understanding of what it takes to beat Danny Garcia and Shawn Porter. The undefeated, former unified champion edged both fighters in blockbuster matchups and will be watching intently from ringside at Barclays Center as the two face off for the WBC Welterweight World Championship Thurman vacated due to injury.

The reigning WBA 147-pound champion, Thurman defeated Porter via unanimous decision in a 2016 Fight of the Year candidate (FULL FIGHT VIDEO: https://s.sho.com/2MAUoNH), and narrowly beat Garcia via majority decision in 2017 (FULL FIGHT VIDEO: https://s.sho.com/2MZB6kA). The matchups were so closely contested that both fights would have been ruled draws if a single round were scored differently.

Thurman spoke with SHOWTIME Sports® Hall of Fame analyst Steve Farhood to break down what he calls “one of the best matchups of the year” in seven key categories – punching power, physical strength, defense, speed, boxing ability, ring IQ and chin.

See below for Thurman’s analysis of the showdown of consensus top-5 welterweights, which airs this Saturday live on SHOWTIME.

PUNCHING POWER: Edge GARCIA: “Danny can punch with both hands. He does load up, so you can’t be right there in front of him.”

PHYSICAL STRENGTH: Edge PORTER: “Shawn is clearly the more physical fighter.”

DEFENSE: Edge GARCIA: “Porter’s defense is his offense. With Danny, I’ve never seen anyone so willing to just stare at me without throwing a punch. He’s committed to being second, a pure counterpuncher.”

SPEED: Edge PORTER: “Shawn is faster and a little more athletic. He’ll triple on the jab to get inside and use stutter-steps. Danny’s real relaxed, but that doesn’t necessarily come through in his hand speed.”

BOXING ABILITY: Edge GARCIA: “Neither one is known for boxing. Danny’s a counterpuncher, and Shawn outworks you. Danny has nice boxing movement when he wants to be evasive. He’s underrated when on his back foot. We saw that against (Lucas) Matthysse and (Brandon) Rios.”

RING IQ: EVEN: “Hard to judge. These are two world champions with tremendous amateur pedigrees.”

CHIN: EVEN: “In my fights, Porter took more big punches than Garcia did. I had to hit hard to keep Porter off me. They both have enough power to hurt each other.”

PREDICTION: “This is one of the best matchups of the year. I try not to overthink it. It’s Porter by decision or Garcia only by KO. I lean toward PORTER.”

The SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING® telecast begins at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT and features a welterweight title eliminator between Yordenis Ugas and Cesar Barrionuevo and heavyweight action that pits unbeaten Polish slugger Adam Kownacki against former heavyweight champion Charles Martin.

Undercard streaming coverage begins at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT on SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING COUNTDOWN as five-division world champion Amanda Serrano attempts to win a world title in her record sixth weight class when she faces Yamila Esther Reynoso for the WBO 140-pound title.

Tickets for the live event, which is promoted by TGB Promotions and DiBella Entertainment, in association with DSG Promotions, start at $50 and are on sale now. Tickets can be purchased at ticketmaster.com, barclayscenter.com, or by calling 800-745-3000. Tickets can also be purchased at the American Express Box Office at Barclays Center. Group discounts are available by calling 844-BKLYN-GP.

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For more information visit www.SHO.com/Sports,www.PremierBoxingChampions.com, follow on Twitter @ShowtimeBoxing, @PremierBoxing, @DannySwift, @ShowtimeShawnP, @LouDiBella, @TGBPromotions, or become a fan on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/SHOBoxing and www.Facebook.com/DiBellaEntertainment. PBC is sponsored by Corona, La Cerveza Mas Fina.




CANELO AND GGG FEATURED IN NEW 8-BIT BOXING GAME ON EVE OF WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP REMATCH!


LAS VEGAS, NEVADA (September 4 2018): Let the games begin! Lineal Middleweight World Champion Canelo Alvarez and WBC/WBA/IBO Middleweight World Champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin will be featured in an 8-bit boxing game which will launch on Tuesday, Sept. 4 — 11 days before their eagerly-awaited world championship rematch.

Golden Boy Promotions and GGG Promotions have partnered with GameCommerce, a global leader in Brand Playables, to design and create the interactive game. The game incorporates images of fighters Canelo and GGG, providing a fun 8-bit rendering representation of their rematch. Last year, on Mexican Independence Day, in front of a record crowd, Canelo and GGG fought to a controversial draw. The fighters resume their fierce and bitter rivalry on Saturday, Sept. 15 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. It will be produced and distributed live by HBO Pay-Per-View® beginning at 8:00 p.m. ET / 5:00 p.m. PT.

In the game, the player chooses which fighter they want to be, and can even use boxing moves like a hook, a cross, an uppercut or a block to attack or defend against the opponent. This fun and interactive boxing game will be launched on Snapchat, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

“Boxing is such a visceral sport, especially with such dramatic fighters as Canelo and Golovkin. Through this engaging game, people will experience the fight in a lively way in anticipation of the realfight,” said Nagesh Pobbathi, CEO of GameCommerce.

Canelo, of Guadalajara, Mexico, is a two world title and lineal champion in the super welterweight division, and has captured the WBC, Lineal and Ring Magazine World titles in the middleweight division. After his historic showdown with Golovkin last year, Canelo promises to defeat Golovkin in exciting fashion to prove that he in the world’s best 160-pounder.

“Games are games, and they are fun to play. But I won’t be playing on Sept. 15. I will knock Golovkin out,” said Canelo.

Golovkin (38-0-1, 34 KOs), from Karaganda, Kazakhstan, is boxing’s longest-reigning world champion (since 2010). Known for his Mexican style of fighting and his explosive knockout victories, this undefeated boxing superhero will be looking to make his division record-breaking 21st consecutive title defense.

“It was fun beating up Canelo in this game. Now I cannot wait for September 15, when we will get really interactive at T-Mobile Arena,” said Golovkin.

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Canelo vs. GGG 2 is a 12-round fight for the middleweight championship of the world presented by Golden Boy Promotions and GGG Promotions. The event is sponsored by Tecate, “THE OFFICIAL BEER OF BOXING,” Hennessy, “Never Stop, Never Settle,” O’Reilly Auto Parts, Fred Loya Insurance, Interjet, Venom, and Fathom Events.

Limited tickets are still available, and are priced at $5,000, $2,500, $2,000, $1,500, $800, $700, and $500, not including applicable service charges and taxes. There will be a limit of eight tickets per person at the $5,000, $2,500, $2,000, $1,500, $800, $700 and $500 price levels. To pay by phone with a major credit card, call 888-9-AXS-TIX (888-929-7849). Tickets are also available for purchase at www.t-mobilearena.com or www.axs.com.

Tickets for the closed circuit telecast of Canelo vs. GGG 2 at MGM Grand, Mandalay Bay, The Mirage and Luxor are priced at $100, not including applicable fees. Seating is general admission at MGM Grand, Mandalay Bay and The Mirage while Luxor will have assigned seats. Tickets may be purchased at any MGM Resorts International Box Office, by phone with a major credit card at (800) 745-3000 or online at http://www.ticketmaster.com/canelovsggg2.




UFC® CELEBRATES 25TH ANNIVERSARY WITH ACTION-PACKED CARD HEADLINED BY (#3) FRANKIE EDGAR VS. (#10) CHAN SUNG JUNG

Las Vegas, Nevada – UFC® will celebrate its 25th anniversary by returning to where it all began—Denver, Colo. In a thrilling featherweight contenders’ bout, No.3-ranked Frankie Edgar will battle No.10 Chan Sung Jung. Also, No.12-ranked welterweight Donald Cerrone will throw down with Mike Perry in a fight guaranteed to deliver fireworks. UFC FIGHT NIGHT®: EDGAR vs. KOREAN ZOMBIE takes place Sat., November 10 at Pepsi Center and will air live on FS1.

A former lightweight champion and two-time featherweight title challenger, Edgar (21-6-1, fighting out of Toms River, N.J.) has beaten some of the biggest names in MMA. Over the course of his storied career, he’s earned impressive victories over B.J. Penn (three times), Cub Swanson (twice), Urijah Faber, Chad Mendes and Jeremy Stephens. He now aims to steal the show and stake his claim for another title shot against one of the division’s most aggressive and dynamic finishers.

Among the most exciting fighters on the UFC roster, Jung (14-4, fighting out of Seoul, South Korea) is known for his spectacular highlight-reel finishes. The Korean Zombie is the only fighter in UFC history to win by twister submission and holds one of the fastest KO wins at seven seconds. He returned to action last year following mandatory military service with a first-round KO over Dennis Bermudez. Jung hopes to continue his climb up the featherweight ranks and earn the biggest victory of his career.

The co-main event will feature two perennial fan favorites in a bout that could take home Fight of the Night honors.

Former lightweight title challenger and Denver native Cerrone (33-11 1NC, fighting out of Albuquerque, N.M.) has delivered some of the most thrilling fights inside the Octagon®. Since moving to welterweight in 2016, he’s earned impressive stoppage wins against Yancy Medeiros, Matt Brown, Rick Story and Patrick Cote. He now looks to rebound with a victory in his hometown.

A hard-hitting KO artist, Perry (12-3, fighting out of Orlando, Fla.) immediately turned heads when he joined the UFC in 2016. Known for his aggressive striking, Perry’s netted impressive KO victories over Jake Ellenberger, Danny Roberts, Hyun Gyu Lim and Alex Reyes. On the heels of his first decision win, over Paul Felder in July, he’s poised to add a MMA superstar to his resume.

Additional bouts on the card include:

Recent women’s bantamweight title challenger and No.4-ranked contender Raquel Pennington (9-7, fighting out of Colorado Spring, Colo.) squares off with former women’s featherweight champion and No.5-ranked bantamweight contender Germaine de Randamie (7-3, fighting out of Utrecht, The Netherlands)
In a clash of former flyweight title challengers, No.3-ranked contender Joseph Benavidez (25-5, fighting out of Las Cruces, N.M.) locks horns with No.4 Ray Borg (11-3, fighting out of Albuquerque, N.M.)
Dana White’s Tuesday Night Contender Series contract winner and Colorado native Maycee Barber (4-0, fighting out of Fort Collins, Colo.) makes her UFC debut against Maia Stevenson (6-5, fighting out of San Diego, Calif.)
The Ultimate Fighter 27 winner Mike Trizano (8-0, fighting out of Ramsey, N.J.) faces castmate Luis Pena (5-0, fighting out of Saint Charles, Mo.
Ashley Yoder (5-4, fighting out of Temecula, Calif.) takes on Amanda Cooper (4-4, fighting out of Bath, Mich.) in a strawweight bout
Dana White’s Tuesday Night Contender Series alum Alonzo Menifield (7-0, fighting out of Dallas, Tex.) debuts against Saparbeg Safarov (8-2, fighting out of Makhachkala, Russia)
Chas Skelly (17-2, fighting out of Arlington, Tex.) returns against Dana White’s Tuesday Night Contender Series contract earner Bobby Moffett (12-3, fighting out of Homewood, Ill.)

For the latest information on additional bouts for this event, please visit www.ufc.com. All bouts live and subject to change.

Visit the UFC® Press Portal for information and content to support your UFC coverage. Please click here to apply for the event.

UFC FIGHT NIGHT®: EDGAR vs. KOREAN ZOMBIE will air live on FS1 at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT on Saturday, Nov. 10, with the prelims kicking off the evening on FS1 at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT and on UFC FIGHT PASS® at 6:30 p.m. ET/3:30 p.m. PT. Doors open at 5:30 p.m. ET/2:30 p.m. PT.

Tickets for UFC FIGHT NIGHT®: EDGAR vs. KOREAN ZOMBIE go on sale Friday, Sept. 7 at 10 a.m. MT and are priced at $150, $120, $90, $70 and $50 (does not include fees). Tickets are available for purchase online at www.altitudetickets.com. Ticket sales are limited to eight (8) per person.

UFC Fight Club® members will have the opportunity to purchase tickets Wednesday, Sept. 5 at 10 a.m. MT via the website www.ufcfightclub.com. A special Internet ticket pre-sale will be available to UFC newsletter subscribers Thursday, Sept. 6 starting at 10 a.m. MT. To access this presale, users must register for the UFC newsletter through UFC.com.

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About UFC®

UFC® is a premium global sports brand and the largest Pay-Per-View event provider in the world. Celebrating its 25th Anniversary in 2018, UFC boasts more than 284 million fans worldwide and has produced over 440 events in 22 countries since its inception in 1993. Acquired in 2016 by global sports, entertainment and fashion leader Endeavor (formerly WME | IMG), together with strategic partners Silver Lake Partners and KKR, UFC is headquartered in Las Vegas with a network of employees around the world. UFC produces more than 40 live events annually that consistently sell out some of the most prestigious arenas around the globe, while programming is broadcast in over 160 countries and territories to 1.1 billion TV households worldwide in 40 different languages. UFC FIGHT PASS®, a digital subscription service, delivers exclusive live events, thousands of fights on-demand and original content to fans around the world. For more information, visit UFC.com and follow UFC at Facebook.com/UFC, Twitter, Snapchat and Instagram: @UFC.




Undefeated Featherweight Contender Brandon Figueroa & 2016 Olympic Silver Medalist Joe Joyce Enter the Ring in Separate Matches That Highlight Undercard Action Presented by Premier Boxing Champions

ONTARIO, CALIFORNIA (September 4, 2018) – Unbeaten featherweight contender Brandon Figueroa takes on rugged veteran Oscar Escandon in a 10-round bout and 2016 British Olympian Joe Joyce battles Iago Kiladze in an eight-round heavyweight attraction in Premier Boxing Champions on FS1 and FOX Deportes action Sunday, September 30 from Citizens Business Bank Arena in Ontario, California.

The telecast begins at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT and will also see 2016 U.S. Olympian Karlos Balderas (6-0, 5 KOs) continue his rise in the lightweight ranks in a six-round match and 2016 Nigerian Olympian Efe Ajagba (6-0, 5 KOs) returning to the ring in a six-round heavyweight fight. Sensational super welterweight prospect Joey Spencer (4-0, 4 KOs) steps in for his fifth fight this year in a four-round bout.

Former welterweight champion “Vicious” Victor Ortiz (36-6-3, 25 KOs) clashes with hard-hitting brawler John Molina, Jr. (30-7, 24 KOs) in a 12-round welterweight battle that promises plenty of action and fireworks in the main event.

Tickets for the event, which is promoted by TGB Promotions and Ringstar Sports, are on sale now and can be purchased at Ticketmaster.com.

Figueroa (16-0, 11 KOs), the brother of former lightweight world champion Omar Figueroa, Jr., continues to climb the ladder in the featherweight division with a step up match against the tough former title challenger Escandon. The 21-year-old out of Weslaco, Texas was busy last year as he won all four of his matches and he has logged two knockout victories this year, beating Giovanni Delgado in March and Luis Roy Suarez Cruz in his last fight on August 4.

The 34-year-old Escandon (25-4, 17 KOs), who fought in the 2004 Olympian for Colombia, is a hardnosed veteran from Ibague, Colombia looking to rebound from two tough losses to Tugstsogt Nyambayar on May 26 on FS1 and WBC featherweight champion Gary Russell, Jr. in 2017.

A 6-foot-6 heavyweight, Joyce (5-0, 5 KOs) won the silver medal in the 2016 Rio Olympic Games as a super heavyweight from Great Britain. The 32-year-old from London turned pro in 2017 and has been on a knockout roll since. Joyce, whose nickname is ‘Juggernaut,’ has ended four of his five fights inside of two rounds. He scored a first-round KO victory over Ivica Bacurin in his last fight on June 15.

Kiladze (26-3, 18 KOs) is an experienced veteran who will test Joyce early in his young career. The 32-year-old out of Ukraine who now lives in Los Angeles and will be looking to rebound from back-to-back losses to Michael Hunter and Adam Kownacki. Before those losses he had put together a six-match win streak.

The 22-year-old Balderas (6-0, 5 KOs), a first-generation Mexican-American, competed on the U.S. Olympic boxing team in the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil before turning pro in April 2017. Representing Santa Maria, Calif., Balderas scored knockout victories in his last two fights and will look to make it three in a row when he enters the ring on September 30.

The 24-year-old Ajagba (6-0, 5 KOs), who represented Nigeria in the 2016 Olympics, will be stepping into the ring again a month after his last match ended in disqualification. His opponent, Curtis Harper, walked out of the ring without throwing a punch after touching gloves and the bell sounded to start the fight on Aug. 24 that was live on FS1.

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Fans can live stream the fights on the FOX Sports app, available in English or Spanish through the FS1 or FOX Deportes feeds. The fights are available on desktop at FOXSportsGO.com and through the app store, or connected devices including Apple TV, Android TV, Fire TV, Xbox One and Roku. In addition, all programs are also available on FOX Sports on SiriusXM channel 83 on satellite radios and on the SiriusXM app.

For more information visit www.premierboxingchampions.comhttp://www.foxsports.com/presspass/homepage and www.foxdeportes.com.
Follow on Twitter @PremierBoxing, @TGBPromotions, @Ringstar, @FS1, @FOXDeportes and @Swanson_Comm and become a fan on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/PremierBoxingChampions, and www.facebook.com/foxdeportes. Highlights available atwww.youtube.com/premierboxingchampions. PBC on FS1 & FOX Deportes is sponsored by Corona Extra, La Cerveza Mas Fina.




Breakfast and Boxing: Tim Tszyu and Andrew Moloney Headline September 8 ESPN+ Event

(Sept. 4, 2018) — Tim Tszyu and Andrew “The Monster” Moloney will take center stage on the next edition of “Breakfast and Boxing” on Saturday, Sept. 8. at the new Bendigo Stadium in Bendigo, Victoria, Australia. In the 10-round main event, 154-pound prospect Tszyu (10-0, 8 KOs), will face his toughest test to date against Marcos Jesus Cornejo (19-3, 18 KOs).

In the co-feature Moloney (17-0, 10 KOs), ranked in the top 10 by all four major sanctioning bodies at 115 pounds, will defend the WBA Oceania super flyweight belt in a 10-rounder against former WBA super flyweight world champion Luis “El Nica” Concepción (37-6, 26 KOs).

Tszyu-Cornejo and Moloney-Concepción will stream live in the United States beginning at 7 a.m. ET on ESPN+ — the new multi-sport, direct-to-consumer subscription streaming service from The Walt Disney Company’s Direct-to-Consumer & International segment in conjunction with ESPN.

“Concepción is an extremely tough and very experienced boxer. He always comes to fight and puts a lot of pressure on his opponents,” Moloney said. “I know that I will have to be in great condition for this fight.”

Tszyu, the son of the Hall of Famer Kostya Tszyu, was featured on ESPN+ in his previous bout, a first-round knockout against Stevie Ongen Ferdinandus on the undercard of the Tevin Farmer-Billy Dib 130-pound world title bout. Cornejo, from Argentina, has 14 knockouts within the first two rounds.

Moloney, named the 2017 Australian prospect of the year, will be making his third appearance of 2018. In his last bout, May 19 against Richard Claveras, he survived a seventh-round knockdown en route to a wide 10-round points win. This will be the fourth defense of the WBA Oceania super flyweight belt for Moloney, who won it in spectacular fashion with a fourth-round TKO against Raymond Tabugon in August 2017.

Concepción, one of Panama’s most decorated boxers, won the WBA super flyweight title with a unanimous decision against Kohei Kono on Aug. 31, 2016. In his next fight, he failed to make weight and lost a decision to the unbeaten Kal Yafai, who still holds the title. He is 2-1 since the Yafai defeat and is coming off a second-round knockout win against Luis Carrillo in Panama City.

To subscribe to ESPN+, visit plus.espn.com.

About ESPN+
ESPN+ is the premium multi-sport, direct-to-consumer subscription streaming service from The Walt Disney Company’s Direct-to-Consumer & International (DTCI) segment in conjunction with ESPN. ESPN+ offers fans two exclusive, original boxing programs The Boxing Beat with Dan Rafael (Tuesdays, weekly) and In This Corner (twice monthly). In addition to exclusive Top Rank boxing content, programming on ESPN+ includes hundreds of MLB, NHL and MLS games, thousands of college sports events (including football, basketball and multiple other sports from more than 15 conferences), UFC (beginning in 2019), Grand Slam tennis, international and domestic rugby, cricket, new and exclusive documentary films and series, acclaimed studio shows and the full library of ESPN’s award-winning 30 for 30 films. Fans subscribe to ESPN+ for just $4.99 a month (or $49.99 per year) and cancel at any time.




DeLomba: “I’m back where I belong!

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (Sept. 4th, 2018) — Nick DeLomba has been around the sport of boxing long enough to know it’s as unpredictable as the weather. It’ll throw you a curveball when you’re expecting a fastball down the plate.

Though he’s still only five years into his professional career, which began at Twin River Casino Hotel in 2013, the Cranston, R.I., native (13-2, 3 KOs) is well-seasoned in the art of boxing politics.

In the past year, he’s had bouts canceled, opponents disappear and fights he didn’t even agree to plastered all over social media, so it was an easy decision for DeLomba when approached by CES Boxing president Jimmy Burchfield Sr. to rejoin the team that launched his career five years ago.

Fittingly, DeLomba’s first fight back with CES Boxing will be in the same venue where it all began on Friday, Sept. 14th, 2018 when DeLomba defends his Universal Boxing Federation (UBF) All America Super Lightweight Title in the main event against Louisiana’s Chris Singleton (18-5-2, 8 KOs) at Twin River Casino Hotel.

“It feels amazing,” DeLomba said. “I’m back home where I belong.”

The last time DeLomba entered the ring at Twin River, he jumped a few pounds to welterweight to face New Haven’s Jimmy Williams in April of 2017 for the then vacant WBC USNBC title, a tremendous opportunity to fight for boxing’s famed green belt. Williams, the much bigger fighter on fight night, won by an overwhelming majority decision. DeLomba hasn’t fought above 140 pounds since and he’ll remain at super lightweight next Friday, where he finally gets to enjoy the size advantage, in what could be his toughest test against the slick, fleet-footed Singleton, who heads north for the first time in his career for the opportunity to bring a title back home to Baton Rouge.

Because nothing is ever easy in the sport of boxing, DeLomba has had to change gears in camp to prepare for a new opponent. He was originally supposed to face undefeated Irish super lightweight Ray Moylette, but Moylette withdrew a little a more than a month from fight night due to a hand injury sustained in training camp.

Singleton hopped on board a week later, giving DeLomba more than enough time to adjust to the change in opponent. Singleton actually bears some resemblance to Amos Cowart, who DeLomba beat decisively in September of 2016 except for the fact Cowart is a southpaw and Singleton is a right-hander.

“Hopefully, I can put together the same kind of fight,” DeLomba said. “[Singleton] throws a lot of sneaky check hooks and uppercuts, overhand rights. He’s a counterpuncher. I feel as though if he’s not the aggressor, he’s not as busy.

“I want to put pressure on him because he won’t throw as many chances. He’s busy coming forward, but not if you bring the fight to him, and I like to bring the fight to my opponent. I’m not wild or careless. I’m strategic with a game plan, but sometimes you have to throw those styles out the window and just bring it to him and overpower him.”

DeLomba’s eight-round main event showdown is one of nine fights on a stacked card for CES Boxing that features an eclectic blend of fan-favorites and new faces. The promotion recently signed six fighters, four of whom will make their Twin River debuts on the 14th.

Tickets for the event start at $47 and are available online at www.cesboxing.com, www.twinriver.com, www.ticketmaster.com, by phone at 401-723-2253 or at the Twin River Casino Hotel Players Club. All fights and fighters subject to change.

The 28-year-old DeLomba hopes re-signing with CES Boxing adds some stability to his career and helps point him in the right direction again after a tumultuous two-year stretch of testing the waters with various promotions.

What has always stood out about DeLomba is the fact he’s been willing to fight anyone at any given time, often jumping into fights others felt he might not win. In just his fourth pro fight, he stepped up to face New Haven’s Edwin Soto, who was 9-1-2 at the time, in Soto’s backyard, scoring a majority decision win to remain undefeated. In May of 2016, he faced unbeaten Worcester prospect Freddy Sanchez, who was considered the favorite in some circles, and cruised to a unanimous decision win. When he announced he was fighting Cowart in 2016, DeLomba vividly remembers the pre-fight chatter.

“People looked at me like I was going to lose, or get knocked out,” he said. “I went out and dominated him.”

With Burchfield and CES Boxing, there’s a certain comfort level he hasn’t felt anywhere else. The promotion launched his career in 2013, starting with a rare six-rounder in his pro debut against Jimmy Smith, which DeLomba won in a bloody unanimous decision. He won his first eight pro fights before suffering his first pro defeat and even then didn’t look to take the easy road back to the top, instead jumping in the ring with the then 7-0 Sanchez just eight months after getting stopped by Gledwin Ortiz.

“There’s that respect level you don’t get when you’re moving around and fighting between different promoters on different shows at different venues,” DeLomba said. “I know what I’m going to get with Jimmy.”

After beating Louis Cruz in December to capture the UBF title in December, DeLomba didn’t fight again until July. A proposed bout against Connecticut’s Mykquan Williams in May fell through for unexplained reasons, though it was still announced via social media even though DeLomba had never signed a contract. Williams went on to fight Orlando Felix instead.

DeLomba eventually shook off the rust in late July in New Hampshire as Burchfield partnered with Granite Chin Promotions for DeLomba’s bout against Rashaan Blackburn, which ended in a first-round knockout win for DeLomba. Even then, DeLomba had to deal with several opponent changes before fight night while trying to keep his training and conditioning up to par.

“You have to just stay active in the gym and keep a clear mindset. I can’t let things affect me. Whether the opponent cancels or pulls out, I’m always working,” DeLomba said.

“Opponents change. It doesn’t matter. We work hard, train, and come up with a game plan while working on things we’re supposed to work on, and when we get an opponent, we tweak things to his style.”

With Singleton, DeLomba has simply switched up his sparring to accommodate for a slight difference in height against a now shorter opponent, otherwise it’s business as usual as he prepares for his long-awaited Twin River homecoming.

“There’s nothing like being in your hometown and being at that wonderful venue,” DeLomba said. “There’s nothing like coming out to that crowd. When I walk out there, I feel at home, like I’m on top of the world.”

Sept. 14th also features the return of unbeaten prospects Anthony Marsella Jr. (9-0, 4 KOs) of Providence and Pawtucket, R.I., featherweight Ricky Delossantos (5-0, 1 KO). Marsella Jr. faces Maine’s Brandon Berry (13-3-2, 8 KOs) in a six-round super lightweight showcase while Delossantos steps up in a six-round bout to face the dangerous Jose Ortiz (3-3-2, 1 KO) of Jersey City, N.J.

Also in the featherweight division, Providence’s Phil Dudley (1-1) returns to face unbeaten Ranse Andino (1-0) of Worcester and Fall River, Mass., super lightweight Kris Jacobs makes his professional debut in a four-round bout against the entertaining Andy Aiello (1-1) of Bridgewater, Mass.

CES Boxing will also introduce four of its highly-touted prospects on the 14th, starting with 6-foot-8 Nigerian heavyweight Raphael Akpejiori, a former college football and basketball for the University of Miami now trained by two-time world champion Glen Johnson. Akpejiori faces Texas veteran Omar Acosta (1-1, 1 KO) in a four-round bout.

Female lightweight sensation Shayna Foppiano (1-0, 1 KO) of Everett, Mass., makes her Twin River against Sarah Click (0-1) of Buzzard’s Bay, also fighting for CES Boxing for the first time after stepping into the cage with CES MMA in 2017.

Amateur standout Nicholas Briggs of Worcester, who now lives and trains in Rhode Island, makes his professional debut against fellow newcomer Jacob Wright of Decatur, Ala., and Providence’s Victor Reynoso fights for the first time as a professional against debut Maurilio Alava of Ecuador, a professional of 11 fights in mixed martial arts. The 6-foot-1 Briggs won 50 fights as an amateur while Reynoso enters fresh off a trip to the United States National Amateur Boxing Championships in Aurora, Ill.

Visit www.cesboxing.com, www.twitter.com/cesboxing or www.facebook.com/cesboxing for more information, or follow CES Boxing on Instagram at @CESBOXING.




Undefeated Super Flyweight Dylan “The Real Dyl” Price back in action this Saturday night at Barclays Center in Brooklyn


PHILADELPHIA (September 4, 2018)–This Saturday night, September 8th. Dylan “The Real Dyl” Price from Sicklerville NJ steps into the ring once again on the undercard of the Danny Garcia vs Shawn Porter bout at the Barclay Center in Brooklyn NY.

Price, who is signed to Mayweather Promotions, and has perfect with a record of 6-0 with five knockouts, is scheduled to fight Mulapi Enjani (4-5-2, 2 KOs) of San Diego, California in a scheduled 6 round super flyweight bout

“I’m really excited to get back into the ring and to do so against a worthy opponent. Don’t let the record fool you. Enjani can fight. He puts a lot of punches together, but you can’t hit what you can’t see. I’m going to do what’s necessary on September 8th to get the win, and to continue my quest to become a world champion. My father and I have an excellent game plan, and I will execute that, and then enjoy the main event”.

Price is managed by D and D Management and is promoted by Mayweather Promotions.




COMPLETE CARD ANNOUNCED FOR ONE: KINGDOM OF HEROES

4 September 2018 – Bangkok, Thailand: The largest global sports media property in Asian history, ONE Championship™ (ONE), has just announced the complete card for ONE: KINGDOM OF HEROES, which is set to ignite the Impact Arena in Bangkok on Saturday, 6 October. Once again, the biggest and brightest stars in martial arts are ready to grace the ONE Championship ring. In the main event, reigning The Ring and WBC Super Flyweight World Champion Srisaket Sor Rungvisai of Thailand will defend his title against Iran “MagnifiKO” Diaz of Mexico.

Ticket information for ONE: KINGDOM OF HEROES is available at www.onefc.com.

Srisaket Sor Rungvisai is one of the most celebrated pugilists in Thailand’s history, winning the prestigious WBC Super Flyweight World Title on two occasions. Holding a professional record of 46-4-1 with 41 knockouts, Sor Rungvisai is ranked No. 5 on the pound-for-pound best boxers list of Boxrec.com and No. 7 on The Ring Magazine’s rankings. After regaining the WBC Super Flyweight World Title in March 2017 and then successfully defending it two times, Sor Rungvisai will now defend his WBC World Title in ONE Championship’s historical event in Thailand against challenger Iran Diaz.

Iran “MagnifiKO” Diaz of Sonora, Mexico is one of the fastest rising talents in Mexican boxing. Born and raised in a country known for its passionate love for pugilism, Diaz holds a professional record of 14-2-3, with 6 knockouts to his name. His most notable victories have come over dangerous former World Champions Hernan “Tyson” Marquez and Luis Concepcion. Recently, Diaz is a winner of three of his last five contests, and is riding a wave of momentum heading into his next bout. The hard-hitting Diaz will face Srisaket Sor Rungvisai for the WBC Super Flyweight World Title.

23-year-old “Killer Bee” Kai Ting Chuang of Chinese Taipei is the reigning ONE Super Series Atomweight Kickboxing World Champion. She began boxing as a young teenager and later earned a college scholarship to the National Taiwan University of Sport, where she began training in kickboxing and Muay Thai. She also made frequent trips to Japan to compete in Shootboxing and kickboxing matches. Earlier this year, Chuang brought her talents to ONE Super Series, where she shocked the world with a dominant performance over Yodcherry Sityodtong to win the atomweight World Title. With a professional kickboxing record of 17-5, Chuang represents Iron Boxing, and is a three-time WAKO National Kickboxing Champion. She is set to defend her title now against Stamp Fairtex.

20-year-old Stamp Fairtex of Pattaya, Thailand, is one of the most recent additions to the ONE Super Series female roster. She is a North Eastern Muay Thai Champion and one of the fastest rising talents in the striking arts. With a professional record of 60-15-5, Stamp represents the world-renowned Fairtex gym in Thailand. Known for her powerful kicks and fast combinations, Stamp will be making her ONE Super Series debut when she challenges Kai Ting Chuang for the ONE Super Series Kickboxing Atomweight World Championship.

Former ONE Lightweight World Champion Shinya Aoki is the most successful submission specialist in Asian martial arts. An iconic figure, he is known for his overpowering ground game, which had already won him titles with WAMMA, DREAM, and Shooto before he began his dominant run as a ONE lightweight. Aoki is for many the face of Asia in the cage, holding an incredible slew of submission wins and almost 75 percent of his overall victories coming inside the distance. Throughout his fabled career, the Japanese veteran has beaten some of the biggest names in the world, including Tatsuya Kawajiri, Caol Uno, and Eddie Alvarez. A winner of his last two bouts in impressive fashion, Aoki is now set to face Ev Ting in his next match.

Ev “E.T.” Ting is a 29-year-old martial arts standout and former ONE World Title challenger from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Living and training out of Auckland, New Zealand, Ting owns a stellar 16-4 professional record, which includes four wins by submission and five by knockout. A winner of seven of his last eight bouts, Ting is one of the most talented competitors to come out of Malaysia. In his most recent bout, Ting defeated highly-regarded Japanese veteran Koji Ando by unanimous decision. “E.T.” is now set to face another top lightweight in former ONE Lightweight World Champion Shinya Aoki.

Nong-O Gaiyanghadao is considered by Thai boxing purists as one of the top pound-for-pound Muay Thai practitioners in the world. He is a four-time Lumpinee Stadium champion, Rajadamnern Muay Thai world champion, two-time Thailand national champion, and two-time Fighter of the Year. He is also a five-division world champion in the sport. Nong-O is known for the incredible speed, power and precision behind all his strikes. After a successful ONE Super Series debut earlier this year, Nong-O is set to make his return to the ONE Championship ring opposite Mehdi Zatout.

ISKA and WBC World Champion Mehdi Zatout’s passion for Muay Thai was first ignited when he was 10 years old. Over the course of a highly-successful career spanning more than 20 years, the French striker would go on to travel to Thailand more than 50 times to train and compete, amassing over 100 competitive bouts under kickboxing and Muay Thai rules. After winning two national titles in France, a European championship, and two World Titles, the man they call “Diamond Heart” now finds himself among the world’s best strikers in ONE Super Series. Zatout is set to face Nong-O Gaiyanghadao in a Muay Thai bout.

Alain “The Panther” Ngalani, a Cameroon-born martial artist who trains out of Impakt MMA in his home of Hong Kong, has a terrifying combination of power and speed, and is always looking to end matches early. Owning a kickboxing record of 25-8-1 (2 NC), which includes 23 knockouts, Ngalani is a four-time Muay Thai and kickboxing heavyweight world champion. After regularly competing in mixed martial arts, the 43-year-old made his ONE Super Series kickboxing in his last bout against Tarik Khbabez. Ngalani seeks victory once again, this time against Andre Meunier.

Four-time Kickboxing World Champion Andre “The Giant” Meunier grew up in a rough neighborhood in Melbourne, Australia, and originally trained in martial arts to learn self-discipline. A proven knockout artist, Meunier trains out of the Ultimate Kickboxing gym under James Roesler, and also regularly travels to Thailand to sharpen his skills with former WMTA Light Heavyweight Champion Nick Kara. Having competed all over Australia and Asia, Meunier has faced some of the striking arena’s biggest names, and has never backed down from a challenge. That warrior spirit will serve him well in ONE Super Series, as he goes up against Alain Ngalani in his next contest.

Leandro “Brodinho” Issa is a 35-year-old Brazilian jiu-jitsu world champion black belt from Sao Paulo, Brazil, who trains and competes out of the world-renowned Evolve Fight Team in Singapore. With a professional mixed martial arts 16-6-0, including 10 wins by submission and two by knockout, Issa has proven to be an exciting competitor with a penchant for spectacular victories. A pioneer of ONE Championship’s bantamweight division, Issa will take on top Tajikistani talent Muin Gafurov in his next assignment.

22-year-old bantamweight competitor Muin “Tajik” Gafurov features a relentless and aggressive style with solid all-around mixed martial arts skills. He owns a stellar 14-2-0 professional mixed martial arts clip and is known as one of the top talents to come out of Tajikistan. Gafurov utilizes a frenetic fighting pace that opponents find difficult to match, featuring high-level grappling techniques and powerful striking. A force to be reckoned with in his weight class, Gafurov is riding a four-bout win streak, and will make his highly-anticipated return to ONE Championship by taking on top contender Leandro Issa.

35-year-old Andy “The Destroyer” Souwer is a Dutch kickboxer from Amsterdam in the Netherlands. He is the former K1 World Max Champion and is a well-respected kickboxer in the world of striking martial arts. With a professional kickboxing record of 160-20-1, Souwer is known as an accomplished veteran of the sport. Now ready to take his talents to the bright lights of ONE Championship, Souwer is set to make his ONE Super Series debut against Anthony Njokuani.

38-year-old Anthony “The Assassin” Njokuani is a Nigerian kickboxer and Muay Thai practitioner who hails from Las Vegas, Nevada, USA. Representing One Kick’s Gym, Njokuani is a former State Muay Thai Champion, and one of the most well-regarded veterans in the sport of kickboxing. With a professional kickboxing record of 25-1-0, Njokuani is scheduled to make his ONE Super Series debut against Andy Souwer in a much-awaited three-round kickboxing bout.

One of the most highly-regarded Muay Thai practitioners actively competing in the sport, Petchmorrakot Wor. Sangprapai of Bangkok, Thailand is a two-division Lumpinee Stadium Champion and WMC Champion. With a Muay Thai record of 156-33-2, the 24-year-old has already garnered many accolades despite his relatively young age. Featuring wins over some of the biggest names in the discipline, including the legendary Saenchai PKSaenchaimuaythaigym, Petchmorrakot will return to action against Alaverdi Ramazanov.

23-year-old Alaverdi “Dagger” Ramazanov is a Russian martial artist and Muay Thai practitioner who lives and trains out of Pattaya, Thailand. Representing the prestigious Venum Training Camp, he is a three-time IFMA Champion with a stellar professional record of 57-3-0. At a young age, Ramazanov has already accomplished much early in his career and is now ready to showcase his skills on the biggest global stage of competition in ONE Championship. Ramazanov makes his debut against Petchmorrakot Wor. Sangprapai in a ONE Super Series Muay Thai contest.

32-year-old Hayato Suzuki of Ibaraki Prefecture in Japan, is a veteran mixed martial artist with an impressive professional record of 18-1-2. Spending the majority of his career competing in his native Japan, Suzuki is known as a highly-skilled competitor with the ability to finish his foes with heavy knockout power and technical grappling skills. Out of 18 wins, Suzuki has finished 13 of his opponents impressively, including eight by submission and five by knockout. A former Grachan Flyweight Champion, Suzuki will now face the surging Rene Catalan in his next contest.

Multiple-time Wushu World Champion Rene Catalan of the Philippines is one of the most decorated wushu artists ever to make the transition to mixed martial arts. Having won both the Wushu World Championship and Wushu World Cup two times each, Catalan is undoubtedly one of the very best in the world to have taken up the discipline. He has also won gold medals for wushu at the Asian Games, SEA Games, and Asian Championships. Catalan inevitably joined ONE Championship in 2013, gaining valuable experience by taking on some top strawweight talents. The veteran is currently riding an impressive five-bout win streak, two of which have ended in exciting finishes. Catalan continues his rise through the ranks by taking on the dangerous Hayato Suzuki next.

31-year-old Sagetdao “Deadly Star” Petpayathai is a Muay Thai specialist and a four-time Lumpinee Stadium champion who has won every major title in Muay Thai. Voted by Thai media as one of the greatest Muay Thai practitioners in history, Sagetdao is known for his highly technical knowledge in all of Muay Thai’s varied techniques. Concluding his Muay Thai career with a record of 162-62-1, Sagetdao transitioned to mixed martial arts in 2017, acing his first three bouts with flying colors. In his next outing, Sagetdao will be taking on Fabio Pinca.

34-year-old Fabio Pinca is a highly-decorated French-Italian Muay Thai kickboxer known for his technical and precise offensive style. He is a martial artist who hails from Lyon, France and is a two-time WBC World Muay Thai Champion, French Muay Thai champion, WPKC European Kickboxing Champion, and Rajadamnern Stadium World Champion. With a professional Muay Thai record of 99-24-4, Pinca will now try his hand at mixed martial arts, when he makes his professional debut against Sagetdao Petpayathai.

Rika “Tinydoll” Ishige is a 29-year-old female atomweight from Thailand who trains out of Tiger Muay Thai and Bangkok Fight Lab. She is of mixed Japanese and Thai heritage, beginning her martial arts training at age nine with aikido and taekwondo. Heavily influenced by her late father who trained in judo, Ishige went on to hone her skills as a martial artist. All of Ishige’s victories have ended via impressive finish, showcasing her high-level grappling skills. Ishige is today considered one of Thailand’s martial arts pioneers. She returns to action against Bozhena Antoniyar.

23-year-old Bozhena Antoniyar of Yangon, Myanmar is a mixed martial arts atomweight prospect and boxer. A two-time Myanmar National Boxing Champion with fast and powerful hands, Antoniyar represents Transcend Gym in Yangon and will look to make waves in ONE Championship when she returns to action on the biggest global stage of martial arts competition. After a successful promotional debut, defeating Shwe Sin via first-round technical knockout in her previous outing, Antoniyar will now face Thai star Rika Ishige in her next contest.

20-year-old Muay Thai prodigy Petchdam Gaiyanghadao is a fast rising Muay Thai star from Bangkok, Thailand. Representing the prestigious Petchyindee Academy, Petchdam is a WBC Muay Thai World Champion with a stellar professional record of 91-13-7. Now ready to make his ONE Super Series debut, Petchdam will climb into the ONE Championship ring to face Kenny Tse.

23-year-old Kenny “The Pitbull” Tse is a Chinese kickboxer and Muay Thai practitioner who trains out of Melbourne, Australia. Known for his aggressive and fluid striking style, Tse owns a professional Muay Thai record of 39-5-0 and represents Team Ultimate Australia. A K1 Commonwealth Champion, Tse will now take his talents to ONE Super Series when he faces Petchdam Gaiyanghadao in a three-round Muay Thai contest.

Rin Saroth is a martial artist from Phnom Penh, Cambodia. He is a KWC 3 Featherweight Tournament Finalist with a Kun Khmer record of 110-22-0. He made his ONE Championship debut in December 2015 at ONE: KINGDOM OF KHMER, winning by first-round armbar submission over Mission Ali. Since then, the 25-year-old has improved his skills and gained valuable experience. Saroth is now set to face off against Fu Chang Xin in his next outing.

Fu Chang Xin began training to compete in mixed martial arts in 2011, and took the plunge by making his professional debut just three years later. He has since experienced great success, winning the majority of his bouts via stoppage, even claiming the CKF Championship along the way. In his most recent bout, Fu made a successful ONE Championship debut when he stopped Rustem Ensebayev via first-round technical knockout. He brings his impressive win streak into his next contest, which will come against Rin Saroth.

16-year-old Riri Nasukawa of Chiba, Japan is a highly-regarded Japanese female kickboxing prospect. After an extensive amateur career which saw her go 30-3-0 before making a successful professional debut in her last bout, Nasukawa now finds herself on the big stage in ONE Championship. A two-division Big Bang Champion, Nasukawa is set to make her ONE Super Series debut opposite Rudzma Abubakr.

18-year-old Rudzma “El Chavacana” Abubakr of Zamboanga City, Philippines is a well-touted Filipino female kickboxer and Muay Thai practitioner. As an amateur in Muay Thai with a record of 15-4-0, Abubakr is an East Asian Muay Thai Gold Medalist. Now ready to make her ONE Super Series debut, Abubakr will take on Riri Nasukawa in a three-round ONE Super Series kickboxing contest.

Indonesia’s Dodi “The Maung” Mardian is a silat practitioner and an Indonesian combat sports veteran. Also skilled in the arts of Muay Thai and sanda, Mardian made his cage debut in 2016 after deciding to showcase his talent on the biggest stage of competition. The 34-year-old is looking to make a name for himself as he seeks to put his skills to the test in the world’s toughest proving ground for martial arts. In his next contest, Mardian will take on Ramon Gonzales

31-year-old Ramon “The Bicolano” Gonzales is a mixed martial artist from the Philippines, representing Burn Soriano’s Hitman MMA. He has proven his karate mastery in competitions all over the world, and is a two-time Philippine National Kyokushin Karate Champion. Gonzales determined to fully showcase his potential in ONE Championship as he makes his fourth appearance in the promotion against Dodi Mardian.

ONE: KINGDOM OF HEROES

Saturday, 6 October

Impact Arena, Bangkok, Thailand

Main Event

WBC Super Flyweight World Championship

Srisaket Sor Rungvisai vs Iran Diaz

Co-Main Event

ONE Super Series Kickboxing Atomweight World Championship

Kai Ting Chuang vs Stamp Fairtex

ONE Super Series Kickboxing: 52.2kg

Shinya Aoki vs Ev Ting

Mixed Martial Arts: 77.1kg

Nong-O Gaiyanghadao vs Mehdi Zatout

ONE Super Series Muay Thai: 65.8kg

Alain Ngalani vs Andre Meunier

ONE Super Series Kickboxing: 120.1kg

Leandro Issa vs Muin Gafurov

Mixed Martial Arts: 65.8kg

Andy Souwer vs Anthony Njokuani

ONE Super Series Kickboxing: 77.1kg

Petchmorrakot Wor. Sangprapai vs Alaverdi Ramazanov

ONE Super Series Muay Thai: 65.8kg

Hayato Suzuki vs Rene Catalan

Mixed Martial Arts: 56.7kg

Sagetdao Petpayathai vs Fabio Pinca

Mixed Martial Arts: 70.3kg

Rika Ishige vs Bozhena Antoniyar

Mixed Martial Arts: 52.2kg

Petchdam Gaiyanghadao vs Kenny Tse

ONE Super Series Muay Thai: 61.2kg

Rin Saroth vs Fu Chang Xin

Mixed Martial Arts: 65.8kg

Riri Nasukawa vs Rudzma Abubakr
ONE Super Series Kickboxing: 47.6kg

Dodi Mardian vs Ramon Gonzales

Mixed Martial Arts: 61.2kg

For more updates on ONE Championship, please visit www.onefc.com, follow us on Twitter and Instagram @ONEChampionship, and like us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/ONEChampionship.

About ONE Championship™

ONE Championship is the largest global sports media property in Asian history. Headquartered in Singapore, ONE Championship is the home of martial arts and is the world’s largest martial arts organization, hosting bouts across all styles of martial arts such as Muay Thai, Kickboxing, Karate, Kung Fu, Silat, Sanda, Lethwei, Mixed Martial Arts, Tae Kwon Do, Submission Grappling, and more. The world’s most exciting martial arts organization hosts the largest sports entertainment events across Asia, featuring some of the world’s best martial artists and world champions, all signed to exclusive contracts, on the largest media broadcast in Asia. In addition to its digital platforms, ONE Championship broadcasts to over 1.7 billion potential viewers across 138 countries around the world with some of the largest global broadcasters, including Fox Sports, ABS-CBN, Astro, ClaroSports, Bandsports, Startimes, Premier Sports, Thairath TV, Skynet, Mediacorp, OSN, and more.




Antowyan AIkens & DeCarlo Perez chime in on their New Jersey State Super Middleweight title bout THIS SATURDAY NIGHT!!! at The Showboat Hotel in Atlantic City


Atlantic City, NJ (September 3, 2018) – Atlantic City rivals, Antowyan Aikens (13-4-1, 1 KO)and DeCarlo Perez (16-6-1, 5 KOs) both have strong words heading into their showdown for the New Jersey State Super Middleweight title that will take place this Saturday night at The Bourbon Room inside the Showboat Hotel.

The bout headlines a card promoted by Rising Star Promotions.

On Training Camp:

Aikens–“I had a 10-week camp, and it was great. I am prepared for a good fight on Saurday.”

Perez-“Camp was tremendous. I had a fantastic camp. It was a lot of hurt, but it was worth it with all the road work and great sparring. It was tough, but it was my best camp.”

On Your Opponent:

Aikens–“Perez is tough, and I know he is going to being his “A” Game. He is going to come in shape. But I know what I have, and how I prepared, so there is nothing to worry about.”

Perez–“Aikens is somebody else that is in the way of something that I want. He has to go. I know he is the one who wanted this fight, but that is his business. There is not much I can say about that.”

Does this mean anything more that your opponent is from Atlantic City?

Aikens–“This is one of those fights that is for bragging rights. It is for the State Championship. It is one of those fights that I never expected to happen, but it is here, so I am going to make the best of it.”

Perez-“To me, he wants to prove that he is the best in the area. He had to fight someone who is one of the best. I tip my hat to hip, because he acknowledged me as one of the best.”

What does a win do for your career?

Aikens–“A win gets my career to the next level. For my sake, A win is very credible because who he has fought and defeated.”

Perez–“A win gets my momentum back. A push to go forward. This is a must win fight for me.”

DeCarlo, how do you feel at 168-pounds?

Perez–“168 is fine with me. I train hard and when I am fight at this weight, it is not a priority. I can just focus on training to win. When I fight at 160 or 168, I can just focus on my craft., and I do not have to hurt myself making weight.

Final Thoughts on the fight:

Aikens-“I am prepared to go to war. I will use my boxing ability. That is who I am, but If I have to go to war, then I will.

Perez–“It is going to be an interesting and action packed fight. We are both coming to fight to see who is the best in the area.

In the eight-round co-feature, Greg Jackson (8-7-1, 2 KOs) of Philadelphia battles Julius Dyis (9-1, 4 KOs) of Clarksdale, Mississippi in a fight for the WBF Welterweight Title.

In a six-round battle of New Jersey based junior welterweights, John Bauza (10-0, 5 KOs) of North Bergen takes on Rashad Bogar (4-7-1, 2 KOs) of Newark.

In four-round bouts:

Tahlik Taylor (3-11-1, 1 KO) of Greensboro, NC fights Travis Toledo (1-0) of Baltimore, Maryland in a light heavyweight battle.

Ryan Wilczak (6-0, 3 KOs) of Scranton, PA squares off with Alberto Delgado (0-3) of Roanoke, Virginia in a middleweight contest.

Omar Salem (3-0) of Brooklyn New York will fight Mike Anderson (0-2) of Philadelphia in a middleweight fight.

Isaiah Hart of Atlantic City will make his pro debut against Dillan Kasprzak (0-1) of Philadelphia in a lightweight fight.

Nahir Albright (3-1, 1 KO) of Philadelphia battles Glenford Nickey (4-1, 1 KO) of Brooklyn, New York in a lightweight bout.

Jahmal Dyer (5-1, 3 KOs) of Baltimore, Maryland boxes against Marcos Lugo (0-1) of Vineland, New Jersey in a lightweight bout.

Ry’Shine Collins of Philadelphia makes his pro debut against Lucky Holt (0-2) of Hannibal, Missouri in a bantamweight fight.

Steve Moore (1-4, 1 KO) of Orange, New Jersey takes on Kashon Hutchinson (3-5, 1 KO) of Reading, Pennsylvania in a welterweight bout.

2018 National Golden Gloves champion Roney Hines (3-0, 3 KOs) of Cleveland, Ohio battles Kendrick Houston (1-3, 1 KO) of Concord, NC in a heavyweight fight.

Antowyan Aikens vs DeCarlo Perez Fight Week Schedule

**All Times Are Eastern**

Wednesday, September 5

12:00 p.m. Media Workout
Location: Showboat Hotel
801 Boardwalk
Atlantic City, NJ 08041
11:30 a.m. – Media Arrival
12:00 p.m. – Antowyan Aikens
12:20 p,.m.- Greg Jackson
12:40 p.m.- DeCarlo Perez
1:00 p.m.- Isiah Hart
1:20 p.m.- Nahir Albright
1:40 p.m- Julius Dyis

Thursday, September 6

12:00 p.m. Press Conference
Location: Showboat Hotel Lobby
801 Boardwalk
Atlantic City, NJ 08041
11:30 a.m. Media Arrival
12:00 p.m. Press Conference Begins

Friday, September 7

3:00 p.m. Weigh In
Location: Showboat Hotel Lobby
801 Boardwalk
Atlantic City, NJ 08041
2:30 p.m. Media Arrival
3:00 p.m. Fighters on Scale

Saturday, September 8th

7:00 p.m. Fight Night
Location: Showboat Hotel (Bourbon Room)
801 Boardwalk
Atlantic City, NJ 08041
6:00 p.m. Doors Open
7:00 p.m 1st Bout

Media Credentials are to be picked up at table outside of Bourbon Room beginning at 6 PM

Rising Star Promotions would like to thank the following Sponsors:

Ticket Prices are $55 I $80 I $125 and are available at www.RSPBoxing.com




IT’S GOOD TO TALK FOR CATTERALL

JACK CATTERALL has revealed that he is the man doing all the talking ahead of his big fight against Ohara Davies.

The Chorley man believes regular chats with gym-mate Carl Frampton are playing a key role ahead of his WBO intercontinental super-lightweight title defence against the Londoner at Leicester’s Morningside Arena on October 6.

WBO ranked No 2 Catterall (22-0) and two-weight world champion Frampton are both trained by Jamie Moore and the Chorley ace said: “Carl’s win over Luke Jackson and Rocky Fielding’s world title upset has brought a good vibe in the gym.

“Carl has been at the highest level and I can pick his brains. I am not afraid of asking people like him questions.

“I have been at the side of him for a couple of camps and I have never been scared of going up to him and asking about opinions.

“My chats with Carl has definitely brought me on.

“I have been in the WBO rankings for a couple of years, I have earned my stripes and once I come thorough Davies I don’t believe that world title shot is far away.”

Catterall, 25, will be having his fourth fight under Moore which has so far yielded a pair of first round stoppages and a hard fought points win against Tyrone McKenna.

He added: “I feed off everybody’s energy and the gym environment is only going to help me learn and progress in my fight.

“McKenna was a good learning fight. It was only my third with the new team and the previous fights both only went a round.

“It was nice to get the rounds in with Jamie and Nigel Travis in the corner.”

Davies (18-1) has a reputation as one of boxing’s greatest trash talkers, but so far has stuck to his promise not to goad Catterall ahead of their much anticipated showdown.

Catterall says: “I couldn’t care less if he is ranting about me or keeping his mouth shut.

“It won’t make any difference to what happens in the fight and that is all I am focused on.

“It is going to be a tough fight. He has had some good wins over the last couple of years and he has power, but I believe in my ability to overcome what he has got.”

‘The Time Is Now’ is headlined by Jack Catterall v Ohara Davies. Leicester’s own, Lyon Woodstock defends his WBO European Super-Featherweight title against Archie Sharp. Heavyweight prospect Daniel Dubois takes on former world title challenger Kevin Johnson. Olympian and double gold medallist Nicola Adams and Leicester’s British Super-Featherweight champion Sam Bowen also feature on a major night of boxing televised live on BT Sport.

Tickets are priced at £40, £60, £100, £150, £200 and are available to purchase from Eventbrite and Ticketmaster.




VERBAL WAR CONTINUES BETWEEN WOODSTOCK AND SHARP

Upcoming foe’s Lyon Woodstock and Archie Sharp continue to exchange words in the build up to their clash on October 6th for the WBO European Super-Featherweight title.

Woodstock (11-0) and Sharp (13-0) have been trading verbal punches through social media, beginning months before their fight was even announced.

“I didn’t even know who the guy was until somebody showed me the tweets he was putting.” admitted the current owner of the belt, Woodstock.

“At first I didn’t think anything of it but then he was posting tweet after tweet about me, so I thought let’s see who this Archie boy is!”

Both undefeated fighters met each other for the first time at the show announcement in July which gave them both the opportunity to ‘discuss’ their differences face-to-face.

“I found it all very funny.” said Woodstock.

He continued: “I mean, I turned up with my title and he turned up wearing a man bag! Who even has those these days?!

“All of this is new to him. He made it obvious to everybody that he wasn’t really too sure what he was doing, bless his heart!”
Sharp’s first impressions not going down well with Woodstock, but the feelings appeared to be mutual;

“Blah-blah-blah!… I just let him talk because that’s what he likes to do.” Sharp replied with.

“For me, the fights made, my talking will be done in the ring.

“I personally believe the reason he talks so much and writes so much on twitter and social media is so he can serve some confidence to his self because that is what he needs.”

Archie Sharp’s amateur pedigree has been a factor he has made clear to Woodstock all throughout, something the Leicester man has mockingly played down in return.

“Lyon has to go on about my amateur career and it was this many years ago, but at the end of the day, I’m still sparring and mixing it with the likes of Luke Campbell, Joe Cordina; both top amateur fighters.

“I boxed at a great level, boxed opponents at a high level and ability wise that are a lot better than Lyon Woodstock, the only difference really is that this is a ten-round fight, but I train for twelve-round fights and on the 6th October I’m going to turn it up!”

‘The Time Is Now’ is headlined by Jack Catterall v Ohara Davies. Leicester’s own, Lyon Woodstock defends his WBO European Super-Featherweight title against Archie Sharp. Heavyweight prospect Daniel Dubois takes on former world title challenger Kevin Johnson. Olympian and double gold medallist Nicola Adams and Leicester’s British Super-Featherweight champion Sam Bowen also feature on a major night of boxing televised live on BT Sport.

Tickets are priced at £40, £60, £100, £150, £200 and are available to purchase from Eventbrite and Ticketmaster.




TEAM GGG RESPONDS TO OSCAR DE LA HOYA’S OUTLANDISH CLAIMS

LOS ANGELES (Sept. 2, 2018) — Tom Loeffler, promoter of undefeated World Middleweight Champion GENNADY “GGG” GOLOVKIN has called out the team of Canelo Alvarez and specifically, its promoter Oscar De La Hoya. On Sunday, under the headline “Oscar De La Hoya Boldly Claims Gennady Is Unpatriotic,” Niall Doran posted on the website Boxing News and Views a story based on a video interview De La Hoya had done with Villainfy Media which was posted on You Tube on Aug. 31. The story also stated that De La Hoya “…questioned his {Golovkin’s] support of his own country.”

“I have no idea what Oscar is talking about but it is not true,” said Loeffler. “The truth is Team Golovkin had requested that the national anthems of Kazakhstan, Mexico and the United States be sung before the pay-per-view telecast began so that we could proceed with the fights seamlessly and uninterrupted. HBO supported this position and has always preferred that the anthems take place before the HBO Pay-Per-View telecast begins. To suggest that Gennady is unpatriotic and has no respect for the anthems of his Kazakhstan, Mexico or the U.S., where Gennady resides in southern California, is patently false. Oscar and Canelo owe Gennady yet another apology. This is just another example of why Gennady never believes anything from Canelo’s side.”

This link will take you to De La Hoya’s interview with Villainfy Media. His statement about Gennady begins at 2:58 of this video which was posted on You Tube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p15oRiI-hwU. Below is a transcription of it.

“Look, I mean, they have to stop all this nonsense. I can tell you one thing for instance. Talk about not supporting your own country? The Golovkin people didn’t want to sing the national anthems before the fight. That’s a ritual. Having a national anthem before a championship fight is what you’re supposed to do. It makes it feel like a bigger event. Golovkin’s people didn’t want the Kazakhstan national anthem to be sang, the Mexican national anthem to be sung, the American national anthem to be sung. I mean what else are they going to demand? Jesus, are they going to cancel the fight? It’s ridiculous Just go out there and fight!”

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“24/7 Canelo/GGG 2” is streaming on HBO GO and HBO NOW.

Canelo’s fifth “24/7” appearance and Golovkin’s third, “24/7 CANELO/GGG 2”

is the latest installment of the acclaimed franchise that began in 2007.

Canelo vs. GGG 2 is a 12-round fight for the middleweight championship of the world presented by Golden Boy Promotions and GGG Promotions. The event is sponsored by Tecate, “THE OFFICIAL BEER OF BOXING,” Hennessy, “Never Stop, Never Settle,” Fred Loya Insurance, Interjet, Venom, and Fathom Events. The event will take place Saturday, Sept. 15 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas and will be produced and distributed live by HBO Pay-Per-View® beginning at 8:00 p.m. ET / 5 :00 p.m. PT.

Remaining tickets for Canelo vs. GGG 2 are priced at $5,000, $2,500, $2,000, $1,500, $800, $700, $500 and $300, not including applicable service charges and taxes. There will be a limit of eight (8) per person at the $5,000, $2,500, $2,000, $1,500, $800 and $700 price levels with a limit of two (2) per person at the $500 and $300 price levels. To charge by phone with a major credit card, call 888-9-AXS-TIX (888-929-7849). Tickets also will be available for purchase at www.t-mobilearena.com or www.axs.com.

For more information, visit www.goldenboypromotions.com, ;;;

www.caneloggg.com ;;;and www.hbo.com/boxing; ;;;follow on Twitter @GoldenBoyBoxing, @Canelo, @gggboxing, @OscarDeLaHoya, @hboboxing and @TomLoeffler1; become a fan on Facebook at www.facebook.com/GoldenBoyBoxing,

www.facebook.com/gggboxing, and www.facebook.com/HBOBoxing; follow on Instagram @GoldenBoyBoxing, @Canelo, @gggboxing, @HBOboxing and @OscarDeLaHoya; and follow the conversation using #CaneloGGG2.

Photos and videos are available for download by clicking here or copying

and pasting the link http://bit.ly/CaneloGGG2 into a browser. Credit must be provided to Golden Boy Promotions for any photo and/or video usage.




QUOTES: FIGHT WEEK KICKS OFF WITH OPEN WORKOUTS AT LEGENDARY AZTECA BOXING GYM FOR MEXICAN RIVALS JUAN FRANCISCO ESTRADA AND FELIPE ORUCUTA


Los Angeles, CA (September 2, 2018) SUPERFLY 3 fight week events kicked off in grand style on Sunday afternoon in Los Angeles as boxing fans and media flooded into the legendary Azteca Boxing Gym to watch the final preparations of Mexican rivals Juan Francisco ‘El Gallo’ Estrada and Felipe ‘Gallito’ Orucuta just six days prior to their main event showdown on Saturday, September 8 at the ‘Fabulous Forum’ and televised on HBO Boxing After Dark beginning at 9:45 p.m. ET/PT.

The fight week workouts at the gym for the fans and media are a historical tradition favored by ‘El Grand Campeon Mexicano’ Julio Cesar Chavez Sr. Joining Estrada and Orucuta was promoter of the acclaimed SUPERFLY series, Tom Loeffler of 360 Promotions.

Juan Francisco Estrada

“I’m very happy to be back in Los Ángeles for another SUPERFLY card. I am very proud to headline a big card like this and I hope to give the fans a great fight just like my other two SUPERFLY appearances. Most of all I want to win to keep on track to fight for a world championship in my next fight.”

“I know Orucuta very well, he a tall, strong fighter that will make this fight very hard for me. I expect a war between two Mexican fighters who will bring their best on Saturday night.”

“The SUPERFLY weight division is full of talent but I am out to prove that I am the best super flyweight in the world. I had a great training camp and this week is about staying on weight and keeping sharp for Saturday night.”

Felipe Orucuta

“This was a terrific welcome to Los Ángeles. The fans and the media are all great and I look forward to giving them a fantastic fight full of action, excitement and drama on Saturday night.”

“This is like a dream come true for me. I am on a fantastic card against one of the best fighters in the world in a legendary venue. It’s the opportunity I have been seeking for a long time. I am very grateful to HBO and Tom Loeffler for making this happen.”

“I trained very hard and I am ready to go to war and get this win. It should be a great fight and I intend to win it at all costs.

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Emanating from the “Fabulous” Forum in Los Angeles on Saturday, September 8 and televised on HBO Boxing After Dark beginning at 9:45 p.m. ET/PT, SUPERFLY 3 is headlined by a 12-round WBC Super Flyweight Final Elimination Bout between former world champion JUAN FRANCISCO ‘El Gallo’ ESTRADA, (36-3-0, 25 KO’s), of Sonora, Mexico and two-time world title challenger FELIPE ‘Gallito’ ORUCUTA, (36-4-0, 30 KO’s), of Nicolas Romero, Mexico. Estrada vs. Orucuta is promoted in association with Zanfer Promotions.

Co-featured over 12-rounds for the vacant WBO Super Flyweight World Title, three-division world champion DONNIE ‘The Snake’ NIETES, (41-1-4, 23 KO’s), of Bacolod City, Philippines, moves up one division to face rival countryman and #2 world ranked challenger ‘Mighty’ ASTON PALICTE, (24-2-0, 20 KO’s) of Bago City, Philippines.

Opening the telecast, three-division world champion KAZUTO IOKA, (22-1-0, 13 KO’s), of Osaka, Japan, battles WBC Super Flyweight Silver Champion MCWILLIAMS ARROYO, (17-3-0, 14 KO’s), of Fajardo, Puerto Rico in a 10-round title bout.

Featured on the outstanding live-streamed undercard, ‘Bang Bang Lulu’ Louisa Hawton, (8-1-0, 4 KO’s) of Perth, Australia will face Brenda Flores, (12-4-1, 2KO’s) of Tijuana, Mexico for the Interim World Boxing Council Women’s Atomweight World Title.

Advance tickets for SUPERFLY 3, priced at $150, $100, $75, $50 and $25 can be purchased HERE. The Forum is located at 3900 W. Manchester Blvd, Inglewood CA 90305. Doors on the night of the event will open at 4:00 p.m.

SOCIAL MEDIA

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360 Boxing Promotions

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