Murfreesboro, TN (December 12, 2018) – Super middleweight rising star Sena “African Assassin” Agbeko scored a career best victory when he topped longtime contender Brian Vera, 26-14 (16 KO’s) Saturday, December 8.
The TriStar Boxing promoted event was Murfreesboro, TN’s first pro boxing card in more than 20 years and took place at the Mid-TN Expo.
Agbeko took a big step up in competition against Austin, TX’s Brian Vera. Vera, who has wins over Andy Lee, Sergiy Dzinziruk and Sergio Mora among others, looked to overwhelm Agbeko but the Nashville transplant wouldn’t be taken off his game.
Agbeko, who is originally from Ghana, worked behind a solid jab and straight right hand while displaying excellent movement to mostly keep Vera out of range. The gutsy Vera had a few moments of success but Agbeko weathered the storm and won convincingly.
Scores were 79-73 on all three scorecards.
“It feels good to have gotten this win, said Agbeko,” who is now 22-1 with 18 wins by knockout. “This was my first real step up and I’m looking forward to an even bigger challenge in my next fight. The goal is to keep moving up in the rankings and get in position for a title shot.”
Matt Young of TriStar Boxing Promotions was pleased with Agbeko’s performance and the return of boxing to Murfreesboro.
“Sena fought an excellent fight,” said Young, who works as a local firefighter and grew up in Murfreesboro. “We’re hoping to have him fight a ten rounder in his next fight against a respectable opponent. I owe a special thanks to all the fans that came out Saturday night and everybody that played a part in making this card happen. It was a dream of mine to promote a show in my hometown and we hope to return in the future.”
TriStar Boxing’s next show is taking place in 2019 and official particulars will be announced shortly. For more information on TriStar Boxing, please visit tristarboxing.com or facebook.com/tristarboxing.
UNDERCARD RESULTS:
Lightweights – Austin “The Dream” Dulay KO1 Corey Edwards
Heavyweights – Rydell “Super” Mayes KO1 Demetrius Shaw
Heavyweights – Dylan Courson KO1 Demonte Cherry
Heavyweights – Khalil Smoot UD4 Michael Davis

Nashville, TN (October 16, 2018) – Tri-Star Boxing Promotions will host Murfreesboro, TN’s first pro boxing card in more than a quarter century when they present “Beatdown in the Boro” Saturday, December 8 at The Mid-TN Expo Center.

Doors open at 6 pm and tickets for “Beatdown in the Boro” will be on sale shortly at Tristarboxing.com.

Headlining is an intriguing eight round super middleweight showdown between Nashville’s Sena “African Assassin” Agbeko and longtime contender Bryan Vera of Austin, TX.

Originally from Accra, Ghana, the heavy-handed Agbeko’s outstanding professional record is 21-1 with 18 wins by knockout. In March, Agbeko outpointed Lawrence Blakey in Nashville and made it known he was eager to take on tougher opposition. Since defeating Blakey, Agbeko’s spent time training with many of the world’s top fighters in Las Vegas.

Recognized as one of the toughest and most exciting fighters on the planet, Vera’s never backed down from a challenge. His professional ledger is 26-13 with 16 wins by knockout and he’s been on boxing’s biggest stage multiple times. Vera has two wins against former world champion Sergio Mora along with knockout victories over former titlists Sergiy Dzinziruk and Andy Lee.

The tough Texan also shared the squared circle with James Kirkland, Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (twice), Willie Monroe Jr., Matt Korobov and Rocky Fielding among others. At 36, Vera looks to knock off Agbeko and have another run at the top.

“This is going to be the biggest fight for a local boxer in quite some time and it’s truly an honor to host the first fight card in more than a quarter century in my hometown,” said Matt Young, a Murfreesboro native and founder of Tri-Star Boxing. “Sena told us adamantly that he wants to step up the competition and Bryan Vera is the kind of opponent he was looking for. We’re expecting to see the best Sena Agbeko to date but he’s still in for a tough fight.”

Murfreesboro’s Rydell “Super” Mayes, 1-0 (1 KO), will face an opponent to be named in a four round heavyweight contest. A standout football player at Riverdale high school, Mayes scored an impressive knockout in his pro debut July 28.

Lightweight Austin “The Dream” Dulay looks to get back to his winning ways following his first career defeat when he faces an opponent to be named. Born and raised in Nashville, Dulay has an excellent 11-1 record with 8 victories by KO.

Popular Nashville native Eduardo “Chachi” Aguilar meets 15 fight veteran Carl Currie of Robbins, IL over four rounds. The two met July 28 and fought to a thrilling draw.

Unbeaten Memphis, TN based junior middleweight Mike Cook, 9-0 (4 KO’s), and heavyweight Dylan Courson, 2-1 (2 KO’s), of Rome, GA are slated to appear in separate bouts against opponents TBD.

Additional undercard fights will be announced shortly.

For more information, please visit Tristarboxing.com or Facebook.com/Tristarboxing.

Former world champion Mike Alvarado won an eight round majority decision over Josh Torres at The Bomb Factory in Dallas, Texas.

Alvarado, 147 1/2 lbs of Denver, Colorado won by scores of 78-74, 77-75 and 76-76 and is now 36-4. Torres, 147 1/2 lbs is 15-5-2.

Matt Korobov won an eight-round unanimous decision over Bryan Vera in a middleweight bout

Vera was dropped in the first twenty seconds from a right hand. About a minute later, Vera hit the canvas again with a right hook.

Korobov, 162 1/2 lbs won by scores of 78-70 and 79-69 twice and is now 26-1. Vera is 23-11.

Bryan Vera 168 – Rocky Fielding 167

Liverpool, England (June 24, 2015)– Super Middleweight contender Bryan Vera (23-9, 14 KO’s) and Rocky Fielding (20-0, 11 KO’s) held a media workout Tuesday in advance of their bout on Friday.

The fight will take place at the Echo Arena, and he is with his team that consists of his brother Gilbert, manager David Watson and Matthew Rowland, Vice-President of Banner Promotions.

“We did a media day in front of a good crowd in Liverpool. We did a small workout for the crowd. Rocky fielding showed up after me and did his thing for the crowd,” Said Vera

“I am ready to bring back the belt. I am ready and feel great fighting at 168. I have fought many great fighters. I have been tested time and time again. Rocky Fielding knows that this is not his typical fight. He’s fighting a warrior and I’m coming to win. That I know.

Willie Monroe Jr. 160 – Bryan Vera 160
(NABA & NABO Middleweight championship)
Petr Petrov 133 1/2 – Hank Lundy 139
*** Fight off due to Lundy being 4 lbs. overweight
Greg Jackson 145 1/2 – Cornelius Whitlock 145
Brandon Adams 160 – Lekan Byfield 158
Vitor Jones De Oliveira 132 – Michael Doyle 126
Taras Shelestyuk 148 – Antonio Chaves Fernandez 146
Borngod Washington 172 – Cameron Allen 172

New ESPN 2 Bout Order:
Opening Bout: Jackson vs Whitlock
Co-Feature: Adams vs Byfield
Main Event: Monroe Jr. vs Vera

Promoter: Banner Promotions
Venue: Turning Stone Resort Casino:
1st Bell: 7 PM ET
ESPN 2 Start Time: 9 PM ET

in anticipation of this year’s Boxcino 2015 tournament, the January 16 edition of ESPN Friday Night Fights presented by Corona Extra and ESPN Deportes’ Noche de Combates presentado por Corona Extra will feature Boxcino 2014 middleweight champion Willie “El Mongoose” Monroe Jr. (18-1, 6 KOs) and Boxcino 2014 lightweight champion Petr “El Zar” Petrov (35-4-2, 16 KOs) in co-main events. Monroe will square off in a 10-round bout against veteran Bryan “The Warrior” Vera (23-8, 14 KOs), while Petrov will meet lightweight contender “Hammerin’” Hank Lundy (25-4-1, 12 KOs) in a 10-round match. Friday’s show from the Turning Stone Casino in Verona, N.Y., will air live at 9 p.m. ET on ESPN2, broadband Spanish-language ESPN Deportes+ and WatchESPN. ESPN Deportes will air the fights on Saturday, January 17, at 8 p.m. The card is promoted by Banner Promotions.

Commentators:
Joe Tessitore will be ringside with analyst Teddy Atlas describing the action for ESPN2, while studio host Todd Grisham (@GrishamESPN) will provide the latest boxing news and information. Delvin Rodríguez and Pablo Viruega will call the fights for Noche de Combates (Fight Night) on ESPN Deportes, while Leopoldo González and Claudia Trejos will anchor the studio. Bilingual reporter Bernardo Osuna (@osunaespn) will present live interviews and reports for both shows.

Boxcino 2015 Fighters and Matchups to be Announced on Telecast:
Fighters and matchups for this year’s Boxcino 2015 tournament — featuring fighters in the heavyweight and junior middleweight divisions — will be announced during this week’s Friday Night Fights and Noche de Combates telecasts (boxers are paired and the brackets created by random drawing).

Co-Main Events:
Rochester, N.Y.’s Monroe Jr., the son of former middleweight contender Willie Monroe, has won his last eight fights, including his last—a 10-round unanimous decision win over Brandon Adams to win the Boxcino 2014 middleweight belt. Vera, who hails from Texas, enters Friday’s fight with wins over former junior middleweight titlists Sergio Mora and Sergey Dzinziruk.

Pertov, who scored an eighth-round TKO victory over Fernando Carcamo in his last fight to win the Boxcino 2014 lightweight belt, is looking to score another victory when he faces Philadelphia’s Lundy, who has wins over lightweight titlist Richar Abril and former lightweight titlist David Diaz.

Opening Fight:
Fridays show will open with a four-round matchup between Welterweights Greg Jackson (3-1-1, 1 KO) of N.J. and Maryland’s Cornelius Whitlock (3-1-2, 2 KOs).

Upcoming Schedule:

Date

Time (ET)

Main Event

Location

Networks

Fri, Jan 16

9 p.m.

Willie Monroe Jr. (18-1, 6 KOs) vs. Brian Vera (23-8, 14 KOs) — 10 rounds, Middleweights; Petr Petrov (35-4-2, 7 KOs) vs. Hank Lundy (25-4-1, 12 KOs) – 10 rounds, Lightweights

Turning Stone Resort and Casino, Verona N.Y.

ESPN2, ESPN Deportes+, WatchESPN

Fri, Jan 30

9 p.m.

Karl Dargan (17-0, 9 KOs) vs. Tony Luis (18-2, 7 KOs) —10 rounds, Lightweights

Foxwoods Resort and Casino, Mashantucket, Conn.

ESPN2, ESPN Deportes+, WatchESPN

Fri, Feb 6

9 p.m.

Jermain Taylor (33-4-1, 20 KOs) vs. Sergio Mora (27-3-2, 9 KOs) — 12 rounds, IBF World Middleweight Title

Beau Rivage Resort & Casino, Biloxi, Miss.

ESPN2, ESPN Deportes+, WatchESPN

Fri, Feb 13

9 p.m.

Boxcino 2015 Quarterfinals- Junior Middleweight

Mohegan Sun, Uncasville, Conn.

ESPN2, ESPN Deportes+, WatchESPN

Fri, Feb 20

9 p.m.

Boxcino 2015 Quarterfinals- Heavyweight

Turning Stone Resort and Casino, Verona N.Y.

ESPN2, ESPN Deportes+, WatchESPN

*Schedule subject to change

Friday Night Fights and Noche de Combates Social Media:

· Follow ESPN Friday Night Fights on Twitter @ESPNFNF or like it on Facebook.

· Score the fights round-by-round with the “Live Friday Night Fights Facebook Voting App,” an application on the ESPN FNF Facebook page that allows viewers to score the fight round-by-round.

· Follow ESPN Deportes’ Noche de Combates on Twitter @ESPNBoxeo.

· For the latest ESPN.com boxing news and analysis follow @ESPNBoxing.

Philadelphia, PA (January 8, 2015)–With just a week away from an outstanding championship doubleheader on January 16, 2015 you will see two NABA/NABO title fights that will originate live from the Turning Stone Resort Casino and will be televised live on ESPN’s Friday night fights.

The show is promoted by Banner Promotions.

In one co-main event, NABA/NABO and Boxcino 2014 Lightweight champion Petr Petrov (35-4-2, 17 KO’s) will take on Hank Lundy (25-4-1, 12 KO’s)

The Petrov – Lundy fight is promoted by Banner Promotions and Classic Entertainment and Sports (CES) Boxing.

In the second co-main event, NABA/NABO and Boxcino 2014 Middleweight champion Willie Monroe Jr. (18-1, 6 KO’s) will battle Bryan Vera (23-8, 14 KO’s)

Below are quotes from both the Monroe and Vera camps.

Willie Monroe Jr.:
“Camp and sparring has been amazing and we are looking forward to the fight with Bryan Vera. We have a great deal of respect for Bryan and his style of fighting. He is a world class fighter and if Willie Monroe Jr. deserves to be at the top of the middleweight division, come January 16 we will defeat Bryan Vera.

Damien Walton, Manager for Monroe:
“I think Willie is very motivated and in great shape for this fight. I think he’s got his work cut out for him in Bryan Vera but whens its all done you will see why Willie is ranked #3 in the world by the WBA and should be ranked # 1.”

Bryan Vera:
“This is another opportunity to reinvent myself like I have done many times before. I’m coming prepared and focused to get the job done. All business here. Coming to work Be prepared to see me do what has to be done. Look forward to another exciting fight here on ESPN. ”

David Watson, Manager for Vera:
“We are winding down camp as the fight is approximately 7 days away. Our weight is on track and we are looking forward to a victory over Willie Monroe and the opportunity to win the belts.”

“This fight is a great opportunity for Bryan. This will be an exciting fight for the fans and a great start to the ESPN Friday night season.”

Host of the January 16th bouts, the Oneida Indian Nation’s Turning Stone Resort Casino continues to distinguish itself as a premier destination for professional sporting events, including nationally-televised boxing matches and PGA-level golf. The January 16th fight will mark Turning Stone’s 13th nationally televised boxing event in less than two years, helping establish the resort as a mecca for knockout televised fights. Boxing legends Mike Tyson and Floyd Mayweather Jr. have promoted televised fight cards at the resort within the last year and Turning Stone has hosted televised boxing events on ESPN, Showtime, HBO, and NBC in the last two years. Located in Upstate New York, the four-season resort offers world-class entertainment and gaming, prestigious restaurants, luxury spa facilities, and award-winning accommodations.Tickets for the January 16th ESPN Friday Night Fights at Turning Stone are on sale now at the Turning Stone box office, in person or by calling 315.361.7469, or online at Ticketmaster. Tickets are $60 for ringside seats, $35, $25, and are subject to additional fees. Doors open at 6:00 p.m., with the first bout scheduled for 7:00 p.m. The live ESPN telecast starts at 9pm.

By Bart Barry-

Editor’s note: For part 1, please click here.

*

The week that began in February, ended in March and became the pinnacle of HBO boxing’s viewership feats in 2014 did not fool any of its participants or witnesses and still hasn’t. The ratings phenom who is Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. is not phenomenal at all when his numbers are put against nearly any other televised athletic competition, and his rematch with Bryan Vera in March was treated with contempt by most aficionados who treated it at all.

Then there was its choice of venue, a city in Texas – most despised of all boxing states by pundits who do not reside here. Chavez returned to Texas, place of lost drug tests and delayed weighins and scorekeepers decried by Paulie Malignaggi, to ensure he was given benefits of the doubt California and Nevada occasionally show dereliction in granting Son of the Legend, but this time he didn’t much need them.

There was a doubt in no one’s mind but Vera’s and maybe Ronnie Shields’ that a semiserious Chavez would beat Vera convincingly, and what suspense remained after the weighin expired with Chavez’s tardy arrival at the arena, as there were rising doubts at ringside he would bother being in his dressing room at his HBO- or commission-appointed time. Chavez does not care a whit about American television; he knows the herculean efforts made to keep him off premium-cable airwaves during the early part of his career, he knows his ratings happen in spite of HBO’s coverage of him and not because of it, he knows fully half his American audience watches solely in the hopes his ass gets beaten nearly to death, and he knows 90 percent of the other half of his viewers do so out of abiding loyalty to the Legend, not Son of.

Chavez Jr. is a millionaire despite his worst efforts, and he is just aware enough to be tickled by it. If you need a reason to like the kid, try this: He’s made absurdity his business partner.

*

The week that began in February, ended in March and became the pinnacle of HBO boxing’s viewership feats in 2014 gave the IABWA an occasion for its first meeting of the year. The association, such as it is, was born of Kelsey McCarson’s perennial rejection by the BWAA’s membership committee, and it was born of camaraderie, not protest; the folks who run the BWAA are for the most part good and decent, and Kelsey is good and decent, and if the two sides ever had aligned it would have been happier for both but much sadder for Kelsey’s followers on Twitter who so enjoy Kelsey’s satirical criticisms of the true boxing writers association.

We are all better and funnier than our public faces, and this holds particularly true for boxing writers – a group of talented and often hurt people describing other talented and hurt people hurting people.

There may be no better place than ringside, whether in Michigan or Colorado or Arizona, but in San Antonio, the next best place is McNay Art Museum, The McNay, where I took my friend and houseguest David Greisman hours before Chavez-Vera 2. David liked the pieces by Picasso, Matisse, Renoir and Mondrian well enough, but none of them resonated with him quite nearly like lines from his beloved E. E. Cummings do.

*

The week that began in February, ended in March and became the pinnacle of HBO boxing’s viewership feats in 2014 saw more of Russian light heavyweight titlist Sergey Kovalev than one anticipated. He was at a Doubletree mixer with promoters and managers and HBO handlers, he was at a special-access dinner at A—-r, he was ringside at Alamodome, and he was at Mi Tierra restaurant after Chavez finished beating Vera. He wore a full beard and showed a Russian interpretation of a trait once attributed to American President Richard Nixon: His smile and his face did not appear to be in the same place at the same time.

Kovalev sold menace, mostly, and the more menacing for failing to be in any coherent way friendly while publicly playing a friendly person. That he was later unable to beat Bernard Hopkins to unconsciousness tarnished his menacing image more than anyone now admits and few will realize for the next two or three years of relentless HBO promotion, and the contortions Kovalev’s absence of menace in November bent aficionados into would be amusing were they not tragic:

“No, no, a knockout, what? No! I wanted to see Kovalev cautiously outpoint a man about to turn 50. I wasn’t sure he could do it, and man, when he did, it made my year!”

Right, guys.

*

The week that began in February, ended in March and became the pinnacle of HBO boxing’s viewership feats in 2014 was seen by most who gathered round the Alamodome for the Friday weighin as the starter’s pistol for another decent year to come. Had you asked any of them if they believed the next evening’s match would be viewed by more HBO subscribers than another, to a person, they would have chuckled or said no or chuckled and said no. It was a testament to 2014’s overarching badness that in almost 300 days of trying, HBO made not one, more-enticing offering to its subscribers than Chavez-Vera 2.

The incongruent wardrobe of my return to television beneath a shower of ferocious South Texas sunlight brought to mind an old Chris Rock bit about a Sir Mix-A-Lot video in which the rapper wears a mink coat at a Seattle carwash where everyone else dances in bikinis. But never mind that.

People look to experts for authority. I was authoritative.

And just about perfectly wrong from beginning to end.

Bart Barry can be reached via Twitter @bartbarry

Philadelphia, PA (December 4, 2014)–On Friday night, January 16, 2015, Willie Monroe Jr. will defend his NABA and NABO Middleweight titles when he takes on Bryan Vera as part of an ESPN Friday Night Fights telecast at the Turning Stone Resort Casino in Verona, New York.

Monroe of Rochester, New York has a record of 18-1 with 6 knockouts and is riding an 8-fight win streak.

He is currently ranked number-3 by the WBA and number-7 by the WBO.

He catapulted up the rankings on the strength of his Boxcino tournament win where he defeated Donatas Bondorovas, previously undefeated Vitalii Kopylenko and in the finals he won a 10-round unanimous decision over previously undefeated Brandon Adams in a bout that took place on May 23, 2014 at the Turning Stone Resort & Casino.

“This fight is a step up,” said Monroe

“I have a lot of respect for Bryan Vera. Vera has fought a lot of top contenders. A fight like this will show the boxing world that I belong at the top of the Middleweight division.

Vera of Austin, Texas has developed into one of the biggest fan favorites in the sport due to his willingness to fight and defeat some of the biggest stars in boxing.

The 32 year-old has wins over Javier Diaz (1-0), Samuel Miller (17-1), Max Alexander (14-1-1), a thrilling 7th round stoppage over two-time world title challenger Andy Lee (15-0), Sebastien Demers (31-2), two wins over Contender Season 1 champ Sergio Mora (22-1-2 & 23-2-2), a 10th round stoppage over former WBO Jr. Middleweight champion Sergiy Dzinziruk (37-1-1), as well as a 7th round stoppage over Donatas Bondorovas (17-3-1).

Vera is coming off of two spirited efforts against former WBC Middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. In their first bout, most ringside observers and the millions watching on HBO believed that Vera should have been awarded the decision. The rematch with Chavez is the highest rated fight on HBO for 2014.

“I am excited for this fight on January 16,” said Vera.

“Monroe has a high ranking and with a big win on January 16, it will catapult me into another big fight and will set the tone for a big year in 2015.”

In the co-main event, the Boxcino 2014 lightweight champion Petr Petrov will also be in action as he defends his NABA & NABO Lightweight titles against an opponent to be announced.

Host of the January 16th bouts, the Oneida Indian Nation’s Turning Stone Resort Casino continues to distinguish itself as a premier destination for professional sporting events, including nationally-televised boxing matches and PGA-level golf. The January 16th fight will mark Turning Stone’s 13th nationally televised boxing event in less than two years, helping establish the resort as a mecca for knockout televised fights. Boxing legends Mike Tyson and Floyd Mayweather Jr. have promoted televised fight cards at the resort within the last year and Turning Stone has hosted televised boxing events on ESPN, Showtime, HBO, and NBC in the last two years. Located in Upstate New York, the four-season resort offers world-class entertainment and gaming, prestigious restaurants, luxury spa facilities, and award-winning accommodations.Tickets for the January 16th ESPN Friday Night Fights at Turning Stone are on sale now at the Turning Stone box office, in person or by calling 315.361.7469, or online at Ticketmaster. Tickets are $60 for ringside seats, $35, $25, and are subject to additional fees. Doors open at 6:00 p.m., with the first bout scheduled for 7:00 p.m. The live ESPN telecast starts at 9pm.

Professional media requesting credentials for the January 16 fight must contact Kelly Abdo, Turning Stone Public Relations Manager at 315.366.9291 or kelly.abdo@turningstone.com.

About Turning Stone Resort CasinoA premier four-season, destination resort in Upstate New York, the Oneida Indian Nation’s Turning Stone Resort Casino is conveniently located about 30 miles east of Syracuse at NYS Thruway exit 33. Turning Stone was named “Most Excellent Golf Resort” in 2010 by Condé Nast Johansens. The Academy of Country Music named Turning Stone “Casino of the Year” in 2009. The resort offers world-class gaming, golf, entertainment, accommodations and spa facilities, and has earned AAA Four Diamond ratings for The Lodge, The Tower Hotel, and Wildflowers restaurant. For more information and reservations, call (315) 361-7711 or (800) 771-7711. Visit the web site at www.TurningStone.com..

SAN ANTONIO – In this city’s Alamodome on Saturday, before Mexican Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. could whup Austin’s Bryan Vera and position himself for a match with undefeated Kazakhstani Gennady Golovkin, Mexican Orlando Salido took undefeated Ukrainian Vasyl Lomachenko to school and found him wanting, decisioning him by split scores of 113-115, 116-112, 115-113. Salido also forced upwards a number of tardily raised eyebrows about the propriety of his vacated title even being available to such an untested challenger.

What was lost on most, prefight, and understandably so, was the injury to Orlando Salido’s pride the Lomachenko match inflicted. There were other matters that needed consideration, of course: Vasyl Lomachenko was in pursuit of an ambiguous sort of history, one that came with editorial disclaimers galore of the sort that sparks proportionate debate among insiders as yawns among fans; the ongoing invasion of boxers from the former Soviet Union was set to continue; and Orlando Salido didn’t care enough to defend the WBO title, one he won from Orlando Cruz in 2013 after losing it to Mikey Garcia in 2013 after winning it from Juan Manuel “Juanma” Lopez in 2011, to come within 2 1/2 pounds of the featherweight limit.

For the second time in about as many months, one is put to remembering Mexican Marco Antonio Barrera’s 2001 victory over Englishman Naseem Hamed, or at least the disproportionate attention the business of boxing paid the sparkly object that was “Prince Naseem” at the expense of a former world champion and possessor of 52 professional victories. Lomachenko was polished to be another of our sport’s sparkly objects, a man of incomparable sparring prowess, one who emerged from behind an Iron Curtain that exists, anymore, solely in the collective imagination of what ageing generations still buck giddily round allusions to the Cold War.

Salido had earned his featherweight title, though, and if he was unable to retain it at Friday’s weighin that did not change what natural resentment he harbored for a rival and boxing infrastructure that allowed a man in only his second fight since turning “pro” the sort of title-challenging opportunity Salido was not afforded till his 34th prizefight. In some sense, it is not unlike what distrust and faint derision an autodidact feels for a degreed colleague, whichever their field. One man toiled in obscurity, often doing a number of coincidental other jobs in the hopes of someday having but one, learning his craft quietly and passionately, delaying indefinitely a wholly unguaranteed reward, while the other enjoyed an academy’s protection and comfort, longer in others’ expectations, yes, but much much shorter in risks.

If Salido and an army of other veteran fighters did not give voice to what resentment they surely felt for Lomachenko – going from headgear, spongy gloves and a cutiepie points system straight to a title challenge, via a 12-minute way station named Jose Ramirez in October, and getting a chance to wear a world championship belt without first navigating others’ elbows and heads and shoulders and skinned gloves and irregular calendars and hometown favoritisms – they surely felt the resentment in their collective marrow and cheered unsilently at home for Salido. Or as the Mexican journalist to my left said about the entire idea of the fight, after round 4, when it appeared Salido had a very real chance of beating Lomachenko: “¡Que insulto!”

That sense of insult was expressed best and most graciously by the aforementioned Juanma Lopez, a man twice vanquished by Salido, who nevertheless called Salido in his Alamodome dressing room before Saturday’s match.

“I’m with you 200-percent,” Juanma told his surprised former rival. “Go win the fight!”

And it was a fight for Salido, from the opening bell, in the sort of personal sense December’s match with American Adrien Broner was a fight for Argentine Marcos Maidana. Salido fouled Lomachenko continuously. He used a rangefinder hook to Lomachenko’s protective cup in the first round, and when that went undetected by referee Laurence Cole, he drove the knuckles of his right fist, bolo-style, at the front of Lomachenko’s left hipbone whenever Cole meandered over to break them. Salido’s awareness of Cole’s positioning was fantastic and very much better than Cole’s awareness of Salido’s positioning, which is a special sort of indictment when one considers Salido was extrapolating Cole’s position while calculating, at once, the acceleration and trajectory of another man’s onrushing fists.

Lomachenko had little idea what to do with Salido for much of the fight. The Ukrainian’s defense of Salido’s body blows, and later Salido’s mere feints, was a jackknifing sort of motion that involved throwing his abdomen backwards to where his spine had been and causing a forward-folding that anticipated no chance of retaliation. Salido might not have seen such amateurishness since he was a teenager in Sonora, if ever, but 54 previous fights told him one thing: This man is not in a position from which he can strike me. The American journalist to my right, happily enough my favorite Monday columnist, recognized early the surprising fact Lomachenko did not know how to use an uppercut to discourage Salido’s attack on his abdomen (and hips, and cup, and thighs, and right knee).

Lomachenko deserves plaudits, nevertheless, for comporting himself like a fighter, realizing in round 1 he was in a state where fights are often barely sanctioned things and reserving his complaints only for Salido’s most egregious infractions. After the fight, one that ended with Lomachenko very nearly stopping Salido, who made a four-limbed poncho of himself when hurt in the final 90 seconds, reveling in what lawlessness governed the small blue patch of Texas territory policed by Sheriff Cole, Lomachenko shrugged away questions of Salido’s tactics with an appeal to the profession both chose.

Sometime before Lomachenko’s 0 had to go, Saturday’s press section rippled with news that, mourning the recent death of his father, undefeated Kazakhstani middleweight titlist Gennady “GGG” Golovkin would be unable to make his unofficially scheduled next match, affording Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., in town primarily for Friday’s weighin, one chance at least to proctor for Golovkin the sort of stern test Salido gave Lomachenko. GGG’s legion of enthusiasts should welcome it.

Bart Barry can be reached at bart.barrys.email (at) gmail.com

Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. registered his 2nd victory over Bryan Vera in 7 months by scoring am entertaining 12 round unanimous decision in a Super Middleweight bout at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas.

Chavez was much better then the lethargic version of himself in September as he started quickly being much more active. He was dominant with body punches and hard right hands to the head. Vera showed an incredible heart and chin as not only did he withstand the Chavez assault but he came back with flurries of his own. It was a fast paced and exciting fight that saw a lot of contact. Vera was docked a point in round eight after being warned by referee Rafael Ramos for different fouls. The point was a dubious deduction as it looked like Vera did not do anything to warrant the point loss but Chavez complained several times and the referee “bought” those complaints. Chavez outlanded Vera in every round and then coasted in the 12th as he refused to engage and stay out of harms way and won by scores of 117-110 twice and 114-113.

Chaveez Jr., 167 1/2 lbs of Culican, MX is now 48-1-1-1. Vera, 167 1/2 lbs of Austin, TX is now 23-8.

Orlando Salido bucked history and scored a 12 round split decision over amateur star Vasyl Lomachenko in a Featherweight bout.

Lomachenko was trying to make history by winning a world title in just his 2nd pro bout. Salido, who was the reigning champion missed weight at Friday’s weigh-in making and then putting on another 19 pounds overnight Lomachenko the only fighter eligible to win the title.

Salido used both his size and experience advantages to the fullest in the fight as he bullied Lomachenko with body shots, which more than a handful strayed extremely low but was not called by referee Laurence Cole. Salido surged ahead in the middle rounds by his activity level and effective body work where Lomechenko was resigned to one shot and holding. Lomachenko made it interesting in the final frame when he hurt Salido with hard left and then a body punch of his own. Salido was able to hold on and by scores of 116-112 and 115-113 while Lomachenko won a card at 115-113.

Salido, 128 1/4 lbs of Ciudad, MX is now 41-12-2-1. Lomachenko, 125 1/4 lbs of Ukraine is now 1-1.

Julio Cesar Chavez 167.5 – Bryan Vera 167.5
Orlando Salido 128.25 – Vasyl Lomachenko 125.5
Juan Diaz 134.5 – Gerardo Robles 134.5
Oscar Valdez 127.5 – Samuel Sanchez 127.75
Ivan Najera 136.5 – Angel Hernandez 133.25
Alex Saucedo 146.5 – Gilberto Venegas 1498.5

SAN ANTONIO – What may well prove to be the most suspenseful moment of Saturday’s Chavez Jr.-Vera II card happened a day early when, framed by a clever prop, Mexico’s former middleweight titlist “Son of the Legend” Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. made the super middleweight limit by a half pound. In so doing, Chavez demonstrated an often-absent professionalism, and returned the need to prove one’s professional merits to Austinite Bryan Vera’s corner.

Saturday’s fight, a rematch of Chavez’s controversial decision win in September, may well turn out to be a savage thrashing of a Texan in Texas. Unless Vera’s approach to defending has improved more than Chavez’s approach to weightloss, in the last five months, Vera is likely to need his corner’s help both early and late.

Early Friday afternoon at a makeshift stage outside the host venue Alamodome’s south entrance, an apparently motivated Chavez (47-1-1, 32 KOs) made weight easily, weighing 167 1/2 pounds and confirming, officially, an easy-make of the weight he foreshadowed hours earlier in a photo on his own Instagram page. Austin’s Bryan Vera (23-7, 14 KOs), who made an identical 167 1/2 and enjoyed a considerably larger organic following than Chavez – as opposed to a less-authentic contingent of Chavez fans waving overhead wooden noisemakers and cheering at a volume that belied their collective scarcity – looked on amusedly at a large placard the Chavez camp unveiled as Chavez took the scale.

“Voided” read the red stamp across the fake check that represented what $250,000 fine Chavez was contractually obligated to pay Vera in the event of Chavez’s missing weight, a thing he managed to do a few times before their first fight. “168 LBS. MAX” read the Memo portion in the bottom left corner of the fake check, and Chavez alternately smiled and grimaced ferociously as he enjoyed more of the good-natured banter that has marked the promotion of this rematch. If “Son of the Legend” and Vera share any feelings of mutual animosity, none was displayed Friday.

Less enthusiastic about his visit to the scale was co-main-event Mexican Orlando “Siri” Salido (40-12-2, 28 KOs), the WBO featherweight titlist whose main role Saturday was to provide undefeated Ukrainian Vasyl Lomachenko (1-0, 1 KO) a world title in only his career’s second match. Salido will not be able to serve that role, exactly, as after marking 128 1/4 pounds, more than two pounds over the featherweight limit, and looking dry and gray as a result of his having tried, Salido did not make any effort to lose any further weight, losing his title officially about 30 hours before he could have it beaten out of him by Lomachenko.

Other notables making weight Friday were Houston’s former lightweight world champion Juan “Baby Bull” Diaz (38-4, 19 KOs), who will fight Mexican Gerardo Robles (18-12, 9 KOs), and Oklahoma’s Alex “El Cholo” Saucedo (12-0, 9 KOs), who will in all probability decimate Illinois welterweight Gilberto Venegas (12-12, 4 KOs).

Finally, though, Saturday’s most probable decimation will come in its main event. While Chavez and Vera looked nearly comparable in size Friday afternoon, Chavez’s long frame is expected to add 15 or so pounds to it before opening bell rings on his rematch with Vera. Boxing is ever an unpredictable entity, but one hopes if Chavez is able to body Vera with his left shoulder early, cornering the Austinite and lashing him with overhand rights, Vera’s corner will not be stubborn or proud as its charge – and will stop the fight too early, rather than too late.

First bell is scheduled to ring at Alamodome at 5:00 PM CT. 15rounds.com will have full undercard coverage from ringside.

LONDON (Feb. 27) – Mexican star Julio Cesar Chavez Jr is hoping to give fights fans something to remember as he takes on Texan Bryan Vera in a bout he hopes will go down as ‘Fight of the Year’.

The former WBC middleweight world champion faces Vera in a rematch at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas this weekend following a meeting last September in which Chavez Jr won a highly contentious points decision over 10 rounds.

Many observers that night felt the underdog Vera had won the fight, or at the very least had done more than the judges’ scorecards suggested, as he put on a gallant display in front of a pro-Chavez Jr crowd.

The bout last year was riddled with controversy even before both men entered the ring with the son of the legendary Julio Cesar Chavez unable to make the initially agreed super-middleweight limit of 168 pounds, instead renegotiating a new limit of 173 pounds.

Now, though, Chavez Jr insists he has had a great camp, welcoming his first born along the way, and is ready to put on a special performance for the fans.

“Vera has not seen the best Julio,” said Chavez Jr. “I had my best training camp since I fought Andy Lee. I am ready to fight. Having my little daughter Julia with me gives me extra motivation. Vera earned his second opportunity because of the way he fought in our first fight. He is a true warrior,” he said.

“I have had much success in Texas, especially in San Antonio and am looking to give the fans something they can remember – hopefully the ‘Fight of the Year’,” he declared.

The 28-year-old has refused to underestimate Vera this time around and is confident his improved conditioning for this fight will make him a much more dangerous foe.

“I have been training for four months for this fight because I need to be at my best to win this fight and win it in an impressive fashion. I must eliminate all doubts about the outcome. I know that I will be much better than the first fight,” he said.

“I believe that Bryan Vera will come very confident after what happened in our first fight which will make this fight much better than the first one and one that the fans will remember for a long time. I owe the fans a great performance and that is what they will get,” Chavez Jr said.

“I will make the 168 pound limit with no problem and I will be able to do the things I couldn’t do in the first fight. I will have better movement, I will be more consistent and I will fight 12 hard rounds if that is what it takes to win this second fight,” he added.

Vera came to prominence with his victory over the then undefeated Andy Lee back in 2008, before the Irishman avenged the loss three years later.

The Mexican-American was seen as a stepping stone for Chavez Jr, who was looking to go after another world title, before he ran into the unrelenting 32-year-old, who is convinced he will dish out more of the same in the early hours this Sunday.

“I did all of my training times two. This has been the longest camp of my career. I sparred against heavyweights to get ready for Chavez Jr,” Vera said.

“I’m going to beat him for the second time. Everyone knows I won the first fight. This is a serious fight with only one ending – I will get my hand raised,” he said.

Also on the card that night will be an exciting matchup featuring the two-time Olympic gold medalist Vasyl Lomachenko who will go after his first world title in only his second professional bout.

The silky southpaw who dazzled on his debut against Jose Ramirez last October challenges the tough WBO featherweight world champion Orlando Salido in a highly unusual and intriguing clash.

“I am not nervous at all,” said Lomachenko. “I am the one who chose this path to a world title fight. All of this was my decision. Salido has fought the best of the best. He will be a hard fighter to defeat. I like fighters like him with the tough Mexican style. It makes it so much more challenging.

“Salido is a great champion because he is calm, never talks trash, is cold-blooded and has beaten the best. This is a real fight, a battle,” he stated.

Earlier this Saturday from 8pm, BoxNation will also show the WBO super-middleweight matchup between Robert Stieglitz and Arthur Abraham as they battle it out live from Germany.

Plus, on March 8th, Mexican hero Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez makes his ring return following his defeat to pound-for-pound king Floyd Mayweather last September. He steps in against fan favourite Alfredo Angulo in a bad blooded all-Mexican affair.

The stacked undercard sees potential Carl Frampton rival Leo Santa Cruz in action when he defends his WBC super-bantamweight crown against Cristian Mijares.

The following week on March 15th, the top dog at 140 pounds – Danny Garcia – puts his WBC and WBA world titles on the line against Mauricio Herrera, live from Puerto Rico. With heavyweight hitman Deontay Wilder looking to blast past yet another opponent when he faces Malik Scott in his toughest fight to date.

Chavez Jr vs. Vera is live on BoxNation (Sky Ch.437/HD 449 & Virgin Ch.546) this Sunday from 2am. Visit www.boxnation.com to subscribe.

-Ends-

About BoxNation
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SAN ANTONIO, TX (February 26, 2014) — Fight Week in San Antonio for the eagerly- anticipated boxing doubleheader featuring the historic challenge by two-time Ukrainian Olympic gold medalist and 2013 Prospect of the Year, VASYL LOMACHENKO, in only his second professional fight, of World Boxing Organization (WBO) featherweight champion ORLANDO SALIDO continued its hot path in earnest today as both participated in Media Workouts. In front of a packed Zarzamora Street Boxing Gym, the fighters trained for over three hours as they fine-tuned for their upcoming encore battle. The world championship event will be headlined by the rematch between former World Boxing Council (WBC) middleweight champion and Son of the Legend JULIO CÉSAR CHÁVEZ JR. and Top-Five contender and two-fisted Texan BRYAN VERA.

Both fights will take place This Saturday! March 1, at the Alamodome in San Antonio, TX and will be televised live on HBO World Championship Boxing, beginning at 9:45 p.m. ET/PT.

SALIDO
“I have being an underdog all my professional career and this fight is no different. I come to fight and do the best I can and I don’t pick my opponents and never have.
I know why Lomachenko is getting this opportunity. He was one of the best amateur boxers and has two gold medals. I came up the hard way and I worked hard for everything I have.”

When asked if Lomachenko was ready for an experienced fighter like him:
“I guess we will find out on Saturday night. He does have skills. He has fast hands, moves well in the ring, but we will see in the ring if he can take my pressure and constant work rate that I will dish out to him.”

LOMACHEKNO
“I am not nervous at all. I am the one who chose this path to a world title fight.
All of this was my decision. Salido has fought the best of the best. He will be a hard fighter to defeat. I like fighters like him with the tough Mexican style. It makes it so much more challenging. Salido is a great champion because he is calm, never talks trash, is cold-blooded and has beaten the best. This is a real fight, a battle.”

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

Promoted by Top Rank®, in association with Zanfer Promotions, Banner Promotions, Foreman Boys Promotions and Tecate, remaining tickets to Chávez vs. Vera II, priced at $200, $100, $60, $40 and $25 (plus applicable taxes and fees), can be purchased at the Alamodome box office, all Ticketmaster outlets, online at www.ticketmaster.com and via Ticketmaster charge-by-phone lines at (800) 745-3000.

HBO Presents “Road to Chavez Jr./Vera II”. HBO playdates include: February 27 at 4:30 p.m. ET/PT, February 28 at 1:00 a.m. ET/PT and March 1 at 12:15 p.m. ET/PT.

For fight updates go to www.toprank.com, www.banner-promotions.com or www.hbo.com/boxing, on Facebook at facebook.com/trboxing, facebook.com/trboxeo, facebook.com/banner-promotions or facebook.com/hboboxing, and on Twitter at twitter.com/trboxing, twitter.com/trboxeo, twitter.com/bannerboxing or twitter.com/hboboxing.

Photos by Chris Farina / Top Rank

SAN ANTONIO – Mexican “Son of the Legend” Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. returns to this city sometime in the next few days, returns to a local scale sometime Friday afternoon, and returns to an Alamodome ring Saturday night against Austin’s Bryan Vera. The middle spectacle, Friday’s, should prove the week’s most suspenseful, and if Chavez somehow misses weight also its most tragic. If Chavez makes weight, evincing proper preparation for his rematch with the profoundly limited Vera, though, let us hope Saturday’s match does not end tragically.

But for that possibility, this is all a bit tired, isn’t it? The “Road to Chavez Jr. vs. Vera II” promotional piece felt obligatory as a husband’s trip to the mall. Gone are the mildly alluring touches of collaring whichever journalists were in town for whichever other event, to give aficionados a chance at least to see admired writers mention, in very short clips, why they think this fight may be compelling (with the flashed and handsome exception of our site’s intrepid editor at 1:21). Instead we get HBO’s commentary team rehashing what they said the night of the first fight with what they’ve digested since, in promotional spots that boast all the journalistic panache of actors from this season’s cast of “Dexter” holding their fists aloft while advising viewers they’ve been buzzed – and if that is a mashup, as the kids are calling it, of two different networks’ original programming concepts, it’s honestly arrived at because no enterprising mind should keep 2014’s thus-far-banal prizefighting offerings compartmentalized.

That promises to change, at least in spirit, Saturday, when this city opens its gracious arms to a rematch of a not particularly compelling 2013 match, one that finds Chavez once more collecting his father’s back wages from his promoter or his network or his Mexican fans, a collective that must be dwindling.

Into the curiousness of this arrangement meanders Junior, never hurried, marking promoter Top Rank’s return to a city whose venues it has not graced in the 23 months since Kelly Pavlik used the force to smash apart Aaron “Jedi” Jaco in the debut of Leija-Battah Promotions, an outfit that looked a temporary license-holding company for Las Vegas- and Los Angeles-based promoters, alike, before evolving, quickly and audaciously, into something more and better. What consequently drove the local promoter from Top Rank after one show is anyone’s guess, but it was a thing that did carry consequences, as Top Rank has since made medium-sized Texas shows in Houston, Dallas, Corpus Christi and Laredo but not Alamo City, a place where Son of the Legend began to become more than a mascot by decisioning John Duddy in 2010 at Alamodome, the venue where his father, The Legend, set an attendance record still standing.

There’s no telling how ticket sales might be going for Saturday’s show for a couple reasons: First, there isn’t an engaged local promoter endeavoring to recoup its large investment by blitzing inboxes with promotional tidbits, and second, with most of the money for this fight coming exclusively from HBO, there’s not nearly the same urgency there was round this time last year when, openly snubbing his proximate rival, Mexico’s Saul “Canelo” Alvarez declined to fight on Floyd Mayweather’s May undercard – firing the starter’s pistol on a frantic effort to find a venue, and accompanying local entrepreneur, to host Alvarez on short notice. What resulted, an April match between Alvarez and New Mexican Austin Trout, brought nearly 40,000 fans to Alamodome, an attendance figure that established in a bold stroke Alvarez’s coveted standing as Mexico’s most popular prizefighter. Alvarez then sprinkled cinnamon in his promoter’s gears in September, winning perhaps 90 seconds of his 36-minute match with Mayweather.

Displaying his father’s relentlessness and talent for smashing microscopic fissures into gaping wounds, then, Chavez Jr. snatched the corona right off Alvarez’s bowed redhead by icing his countrymen’s bruised national pride, 14 days later, with a victory over Bryan Vera that is remembered, still, for its preparation, savagery and workrate.

Oh, if ever a sentence were typed round derisive giggles.

Instead of doing something memorably good or even forgettably bad, Son of the Legend chose that inauspicious time to hold a pound-auction at the Friday weighin, having done the considerate thing, he explained for HBO’s “Road to” cameras, and informed the Vera camp ahead of time he would weigh, well, something higher than what 168 pounds he was legally obliged to make. Then Son of the Legend made a lionlike contender of Bryan Vera, a good guy of good work ethic and giver of a goodish impersonation of Colorado’s Mike Alvarado, were Alvarado not a once-great high school athlete.

Wait, Vera a “contender”? Yes, contender: As Son of the Legend reminded viewers, apropos of his figurative hunger – unmistakable in its modesty for Junior’s literal hunger – he was a “world champion” once, wearing proudly the garish, gold-and-whipped-pea strap the WBC stole from lineal middleweight champion Sergio Martinez in 2011, making Chavez technically a champion and making Vera technically a contender – cute a reminder as any that Vera outworked television’s original “Contender,” Sergio Mora, in August 2012 at the converted Alamodome venue called Illusions Theater, in a Leija-Battah-promoted rematch of Vera’s finest hour, a controversial 2011 decisioning of Mora in Fort Worth, an hour not nearly fine as Vera’s decisioning of Chavez Jr. in a September match official judges, alone, scored widely for Son of the Legend.

We circle back to Saturday, then, meandering round the subject like a pothead in peach underwear doing living-room laps for roadwork – so great is his hunger as world champion – to address briefly a match that should not be competitive, and, one prays, will not end tragically for Vera. Whatever long list of bad habits Vera’s trainer Ronnie Shields credits himself with red-penning from the Austinite’s dossier, he sure as hell did nothing for Vera’s plunging right hand, a hand Vera holsters at his waist before throwing either glove at opponents. That flaw portends nothing good for Vera.

I’ll take Chavez, then, KO-11, in a terribly lopsided spectacle even Junior’s legion of detractors will wish had been stopped after nine.

Bart Barry can be reached at bart.barrys.email (at) gmail.com

CULIACÁN, MÉXICO (February 19, 2014) – Former World Boxing Council (WBC) middleweight champion JULIO CÉSAR CHÁVEZ JR is in his final days of training camp in México as he prepares for his 12-round super middleweight rematch against Top-Five contender and two-fisted Texan BRYAN VERA. Chávez Jr. – Vera II will take place next week – Saturday, March 1 – at the Alamodome in San Antonio, TX. It will be televised live on HBO World Championship Boxing, beginning at 9:45 p.m. ET/PT. The telecast will open with two-time Ukrainian Olympic gold medalist and 2013 Prospect of the Year, VASYL LOMACHENKO, in only his second professional bout, challenging World Boxing Organization (WBO) featherweight champion ORLANDO SALIDO.

Here is what Chávez Jr. had to say today:

“I have been training for four months for this fight because I need to be at my best to win this fight and win it in an impressive fashion. I must eliminate all doubts about the outcome.

“I know that I will be much better than the first fight. I believe that Bryan Vera will come very confident after what happened in our first fight which will make this fight much better than the first one and one that the fans will remember for a long time.

“I owe the fans a great performance and that is what they will get on March 1 at th Alamodome and on HBO. I have had a lot of success in San Antonio and I look forward to going there and putting on a good show for them.

“I will make the 168 pound limit with no problem and I will be able to do the things I could not do in first fight. I will have better movement, I will be more consistent and I will fight 12 hard rounds if that is what it takes to win this second fight. Vera is a tough guy with a good chin, but I will do my best to send him home early.

“I know that we are fighting in his home state but inside the ring is just the two of us and the fans can stay in the stands and enjoy a great battle between two guys that will not give an inch in the ring.

“I am looking forward to a great night of boxing and to getting back on the road to another world championship run.”

Promoted by Top Rank®, in association with Zanfer Promotions, Banner Promotions, Foreman Boys Promotions and Tecate, remaining tickets to Chávez vs. Vera II, priced at $200, $100, $60, $40 and $25 (plus applicable taxes and fees), can be purchased at the Alamodome box office, all Ticketmaster outlets, online at www.ticketmaster.com and via Ticketmaster charge-by-phone lines at (800) 745-3000.

The first Chávez Jr.-Vera fight took place on September 28, 2013, at the StubHub Center in Carson, Calif. It was action-packed from the opening bell, with Vera giving a career-best performance. The Texan outlanded Chávez Jr. in overall punches while the former world champion connected with the heavier artillery. The judges scored it unanimously for Chávez Jr., a decision that was met with disbelief by fans and media. And thus a rematch was born.

HBO Presents “Road to Chavez Jr./Vera II”. HBO playdates include: February 27 at 4:30 p.m. ET/PT, February 28 at 1:00 a.m. ET/PT and March 1 at 12:15 p.m. ET/PT.

For fight updates go to www.toprank.com, www.banner-promotions.com or www.hbo.com/boxing, on Facebook at facebook.com/trboxing, facebook.com/trboxeo, facebook.com/banner-promotions or facebook.com/hboboxing, and on Twitter at twitter.com/trboxing, twitter.com/trboxeo, twitter.com/bannerboxing or twitter.com/hboboxing.

SAN ANTONIO (February 12, 2014) — Two-time Ukrainian Olympic gold medalist and 2013 Prospect of the Year VASYL LOMACHENKO (1-0, 1 KO), is in a hurry to make his mark, and in only his second professional fight, he will be challenging three-time world featherweight champion ORLANDO “Siri” SALIDO for Salido’s World Boxing Organization (WBO) featherweight title. The Salido-Lomachenko world championship fight will be televised live from the Alamodome, Saturday, March 1, on HBO World Championship Boxing, beginning at 9:45 p.m. ET/PT. The telecast will also feature the eagerly-anticipated 12-round rematch between former World Boxing Council (WBC) middleweight champion and Son of the Legend JULIO CÉSAR CHÁVEZ JR. and Top-Five contender and two-fisted Texan BRYAN VERA.

Promoted by Top Rank®, in association with Zanfer Promotions, Banner Promotions, Foreman Boys Promotions and Tecate, remaining tickets to Chávez vs. Vera II / Salido vs. Lomachenko are priced at $200, $100, $60, $40 and $25 (plus applicable taxes and fees). They can be purchased at the Alamodome box office, all Ticketmaster outlets, online at www.ticketmaster.com and via Ticketmaster charge-by-phone lines at (800) 745-3000.

“It has been a long, hard ride to get to this world title fight,” said Lomachenko. “I may have only one professional fight on my resume but I have been boxing all my life, dreaming that one day I would be fighting the best fighters. And now I am fighting a world champion who is one of the best in featherweight division. Salido is a very good veteran fighter and he has been in the ring with toughest opponents. He puts a lot of pressure on you inside the ring and he comes to fight. Defeating this kind of fighter would mean a lot to me. It would also add my name to boxing history and get me one step closer to joining the sport’s all-time best. Thank you to Top Rank and a special thank you to Bob Arum for making this fight happen — for making my dream come true. Tune into HBO World Championship Boxing on March 1st. You will remember the Alamodome that night.”

Salido (40-12-2, 28 KOs), of Ciudad Obregon, Sonora, México, completed a hat trick last year by winning a world featherweight title for the third time. He captured the vacant WBO featherweight title by knocking out No. 1 contender Orlando Cruz in the seventh round of their September 12, 2013 fight. Salido captured his first world title in his third attempt. After a No Decision to Robert Guerrero in 2006 and a split decision loss to Cristobal Cruz in 2008, Salido finally captured the International Boxing Federation (IBF) featherweight title in 2010, avenging his loss to Cruz by winning a split decision. His title reign was short-lived, losing a unification fight to World Boxing Association (WBA) featherweight champion Yuriorkis Gamboa later that same year. Salido bounced back in a big way, stopping undefeated WBO featherweight champion Juan Manuel Lopez in the eighth round in 2011 to capture his second world championship crown. Salido successfully defended that title twice, knocking out Kenichi Yamaguchi and Lopez in a rematch during his two-year reign, before losing it to Mikey Garcia last January. He enters this title defense having won six of his last seven fights by knockout.

Two-time Ukrainian Olympic gold medalist Lomachenko jumped into the deep end of boxing’s international-sized swimming pool when he made his professional debut in a 10-round featherweight bout against the WBO’s No. 7-rated featherweight contender Jose Luis Ramirez last September 12. It didn’t take Lomachenko long to take to the water. He knocked out Ramirez (24-2-2, 15 KOs) in the fourth round to become the new WBO International featherweight champion. He ended the year as the WBO’s No. 5 world-rated featherweight contender as well as being proclaimed the 2013 “Prospect of the Year” by the majority of the major boxing media. Lomachenko first gained international renown by winning gold medals in the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the 2012 London Games as a featherweight and a lightweight, respectively. Known for his all-out aggressive style of boxing, Lomachenko is equally aggressive in plotting his professional boxing plan to a world title where he insisted on making his pro debut in a 10-round bout against a seasoned Top-10 rated contender where a victory could propel him to a world title shot in his next fight.

HBO Sports presents “The Road to Chavez Jr./Vera II,” premiering Monday, February 17, at 10:15 p.m. ET/PT on HBO.

For fight updates go to www.toprank.com, www.banner-promotions.com or www.hbo.com/boxing, on Facebook at facebook.com/trboxing, facebook.com/trboxeo, facebook.com/banner-promotions or facebook.com/hboboxing, and on Twitter at twitter.com/trboxing, twitter.com/trboxeo, twitter.com/bannerboxing or twitter.com/hboboxing.

SAN ANTONIO (February 12, 2014) — For three-time world featherweight champion ORLANDO “Siri” SALIDO boxing has been about perseverance and overcoming the odds, and in 17 days his mettle will be tested once more as he puts his world title on the line against two-time Olympic gold medalist, VASYL LOMACHENKO (1-0, 1 KO), considered by many to be the best amateur boxer in the history of the sport. The Salido-Lomachenko WBO featherweight championship fight will be televised live from the Alamodome on Saturday, March 1, on HBO World Championship Boxing, beginning at 9:45 p.m. ET/PT. The telecast will also feature the eagerly-anticipated 12-round rematch between former World Boxing Council (WBC) middleweight champion and Son of the Legend JULIO CÉSAR CHÁVEZ JR. and Top-Five contender and two-fisted Texan BRYAN VERA.

Promoted by Top Rank®, in association with Zanfer Promotions, Banner Promotions, Foreman Boys Promotions and Tecate, remaining tickets to Chávez vs. Vera II / Salido vs. Lomachenko are priced at $200, $100, $60, $40 and $25 (plus applicable taxes and fees). They can be purchased at the Alamodome box office, all Ticketmaster outlets, online at www.ticketmaster.com and via Ticketmaster charge-by-phone lines at (800) 745-3000.

“I know people expect Lomachenko to beat me and take my title away, and while I respect all he did as an amateur, professional boxing is not the same. He has had just one professional fight. My experience, strength and hunger will be the difference”, said Salido during his media workout on Tuesday in his hometown of Ciudad Obregon, Sonora, Mexico. He has been training for the fight in Phoenix and Ciudad Obregon under his trainer, Santos Moreno.

“Lomachenko has quick hands and is very fast, but he still has an amateur style that can be exploited and that is what I am going to do on March 1 in San Antonio. This fight is as big as any I had in my career and look forward to the challenge.”

Salido (40-12-2, 28 KOs), of Ciudad Obregon, Sonora, México, completed a hat trick last year by winning a world featherweight title for the third time. He captured the vacant WBO featherweight title by knocking out No. 1 contender Orlando Cruz in the seventh round of their September 12, 2013 fight. Salido captured his first world title in his third attempt. After a No Decision to Robert Guerrero in 2006 and a split decision loss to Cristobal Cruz in 2008, Salido finally captured the International Boxing Federation (IBF) featherweight title in 2010, avenging his loss to Cruz by winning a split decision. His title reign was short-lived, losing a unification fight to World Boxing Association (WBA) featherweight champion Yuriorkis Gamboa later that same year. Salido bounced back in a big way, stopping undefeated WBO featherweight champion Juan Manuel Lopez in the eighth round in 2011 to capture his second world championship crown. Salido successfully defended that title twice, knocking out Kenichi Yamaguchi and Lopez in a rematch during his two-year reign, before losing it to Mikey Garcia last January. He enters this title defense having won six of his last seven fights by knockout.

Two-time Ukrainian Olympic gold medalist Lomachenko jumped into the deep end of boxing’s international-sized swimming pool when he made his professional debut in a 10-round featherweight bout against the WBO’s No. 7-rated featherweight contender Jose Luis Ramirez last September 12. It didn’t take Lomachenko long to take to the water. He knocked out Ramirez (24-2-2, 15 KOs) in the fourth round to become the new WBO International featherweight champion. He ended the year as the WBO’s No. 5 world-rated featherweight contender as well as being proclaimed the 2013 “Prospect of the Year” by the majority of the major boxing media.. Lomachenko first gained international renown by winning gold medals in the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the 2012 London Games as a featherweight and a lightweight, respectively. Known for his all-out aggressive style of boxing, Lomachenko is equally aggressive in plotting his professional boxing plan to a world title where he insisted on making his pro debut in a 10-round bout against a seasoned Top-10 rated contender where a victory could propel him to a world title shot in his next fight.

For fight updates go to www.toprank.com, www.banner-promotions.com or www.hbo.com/boxing, on Facebook at facebook.com/trboxing, facebook.com/trboxeo, facebook.com/banner-promotions or facebook.com/hboboxing, and on Twitter at twitter.com/trboxing, twitter.com/trboxeo, twitter.com/bannerboxing or twitter.com/hboboxing.

February 3, 2014 – HBO Boxing presents “Road to Chavez Jr./Vera II,” an exhilarating special examining the upcoming super middleweight rematch between Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. and Bryan Vera. The duo engaged in a no-holds barred battle last September, which emerged as one of the year’s most highly-debated outcomes. On Saturday, March 1, the Alamodome in San Antonio will showcase the hotly anticipated rematch, televised live on HBO World Championship Boxing ®.

The “Road to Chavez Jr./Vera II” special will premiere Monday, February 17 at 10:15 p.m. ET/PT on HBO. It will revisit the high drama from their first bout last September in Carson, CA, as well as providing all-new content, including portraits of both fighters’ journey to this significant showdown on boxing’s leading television platform.

On September 28, 2013, Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (47-1-1, 32 KOs) defeated Bryan Vera (23-7, 14 KOs) in a hotly-debated ten-round decision. Originally slated at the 168-pound mark, Chavez Jr. had weight issues, prompting his team to make a deal with Vera’s team to raise the limit to 173 pounds. Vera fought valiantly, but Chavez was awarded a unanimous decision by the judges at ringside, triggering demands for an immediate rematch.

The 15-minute special will also be available on the HBO On Demand® service, HBO GO® and at www.hbo.com/boxing as well as various other new media platforms that distribute the series.

Other HBO playdates: February 19 (9:15 a.m. & 7:00 p.m.), 22 (11:00 p.m.), 23 (9:45 a.m.), 25 (3:20 a.m. & 11:45 a.m.), 27 (4:30 p.m.), 28 (1:00 a.m.), and March 1 (12:15 p.m.).

HBO2 playdates: February 18 (7:45 p.m. & 11:00 p.m.), 22 (7:15 p.m.), 23 (3:20 a.m. & 4:15 p.m.) 24 (1:15 a.m. & 2:15 p.m.), 26 (10:35 a.m. & 10:15 p.m.) and 27 (11:45 p.m.).

All times are ET/PT.

SAN ANTONIO – Thursday, Mexican “Son of the Legend” Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. strode across the Alamodome stage to a podium that would conceal, for once, a fairly lean version of Junior, a version of him that surprisingly looked within 20 pounds of his next match’s contracted fighting weight, six weeks out, a match that will be a rematch with Austin’s Bryan Vera, a man who likely deserved a better result than what he received in September and will more than likely deserve better than the savage beating he collects March 1.

“And thank you, Texas,” Chavez said in accented English, to close. “Because this my home too.”

Chavez appeared chastened. Years back, Argentine Sergio Martinez, incensed his WBC belt was unfastened from his waste and bestowed upon Chavez by the late Jose Sulaiman – a man ever more beloved in Mexico, for codifying the country’s importance in prizefighting, than in the United States – arrived at a postfight press conference in Houston after Chavez beat up and beat down Peter Manfredo who, personably enough, indulged bystanders’ curious requests to hear him say “fugettaboutit” after he was stopped and announced a stop to his career (a retirement that lasted, stereotypically enough, nary a twelvemonth), to challenge Chavez in his finest hour, and Martinez was uncharacteristically dismissive too. He asked rhetorically if he wouldn’t knock Chavez out easily. At the time it seemed quite probable.

Fewer than 10 months later, Chavez nearly ended Martinez’s reign as a world champion, coming preposterously close to becoming the linear middleweight champion, affixing himself to a bloodline of Marvelous Marvin Hagler and Carlos Monzon and Sugar Ray Robinson and Harry Greb, in a fight that changed both men, shortening Martinez’s career and the lucid years of Chavez’s life. Lost in the justifiable contempt aficionados reserve for Chavez is any consideration for the consequences of the sustained whupping he took from Martinez’s fists, and the incredible number of punches he took square and unmolested to his cranium – each punch nearly the force of what single blow put Paul Williams prostrate on a blue mat in Atlantic City.

Chavez wishes to be taken seriously, by himself and others, one hears from men who should know, and certainly should know better if it is not so – men who’ve seen, fallen victim to, or perpetrated, every hustle yet known in our beloved sport. Chavez does take boxing seriously, they say. If this is so, and again some suspension of disbelief is required, he may now be suffering from a combination of genetics and a damaged brain.

Boxing has rarely come upon a more naturally unsympathetic figure than Chavez; Adrien Broner and Floyd Mayweather, of course, have as large a percentage of attendees at their matches cheering their demise, yes, but those men worked hard to cultivate odious public personalities, and those men, too, remain for the most part popular within their own ethnicity. Chavez, conversely, now holds a unique place in boxing’s landscape as a man who, through no overt effort of his own – through no detectable effort of any kind, one might say – has transformed an entire ethnic enclave, Mexican-American, from a default sort of projected affection, the son of my hero is my friend, to another thing entirely. Chavez is aware of this even without his father reminds him, though Chavez Sr. appears the kind of dad who might be willing to grunt just such a suggestion to a filial epigone like Junior, privately.

Senior’s popularity has a variety of sources, but an occasionally overlooked one is historical: Mexico collapsed in an epic sort of way in 1994 – and such a collapse injured cruelly a proud and surprisingly innocent country, one whose residents, when called upon by their government to help La Patria recover its economic footing, sent gifts and sundries varied as live chickens to Mexico City – and for the next number of years, Chavez Sr. was, as one Mexican journalist put it at what became Chavez Sr.’s final fight, “the only thing that went right for us.” Junior was a part of that Mexico more than Americans, and most Mexicans, care to realize.

Watch the ringwalk that preceded Chavez Sr.’s worst professional moment to that point, his official draw in 1993 with Pernell “Sweat Pea” Whitaker, a singular boxer whom shot commentator Ferdie Pacheco continued to call “Peewee” through the pay-per-view broadcast. Who sits atop one of the entourage’s shoulders, looking down on his father while the legend sings along to the Mexican national anthem before a record-setting crowd in this city’s then-four-month-old Alamodome? It is Junior’s unmistakable chubby-cheeked visage one sees, a face portending a lifetime of weight struggles regardless of profession, spreading tentatively beneath a red headband like his dad’s.

“Son of the Legend” has been part of boxing his entire life, the number of those memories a fair auditor would call euphoric barely outnumbering those classifiable as euphoria’s opposite, and he understands, as Freddie Roach recognized in the first week as his trainer, “the geometry of the ring.” He probably believes he beat Bryan Vera in September, potshotting him the way Sergio Martinez amassed a lopsided lead on Chavez himself the year before, and knowing, as television didn’t show, Chavez’s punches were many times harder and flusher than Vera’s. He also knows how many people hold him in contempt and knows he now deserves it in a way he probably did not before. He is much better than Bryan Vera, and if he is motivated and conditioned – and again, he appeared reasonably trim Thursday – he may put a tragic type of beating on Vera, who for all his activity, is not nearly strong or elusive enough to dissuade Chavez in an emergency.

For once Texas should not worry about judges but ringside medical officials willing to intervene if Vera’s corner comports itself too courageously on March 1.

Bart Barry can be reached via bart.barrys.email (at) gmail.com

SAN ANTONIO, TX (January 16, 2014) — On the heels of their controversial collision which resulted in a hotly disputed decision, former World Boxing Council (WBC) middleweight champion and Son of the Legend JULIO CÉSAR CHÁVEZ JR. and Top-Five contender and two-fisted Texan BRYAN VERA will square off in a 12-round super middleweight battle in a rematch to settle their score once and for all. This time Vera will enjoy the home court advantage when they meet, Saturday, March 1, at the Alamodome in San Antonio, TX. Chávez Jr. vs. Vera II will be televised live on HBO World Championship Boxing, beginning at 9:45 p.m. ET/PT. The telecast will open with two-time Ukrainian Olympic gold medalist and 2013 Prospect of the Year, VASYL LOMACHENKO, in only his second professional bout, challenging World Boxing Organization (WBO) featherweight champion ORLANDO SALIDO.

The non-televised undercard will feature former World Lightweight Champion JUAN DIAZ, of Houston, looking to extend his three-fight winning streak as he attempts to return to the top of the lightweight division after a three-year hiatus from boxing.

Promoted by Top Rank®, in association with Zanfer Promotions, Banner Promotions, Foreman Boys Promotions and Tecate, tickets to Chávez vs. Vera II go on sale This Friday! January 17 at Noon CT. Tickets, priced at $200, $100, $60, $40 and $25 (plus applicable taxes and fees), can be purchased at the Alamodome box office, all Ticketmaster outlets, online at www.ticketmaster.com and via Ticketmaster charge-by-phone lines at (800) 745-3000.

The first Chávez Jr.-Vera fight took place on September 28, 2013, at the StubHub Center in Carson, Calif. It was action-packed from the opening bell, with Vera giving a career-best performance. The Texan outlanded Chávez Jr. in overall punches while the former world champion connected with the heavier artillery. The judges scored it unanimously for Chávez Jr., a decision that was met with disbelief by fans and media. And thus a rematch was born.

“Chávez Jr. will return to the ring to fight Vera, coming off that controversial decision last September in California,” said Hall of Fame promoter Bob Arum. “Chávez Jr. agreed to do this rematch because of the nature of their first fight. We will also have on this card the great Olympian Vasyl Lomachenko, who will challenge defending WBO featherweight champion Orlando Salido.”

“We are looking forward to this opportunity to right a wrong that happened to Bryan in his last bout against Chávez Jr. on September 28 in California,” said Arthur Pelullo, president of Banner Promotions. “Bryan fought like a warrior and was denied the victory — not by Chávez Jr. but by the judges. As impossible as it seems, Bryan has been working even harder in the gym to get the win on March 1. I am looking forward to a great event.”

“At times, when a fight’s drama ends in controversy, fans deserve a rematch to write a conclusive final act. On March 1, Chávez Jr.-Vera II will begin in San Antonio’s Alamodome where the last bell of their first slugfest left us in California,” said Peter Nelson, director of programming, HBO Sports. “Opening the HBO show is a fascinating fight pitting professional experience against amateur virtuosity, when three-time world champion Orlando Salido faces two-time Olympic gold medalist Vasyl Lomachenko, who hopes to usurp Salido’s featherweight title in only his second bout after Lomachenko declared his ascension to the professional ranks.”

“It will be another tough fight with Vera, but I expect that I will be much better this time around,” Chávez told ESPN Deportes in a recent interview. “The long-layoff hurt me in the first fight, so I expect to be at my best this second time. I know I can do much better than the first time and I owe the fans a much better performance and that is what they will get when we meet on March 1 in San Antonio.”

“I am looking forward to the rematch with Chávez,” said Vera. “I know the fans want to see us fight again. especially after my very controversial loss to him. I lost on the very “questionable” scorecards, but to the fans, I was the winner. I’ve gained a lot of fans after the first fight. I am coming ready to fight and am set on a victory in my home state of Texas. I’ll be ready. You can count on that.”

Chávez Jr. (47-1-1, 32 KOs), of Culiacán, México, will be making his 2014 debut in his first fight in San Antonio in over two years. He captured the WBC middleweight crown in 2011, winning a majority decision over undefeated interim world champion Sebastian Zbik at STAPLES Center in Los Angeles. Chávez Jr. successfully defended his title three times during his 15-month reign, knocking out Andy Lee and Peter Manfredo, Jr. in the seventh and fifth rounds, respectively, and winning a unanimous decision over two-time world title challenger Marco Antonio Rubio. His thrilling world title loss to Sergio Martinez at their Méxican Independence Day spectacular on September 15, 2012 was the highest-attended boxing event in the history of the Thomas & Mack Center, with 19,186, topping the record set by the heavyweight championship rematch between Lennox Lewis and Evander Holyfield, which drew 19,151 in 1999.

Vera (23-7, 14 KOs), of Austin, TX, entered his first fight with Chávez, Jr. having won six of his last seven bouts and riding a 16-month, four-bout winning streak. Vera’s hot streak included NABO middleweight title victories over Sergio Mora, former world champion Sergeii Dzinziruk, and Donatas Bondoravas, with the last two victories coming by way of knockout. Vera, who trains in Houston with Ronnie Shields, is currently world-rated No. 5 by the WBO.

Salido (40-12-2, 28 KOs), of Ciudad Obregon, Sonora, México, completed a hat trick last year by winning a world featherweight title for the third time. He captured the vacant WBO featherweight title by knocking out No. 1 contender Orlando Cruz in the seventh round of their September 12, 2013 fight. Salido captured his first world title in his third attempt. After a No Decision to Robert Guerrero in 2006 and a split decision loss to Cristobal Cruz in 2008, Salido finally captured the International Boxing Federation (IBF) featherweight title in 2010, avenging his loss to Cruz by winning a split decision. His title reign was short-lived, losing a unification fight to World Boxing Association (WBA) featherweight champion Yuriorkis Gamboa later that same year. Salido bounced back in a big way, stopping undefeated WBO featherweight champion Juan Manuel Lopez in the eighth round in 2011 to capture his second world championship crown. Salido successfully defended that title twice, knocking out Kenichi Yamaguchi and Lopez in a rematch during his two-year reign, before losing it to Mikey Garcia last January. He enters this title defense having won six of his last seven fights by knockout.

Two-time Ukrainian Olympic gold medalist Lomachenko (1-0, 1 KO) jumped into the deep end of boxing’s international-sized swimming pool when he made his professional debut in a 10-round featherweight bout against the WBO’s No. 7-rated featherweight contender Jose Luis Ramirez last September 12. It didn’t take Lomachenko long to take to the water. He knocked out Ramirez (24-2-2, 15 KOs) in the fourth round to become the new WBO International featherweight champion. He ended the year as the WBO’s No. 5 world-rated featherweight contender as well as being proclaimed the 2013 “Prospect of the Year” by the majority of the major boxing media.. Lomachenko first gained international renown by winning gold medals in the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the 2012 London Games as a featherweight and a lightweight, respectively. Known for his all-out aggressive style of boxing, Lomachenko is equally aggressive in plotting his professional boxing plan to a world title where he insisted on making his pro debut in a 10-round bout against a seasoned Top-10 rated contender where a victory could propel him to a world title shot in his next fight.

Diaz (38-4, 19 KOs) will continue his comeback bid in the featured bout, scheduled for 10 rounds at the lightweight class, on the non-televised undercard. Diaz captured the WBA lightweight title in 2004, winning a unanimous decision over Lakva Sim. .During his four-year reign he unified the lightweight titles with knockout victories over Acelino Freitas and Julio Diaz, the respective WBO and IBF champions . After a three-year hiatus, Diaz, 30, returned to the ring wars last year and has fashioned a three-bout winning streak with two of those victories coming by way of knockout.

For fight updates go to www.toprank.com, www.banner-promotions.com or www.hbo.com/boxing, on Facebook at facebook.com/trboxing, facebook.com/trboxeo, facebook.com/banner-promotions or facebook.com/hboboxing, and on Twitter at twitter.com/trboxing, twitter.com/trboxeo, twitter.com/bannerboxing or twitter.com/hboboxing.

SAN ANTONIO, TX (January 14, 2014) — Former World Boxing Council (WBC) middleweight champion and Son of the Legend JULIO CÉSAR CHÁVEZ JR., his opponent, Top-Five contender and tough Texan BRYAN VERA,Houston’s former World Lightweight Champion JUAN DIAZ, Hall of Fame Promoter BOB ARUM, Zanfer Promotions’FERNANDO BELTRAN, two-time heavyweight champion GEORGE FOREMAN and ARTHUR PELULLO,President of Banner Promotions, will host a news conference announcing the eagerly-awaited rematch — Chávez Jr. vs. Vera II — This Thursday! January 16, in the Alamodome (Stadium Floor – South end.) Doors will open at 1:30 p.m. CT with the news conference beginning at 2:00 p.m. CT.

The press conference will be open to the public.

Media may park in Lot A, located at the South side of the Alamodome, and enter through the tunnel entrance at the arena’s South side near the back loading dock.

Chávez (47-1-1, 32 KOs), of Culiacán, México, making his 2014 debut in his first fight in San Antonio in over two years, and Vera (23-7, 14 KOs), of Austin, TX, will go mano a mano again in a super middleweight bout that both combatants vow will settle the score from their controversial September 28, 2013 fistic debate which was won by Chávez Jr. Chávez Jr. vs. Vera II will be televised live from the Alamodome, Saturday, March 1 on HBO World Championship Boxing®, beginning at 9:45 p.m. ET/PT. The telecast will open with two-time Ukrainian Olympic gold medalist and 2013 Prospect of the Year, VASYL LOMACHENKO (1-0, 1 KO), in only his second professional bout, challenging World Boxing Organization (WBO) featherweight champion ORLANDO SALIDO (40-12-2, 28 KOs), of México. Diaz (38-4, 19 KOs) will continue his comeback bid in the featured bout on the non-televised undercard.

Promoted by Top Rank®, in association with Zanfer Promotions, Banner Promotions, Foreman Boys Promotions and Tecate, tickets to Chávez vs. Vera II go on sale This Friday! January 17, at Noon CT. Tickets, priced at $200, $100, $60, $40 and $25 (plus applicable taxes and fees), can be purchased at the Alamodome box office, all Ticketmaster outlets, online at www.ticketmaster.com and via Ticketmaster charge-by-phone lines at (800) 745-3000.

For fight updates go to www.toprank.com, www.banner-promotions.com or www.hbo.com/boxing, on Facebook at facebook.com/trboxing, facebook.com/trboxeo,facebook.com/banner-promotions or facebook.com/hboboxing , and on Twitter at twitter.com/trboxing, twitter.com/trboxeo, twitter.com/bannerboxing or twitter.com/hboboxing.