MACAO, CHINA (July 3, 2015) — Former Fighter of the Year and five-division world champion NONITO “Filipino Flash” DONAIRE and 2012 U.S. Olympian and undefeated super lightweight contender JOSE RAMÍREZ will headline “Victory at The Venetian,” on the Saturday, July 18 edition of Solo Boxeo Tecate, which will be televised from The Venetian® Macao’s Cotai Arena via same-day delay in the U.S. on UniMás, beginning at 11:00 p.m. ET/PT. Donaire, of the Philippines, in the hunt for another world title shot, will be taking on France’s ANTHONY SETTOUL in a 10-round super bantamweight battle. Ramírez, who hails from central California, will open the telecast in an eight-round super lightweight bout against RYUSEI YOSHIDA, of Japan.

The exciting undercard, which will be streamed live to the U.S., beginning at 6:00 a.m. ET via www.toprank.tv, will feature undefeated No. 1 contender, CESAR “El Distinto” CUENCA, who is just three victories away from tying Rocky Marciano’s hallowed 49-0 record, taking on undefeated No. 2 contender “IK” LIAN HUI YANG, who will attempt to become China’s second professional boxer to win a world title. Cuenca and Yang will rumble for the vacant International Boxing Federation (IBF) junior welterweight title. The live stream will also feature No. 1 world-rated lightweight contender DENIS “Genghis Khan” SHAFIKOIV, of Russia, and undefeated No. 4 world-rated junior bantamweight contender REX “The Wonder Kid” TSO, from Hong Kong, in separate bouts.

Promoted by Top Rank® and Sands China Ltd., in association with Tecate and SECA, remaining tickets to Victory at the Venetian can be purchased via Cotai Ticketing™; prices start at HKD/MOP 180, with ferry and hotel packages also available.

Donaire (34-3, 22 KOs), a native of General Santos City, Philippines, now living in Las Vegas, is a former five-division world champion on the comeback trail for another world title shot. His banner year in 2012 featured four world championship victories which included beating former world champion Israel Vazquez, Jr. to capture the vacant World Boxing Organization (WBO) junior featherweight title, unifying the title by defeating IBF junior bantamweight champion Jeffrey Mathebula, followed by Donaire collecting his third belt of the year with a knockout of World Boxing Council (WBC) Diamond Belt super bantamweight champion Toshiaki Nishioka, ending Nishioka’s eight-year, 16-bout, winning streak, and concluding his magnificent year by blasting out Mexican icon Jorge Arce in the third round and sealing his 2012 Fighter of the Year honors while extending his 12-year, 30-bout winning streak. He lost his title to undefeated Cuban sensation and WBA super bantamweight champion Guillermo Rigondeaux in a title unification bout at a sold-out Radio City Music Hall on April 13, 2013. He bounced back in 2014, dethroning World Boxing Association (WBA) featherweight world champion Simpiwe Vetyeka at Cotai Arena. Career highlights for Donaire also include knockout victories of world champions Vic Darchinyan, Wladimir Sidorenko, and Fernando Montiel, ending Montiel’s 25-bout winning streak. That victory was named the 2011 Knockout of the Year. Donaire returns to the ring fresh from capturing the vacant NABF super bantamweight title via a second round knockout victory of William Prado on March 28. He is currently world-rated No. 3 and No. 4 by the WBO and the WBA, respectively.

Settoul (20-3, 8 KOs), from Clermont-Ferrand, France, will be making his Asian ring debut on this card. A former French and European Union bantamweight champion, six of his last nine victories have come by way of knockout. He made his professional debut in 2008 and has fought outside of France just once.

Ramírez (14-0, 11 KOs), of Avenal, Calif., will be venturing outside the U.S. for the first time as a professional. Seven of his last eight fights have ended with knockout victories. A member of the 2012 U.S. Olympic team, Ramirez was an 11-time National Amateur Champion. Trained by Freddie Roach, the highly-respected junior welterweight prospect returns to the ring looking to extend his current knockout streak to four bouts. His last fight was a fifth-round knockout victory of veteran Robert Frankel on May 9.

Yoshida (26-7, 13 KOs), from Kumamoto, Japan, makes his second visit to the Cotai Arena ring since 2013. He enters this fight having four of his last five bouts with three of those victories coming by way of knockout.

Cuenca (46-0, 2 KOs), a southpaw who hails from Chaco, Argentina, made his pro debut in 2002. Fighting exclusively in Argentina, Cuenca has steadily risen up the world ratings the old fashioned way — by winning! Just three fights shy of matching Rocky Marciano’s mythical mark of 49-0, Cuenca has captured numerous regional titles throughout his 13-year career, all fought at the junior welterweight level. His 12-round unanimous decision victory over Albert Mensah last year, in an IBF junior welterweight title elimination bout, made Cuenca the No. 1 contender and mandatory challenger for the world title.

Yang (18-0, 13 KOs), from Dalian, China, is trained by Hall of Famer Freddie Roach, who also trains Fighter of the Decade Manny Pacquiao and two-time Chinese Olympic gold medalist Zou Shiming. Yang, who made his pro debut in 2007, enters this fight having won seven of his last eight fights by way of knockout. Having fought exclusively at Cotai Arena and in Shanghai since 2013, Yang has built up a loyal and rapid fan base in China due to his exciting style of fighting. With 2014 knockout victories over Sukkasem Kietyongyuth and Fahsai Sakkreerin for the World Boxing Organization (WBO) Asia Pacific lightweight title and the IBF Pan-Pacific junior welterweight title, respectively, and a sixth-round stoppage of Patomsuk Pathompothong, in an IBF junior welterweight world title elimination bout on March 7, Yang has seen his boxing stock, and his world ratings, soar. He is now the IBF No. 2 world-rated junior welterweight contender.

Shafikov (35-1-1, 18 KOs), a native of Chelyabinsk, Russia who fights out of Los Angeles, will be making his second appearance at Cotai Arena. The Russian southpaw unsuccessfully challenged Miguel Vazquez for his IBF lightweight world title on February 22, 2014, losing a competitive 12-round unanimous decision. He returned to the ring six months later and knocked out Rustam Nugaev in the ninth round of their IBF lightweight world title elimination bout last August, becoming the IBF’s No. 1 world-rated lightweight contender and mandatory challenger to then-champion Mickey Bey who vacated the title to avoid his mandatory title defense against Shafikov which had been scheduled for this card. In his most recent bout, Shafikov won a lopsided unanimous decision over Miguel Mendoza in December. He’ll be facing one-time world title challenger ROY MUKHLIS (18-3-2, 12 KOs), of Semarang, Indonesia, in a 10-round lightweight bout.

Tso (13-0, 7 KOs), the Pride of Hong Kong, has been a Cotai Arena mainstay since 2013 where fans on both sides of the South China Sea have flocked to watch his exciting fights and his ascent up the world ratings. Having already captured Asian and WBO Asia-Pacific junior bantamweight and WBC Asian super flyweight titles, Tso returns to the ring fresh from a 10-round unanimous decision Cotai Arena victory over Michael Enriquez on March 7, where he captured the vacant WBA International super flyweight title. Currently world-rated No. 4 by the WBO, No. 6 by the IBF and No. 8 by the WBA, Tso will be facing KHUNKHIRI WOR WISARUTH (21-10-1, 13 KOs), from Bangkok, Thailand, in an eight-round super flyweight bout.

For fight updates go to www.toprank.com, on Facebook at facebook.com/trboxing or facebook.com/trboxeo, or and on Twitter at twitter.com/trboxing or twitter.com/trboxeo. Use the Hashtag #VictoryAtVenetian to join the conversation on Twitter.

By Bart Barry–

Saturday in Madison Square Garden Theater, the very place Filipino Nonito Donaire’s candidacy for HBO Fighter of the New Century was subverted 3 1/2 years back by a pesky South American, Jamaican featherweight+1 Nicholas “Axe Man” Walters was unable to stretch Colombian featherweight Miguel Marriaga, much to the theater’s icy chagrin. Walters won a unanimous decision, and neither man stopped fighting or so much as clinched for nearly the full 36-minute duration, but it was not enough action, coming in the form of a 127-pound Jamaican and a Colombian featherweight, evidently, to prod New Yorkers to sustained applause.

Here’s how it went Nov. 9, 2013: Corpus Christi, Texas, was balmy and surprisingly humid for the season, American Bank Center was a dump – there was no WiFi, and the crowd lacked spirit – press row was the sort of discombobulated jumble a publicity outfit alone could conjure, and my marriage was in freefall. There were reasons aplenty for distraction, if not outright anxiety, and yet.

One begins as a boxing writer squinting at every fight, interrogating every match for its historical import and metaphorical capacity for yielding capacious metaphors – every four-rounder comprising a tiny chance at an immortality-manifesting phrase like “I saw him when he was fighting nobodies in empty arenas.” The more one sits ringside, the more his attention wanes, and something like guilt replaces the will to examine fighters’ footwork from yesteryear’s fights. Somewhere round one’s 60th fight card, though, a nearly enlightened state happens: I’m going to enjoy the undercard however I wish – watching the scorekeeper in the silly striped shirt, fantasizing about a ringcard girl, chatting with a pal I’ve not seen since last year, texting with my mother, googling the attendance record of the venue; whatever brings joy – and if something sensational happens, it will hit me with concussive force enough I’ll not be able to miss it even if I so wish.

That was Nicholas Walters. On a card that boasted Alex Saucedo, Vic Darchinyan, Mikey Garcia, Nonito Donaire and other less-talented but more-touted participants, the Jamaican featherweight happened with a concussive force too great to miss; in his U.S. debut, against Mexican Alberto Garza, Walters radiated with a violence of intention and act uncommon even among prizefighters. His form was rough, his punches were wild, but for simple force and desire, Walters was unmatchable that night.

I’m biased about Walters, then, and I could not care less if it offends.

He missed weight Friday, and it hurt. Part of the appeal of a Walters, like an Antonio Margarito before him, is the size advantage he brings to confrontations – and that appeal is immediately nullified by unfairness if he does not find a way, whatever way, to touch the contracted weight for at least a moment or two before bounding three or four weight classes upwards in 24 hours. Saturday Walters stood across from a career featherweight in Marriaga, a man who has fought nothing but 126 pounders for six years, and Walters looked enormous.

Walters is too big to be a featherweight, unless he returns to fighting thrice annually, and chews solely ice chips four weeks every year, and that is a real problem because Walters’ technique is a passport-snatching type, one that will not allow his power to travel to other weightclasses, and without the power to terrorize his opponents, Walters has very, very little.

His reflexes are about average, which might not be an issue except for his reliance on them; Walters thinks he is much quicker than he actually is, and a lot of this autoöverestimation comes from amateur experiences enough to anticipate the nature of others’ attacks, his parries triggered by anticipation more than reaction – particularly evident and perilous in round 1 Saturday, when Walters repeatedly sent his right guard out to defend Marriaga’s jab even before the Colombian knew he would throw it.

Walters straightens noticeably when he throws, making the target of his head blink and rise like a cartoon thought bubble with an idea, and despite his physical disadvantages Marriaga saw this and exploited it several times in the opening half of the fight. Walters’ defense is quite poor, too. He regularly employs the shell tactic of lowering his lead hand, and almost as regularly neglects to tuck his chin fully behind his lead shoulder; Walters’ defense is not so much a shell as an invitation.

What makes all this work, though, is the Axe Man righthand Walter wields. It is offense-as-defense in the very best sense: Before an opponent commits to a combination, he asks – and in Marriaga’s case, noticeably asks – “What if this does not knock that guy stiff?” The force of Walters’ overhand right is enough to alter others’ offensive calculations, which very nearly fits a workable definition for great defense.

No featherweight should be hit with Walters’ righthand, not Marriaga, not Vasyl Lomachenko, not God shrunken in a 126-pound form. The consequence of Walters’ righthand removed Marriaga’s desire to throw punches Saturday; yes, Walters’ body blows reduced the force of Marriaga’s punches, but it was the possibility of getting spearchiseled by that righthand that kept Marriaga from even wanting to bother.

No prizefight is gentle, but Saturday’s affair – while conclusively better than the New York crowd opined – was not withering enough to entitle Walters another 2/3-year rest. If he takes a couple weeks off, but not a month, then heads into camp for a Lomachenko match, there’s reason to think he can distill himself to 126 one last time. Walters-Lomachenko is the sort of palate-cleansing affair our beloved sport sorely needs in 2015.

Bart Barry can be reached via Twitter @bartbarry

According to Dan Rafael of espn.com, two world title bouts plus former world champion Nonito Donaire will be part of a big card set for the Venetian Macau on July 18.

IK Yang of China will fight Cesar Rene Cuenca for the Vacant IBF Jr. Welterweight crown. Mickey Bey will defend the IBF Lightweight title against Denis Shafikov plus Nonito Donaire will return against most likely Anthony Settoul.

“Ik Yang’s fight will be the main event. Why? Because he’s Chinese and beloved by the president of China,” said Top Rank promoter Bob Arum said of Yang, who will be fighting for the fifth time at the Cotai Arena. “There is no (Chinese star) Zou Shiming or Manny Pacquiao on this card. Ik Yang is the attraction.”

“Donaire is taking things seriously now I think and hopefully he makes a recovery from the knockout at the hands of Nicholas Walters, who was too big for him,” Arum said. “We think he can win another title.”

According to Dan Rafael of espn.com, former 4-division world champion Nonito Donaire will return to the ring when he takes on William Prado on March 28 in Pasay City, Philippines.

“I’m excited to be back at 122 pounds,” said Donaire, who is training with his father, Nonito Donaire Sr., in Oakland, California. “I’m hoping the training to be at 122 will bring me more speed and power. This camp has been different. I have been in training since December, so I’ve been in shape longer and working on more boxing instead of the usual eight weeks only of camp.”

“Nonito is very determined to re-establish his career and he believes 122 pounds is the perfect weight for him,” Top Rank promoter Bob Arum said.

Said Donaire’s manager Cameron Dunkin, “Nonito is training very hard. He has his weight down and he can’t wait to fight again. Nonito is an extremely proud guy, a great fighter, and that really hurt going up in weight and losing and he couldn’t wait to get back in there. He’s motivated. That loss to Walters woke him up. He wants to show that he can still fight and I think he can. He trained hard for Walters but the guy was too big and too strong and he realizes that.”

By Bart Barry–

HOUSTON – Saturday at Carson, Calif.’s StubHub Center, a great fight venue with a moronic name, Jamaican featherweight Nicholas “Axe Man” Walters hacked former world champion Nonito “Filipino Flash” Donaire to a stump, in the co-main, and stopped him at the end of round 6. It was a case of dessert served before dinner, increasingly common in boxing’s kitchen, as HBO’s main event offered all the competitiveness its 60-to-1 odds promised.

I forewent the trip to California – no fight in which a man hasn’t a chance, not even one that features Gennady “GGG” Golovkin, warrants a flight – and instead sat beside the stage at Houston Improv, where Chicago comedian Corey Holcomb played to a full house.

No regrets here.

“One of the significant fighters, of the last several years, in the lighter weight classes, Nonito Donaire.” That is how HBO commentator Max Kellerman described Donaire a few minutes after the Axe Man felled him without even a “Timber!” Kellerman, straining at his harness not to employ HBO’s stock quotient of hyperbole – Walters, as a Spanish-speaking Jamaican featherweight, is not, after all, nearly so marketable as a middleweight from Kazakhstan – might near as easily been describing his network: “One of the significant broadcasters, of the last few decades, within pay-cable’s limited reach” or prizefighting: “One of the significant sports, of the last 25 years, among Americans’ third-tier diversions.”

It’s instructive how a fighter HBO nearly made its flagship guy just two years ago was now merely significant for a short time among smaller men. It’s an accurate appraisal by Kellerman, exactly right for once; it is both a proper read of what Donaire is and was and, retroactively at least, a proper read of the import HBO’s blessing now carries.

Fortunately for Nicholas Walters, he is not an HBO-blessed fighter. He is a man who chopped his way from Arena Roberto Duran in Panama City, in 2012, to brutal knockout wins over two very good veteran sluggers, Donaire and Vic Darchinyan. What makes Walters’ story special is not that he arrived on American cable fully formed, Gennady Golovkin did that as well, but rather that his full form was tested decisively and immediately: Darchinyan and Donaire represent a quality-of-opponent, in Walters’ two HBO appearances, Golovkin has not approached in thrice that many.

Walters is the son of a prizefighter, and that pedigree tells. Saturday he got overconfident, emboldened so much by his own power he forgot Donaire once separated effortlessly very brave men from their consciousnesses, and he got clipped in round 2 by Donaire’s deservedly celebrated left hook. It hurt Walters and spun him, and had there been another 30 seconds to go in the second, there’s no telling how things might have gone. But given a minute to recuperate, Walters’ incredible conditioning – born of an island, like the Dominican Republic, whose residents’ miraculous feats of athleticism are becoming, ahem, commonplace – Walters resembled no one so much as Floyd Mayweather against Shane Mosely: Hands up, prudence restored, forward marching behind a textbook jab.

Walters’ jab is extraordinarily long, fast, accurate and concussing. Donaire, whose own reflexes are enviable, saw Walters’ jab happening and countered over it successfully in the earliest rounds. By the fourth, though, after he got dropped by the same rear-hand uppercut Walters also dropped Darchinyan with, Donaire couldn’t counter Walters’ jab – because Walters’ jab disrupted Donaire’s equilibrium in a way that obviated reflex. Without a jab or reliable right, Donaire was reduced to his old digs in Left Hook City. Walters anchored his right guard to his cheek, waited for Donaire to put his life behind a left hook, pulled away from that hook, and then dropped an axe blade on Donaire’s left temple. And that was that.

Donaire, now a featherweight, admitted quite frankly afterwards he wanted no part of Walters’ offering, and since he neither wants to be denuded a second time at super bantamweight by Guillermo Rigondeaux, Nonito is effectively retired, even while he sharpens his pencil, arranges his T-square and readies a protractor for his return to boxing’s ubiquitous drawing board. More interesting, though, was a prefight description of Nonito’s reconciliation with Dad, when both men, according to Nonito, were being “alphas,” and Nonito implored himself to be a man, be strong, be a man, before sobbing uncontrollably once his dad departed.

It was a reminder of a certain debility of spirit about Donaire that long made others a little uncomfortable around him: He was a very good athlete who learned to be a fighter, which of course is different from a man who knows only one way. Or perhaps the point is better made as a question: Do you think Sergey Kovalev gives himself silent peptalks about being a man?

There’s a certain harmony a man has when he enjoys being who he is, and it’s a harmony often more noticeable in its absence, in the dissonance, for example, one senses from Donaire. I was reminded of this Saturday as I watched comedian Corey Holcomb ply his craft. There he sat on Houston Improv’s small stage, in an admittedly ridiculous and sparkly outfit he called “when an old (man) tries to dress young,” entirely relaxed, under the spell of himself, being wildly offensive before an evenly mixed crowd of men and women. Holcomb began with jokes about abortion clinics and moved to jokes about other women – “side pieces,” in the vernacular the comic shares with Paulie Malignaggi – and the illegitimate children that often result, whom Holcomb called “side babies.” It was a routine designed to offend, and performed to appear theatrically oblivious of what offense it caused.

As each of Holcomb’s jokes met with equal parts ribald laughter and hateful silence, Holcomb, with wide eyes and an angelic face, mockingly imitated a man who realized he’d just gone too far – and then went much farther still. An hour of watching Holcomb from ringside, as it were, convinces one of nothing so much as the power a man possesses when he withstands the derision of others, when he is intoxicated enough by himself to alter others’ rejections of him.

It is a different sort of fortitude than what Nicholas Walters showed Saturday, but it is of a piece, a harmony, the way Walters and Holcomb’s type of self-belief forces others to harmonize with them.

Bart Barry can be reached via Twitter @bartbarry

Photo by Chris Farina / Top Rank

Gennady Golovkin thrilled a sold out StubHub Center in Carson, California in the 2nd round of their scheduled 12 round Middleweight championship bout.

Golovkin rocked Rubio at the end of the opening frame from a right. In round two, Golovkin landed a thudding uppercut that drove Rubio to the ropes. A follow up barrage that was finished off by a looping left to the head sent Rubio down for the ten count at

Golovkin, 159 lbs of Kazakhstan is now 31-0 with 28 knockouts. Rubio weighed in 1.8 lbs over the Middleweight limit is now 59-7-1.

Nicholas Walters announced his presence as a top flight Featherweight as Nicholas Walters scored a 6th round stoppage over Nonito Donaire to capture the WBA “Super” Featherweight title.

Donaire struck first as he rocked Walters with a left hook at the end of round two. In round three, Walters landed his own left hook that sent Donaire to the canvas. In round four, Dinaire suffered a cut over his right eye. In roud six, a cut formed over Donaire’s left eye. At the end of the sixth round, Walters landed two thudding right hands with the latter pouncing off the top of Donaire’s head that sent the former Fighter of the Year to the canvas again. Donaire was barely able to get to his feet but referee Raul Caiz stopped the fight at 2:59 of round six.

Walters, 125 1/w lbs of Montigo Bay, JAM is now 25-0 with 21 knockouts. Donaire, 125 1/2 lbs of Philippines is now 33-3.

Edwin Rodriguez scored a 10-round unanimous decision over Azea Augustama in a Light Heavyweight bout.

Scores were 100-90 twice and 99-91 for Rodriguez, 174 3/4 lbs of Worcester, MA and is now 24-1. Augustama. 175 3/4 lbs is now 17-2.

Abraham Han scored a 10-round majority decision over Marcos Reyes in a Super Middleweight bout.

Reyes Dropped Han in round eight but was deducted a point in round for a low blow.

Han, 160 1/2 lbs won by scores of 97-91 twice and 94-94 and is now 23-1. Reyes, 160 3/4 lbs is 32-2.

Gennady Golovkin 159 – Marco Antonio Rubio 161.8
Nonito Donaire 125.6 – Nicholas Walters 125.6

LOS ANGELES (October 15, 2015) — World Boxing Association (WBA) featherweight champions NONITO “The Filipino Flash” DONAIRE and NICHOLAS “The Axe Man” WALTERS collide This Saturday! in a WBA featherweight title unification showdown at a sold-out StubHub! Center in Carson, Calif. The fight will be televised live on HBO World Championship Boxing®, beginning at 10:00 p.m. ET/PT. The telecast will also feature WBA/IBO middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin defending his titles against World Boxing Council (WBC) interim middleweight champion Marco Antonio “El Veneno” Rubio. Golovkin vs. Rubio and its undercard are presented by K2 Promotions and GGG Promotions, in association with Promociones Del Pueblo.

Donaire and Walters boast a combined record of 57-2 (41 KOs) — a winning percentage of 97% and a victory by knockout ratio of 72%. When it comes to these two world featherweight champions, “You could have knocked me over with a feather,” is more than just a figure of speech!

NONITO DONAIRE

“Confident fighters are dangerous fighters. I know that. But there other fighters who said before a fight they were stronger than me, hit harder, were going to knock me out.

“Walters is a good champion but really how many quality fights has he been in compared to where I have been in my career?

“We both have speed, we both have power. It’s an explosive fight. This is going to end in a knockout. I will go into the ring and do my best.”

NICHOLAS WALTERS

“Donaire is a very good champion. We both have speed and power. The difference is intelligence. I was born to fight. The bigger the fight the better.

“If Donaire isn’t right, he’s going to get knocked out. Maybe five rounds, maybe less. Not sure yet.

“But you know what? Donaire stepped up and took this fight. He didn’t have to. For that, I respect him for getting in the ring with me.”

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

For Donaire vs. Walters fight updates go to www.toprank.com, or www.hbo.com/boxing, on Facebook at facebook.com/trboxing, facebook.com/trboxeo, or facebook.com/hboboxing, and on Twitter at twitter.com/trboxing, twitter.com/trboxeo, or twitter.com/hboboxing. Use the Hashtag #DonaireWalters to join the conversation on Twitter.

In two short years, middleweight titleholder Gennady Golovkin has built a powerhouse reputation with East Coast fans thanks to an intriguing array of skills, highlighted by stunning knockout power, becoming perhaps the sport’s most feared fighter.

Now, he takes aim at the West Coast in his first Los Angeles-area prizefight when WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING: GENNADY GOLOVKIN VS. MARCO ANTONIO RUBIO AND NONITO DONAIRE VS. NICHOLAS WALTERS is seen SATURDAY, OCT. 18 at 10:00 p.m. ET/PT from StubHub Center in Carson, Cal., exclusively on HBO. The HBO Sports team will be ringside for the event, which will be available in HDTV, closed-captioned for the hearing-impaired and presented in Spanish on HBO Latino.

Other HBO playdates: Oct. 19 (8:30 a.m.) and 21 (1:05 a.m.)

HBO2 playdates: Oct. 19 (4:00 p.m.) and 20 (12:15 a.m.)

In his 12th middleweight crown defense, Gennady Golovkin (30-0, 27 KOs), originally from Karaganda, Kazakhstan, and now training at Big Bear, Cal., meets the dangerous Marco Antonio Rubio (59-6-1, 51 KOs) of Torreon, Mexico in a scheduled 12-round contest. Currently boasting a knockout victory streak of 17, Golovkin has taken the boxing world by storm with an extraordinary knockout-to-win ratio of 90%, and no opponent has gone the distance with him since Nov. 2008. He’s trained by the highly regarded Abel Sanchez.

Rubio, who trains in Oxnard, Cal. with the accomplished Robert Garcia, has never backed away from a challenge. A veteran of bouts with Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., Kelly Pavlik, David Lemieux, Frankie Randall and Kassim Ouma, he brings a wealth of major-league experience into the ring.

Opening the telecast is a compelling featherweight title matchup pitting Nonito Donaire (33-2, 21 KOs) against Nicholas Walters (24-0, 20 KOs) in a 12-round battle. A native of the Philippines who’s currently based in San Leandro, Cal., Donaire was the 2012 BWAA Fighter of the Year. Having earned world titles in four different weight classes, he now puts his new 126-pound crown on the line. Walters, who hails from Jamaica, is widely viewed as a talented fighter.

Immediately after the live boxing action from Carson, HBO Sports will present the one-episode special “24/7 Hopkins/Kovalev” at approximately 12:15 a.m.

At 12:45 a.m. the HBO Latino service will present a doubleheader of HBO Latino Boxing action from StubHub Center. Headlining a 10-round light heavyweight battle will be Edwin Rodriguez and Azea Augustama and in the opening bout it’s a 10-round middleweight clash with Marcos Reyes squaring off with Abie Han.

Follow HBO boxing news at hbo.com/boxing, on Facebook at facebook.com/hboboxing and on Twitter at twitter.com/hboboxing.

All HBO boxing events are presented in HDTV. HBO viewers must have access to the HBO HDTV channel to watch HBO programming in high definition.

The executive producer of WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING is Rick Bernstein; producer, Jon Crystal; director, Johnathan Evans.

® WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING is a registered service mark of Home Box Office, Inc.

By Bart Barry–

Saturday at StubHub Center in Carson, Calif., in a co-main event broadcast by HBO and certain to be more entertaining than what follows it, Jamaican featherweight titlist Nicholas “The Axe Man” Walters will fight “Filipino Flash” Nonito Donaire in a WBA unification match – being that both men already have WBA featherweight titles.

Much as happened two summers ago in Dallas, when Terence Crawford looked decisively the better prizefighter at what was intended by HBO to be a Mikey Garcia showcase, 11 months ago in Corpus Christi, at what was intended to be the first steps on a path to rejuvenation for Nonito Donaire, after the birth of his child got him unswaddled by Guillermo Rigondeaux, the evening’s most impressive performance was not in the main event or even part of HBO’s broadcast. Instead, that night, in a climate that managed, still, to be sticky in November, the man who impressed most at American Bank Center was a Panama-trained Jamaican in his U.S. debut.

Nicholas “Axe Man” Walters did everything a little bit harder than expected, three matches before the main event, from swinging his invisible axe during introductions to punching Mexican Alberto Garza to smiling through his menacing postfight celebration. In a surprise bit of enthusiasm, promoter Bob Arum nodded excitedly on the apron afterward, even calling down to pressrow: “He hits hard!”

That the Axe Man does. He is long for a 126-pounder, too, quite long, and he is both more awkward and more skilled than his occasional gangliness betrays. He turns his punches over with ferocity and the tall man’s advantage of keeping his chin far from perilousness even as he imperils opponents. Vic Darchinyan, a much better technician than once believed, could not swim his way to Walters’ chin in four rounds of trying in May and finally rushed at last resorts and got knocked silly by Walters who, if he catches you turning into a punch, as he caught Darchinyan, has outage power.

Walters is marvelously well schooled, too, in a way subverted by his knockout ratio and his ringside prop, a carvedwood axe; against the southpaw Darchinyan, Walters used the length of his legs still more than the length of his arms to neutralize Darchinyan’s charges, causing Darchinyan’s feet to get tangled on his second and third step, two of every three passes. It was the type of cagey, veteran stuff one does not expect the first time he sees a man in a televised fight, which made it extra enjoyable.

Saturday Walters will fight Nonito Donaire in the co-main of what appears a good card at StubHub Center in Carson, Calif. Donaire is something of a symbol for HBO 3.0, the failed startup that happened after Ross Greenburg was sent looking for other opportunities at Showtime. Before the network realized there were fighters raised in the Soviet system and not named Klitschko, before Gennady Golovkin and Sergey Kovalev carried HBO’s 2014 Fall Calendar, in other words, the network casted about for someone it could prematurely declare great and put in non-pay-per-view showcase matches, and Top Rank happily fed it a prodigal son named Nonito.

Goodness but HBO had to lug this kid about: Nonito loves fashion, Nonito is Filipino – like Manny! – Nonito knocked out “The Raging Bull” with one punch, Nonito is PED free, Nonito is the fighter of the year because Nonito does not take PEDs! Before it all felt like such a dreadful ruse, aficionados stared intently at their screens, ready for Nonito’s greatness to knock them sideways in a flash of (Filipino) light, and instead got Nonito making an unwatchable mess with Argentine survivor Omar Narvaez in 2011, Nonito hurting his hand against Wilfredo Vazquez Jr, Nonito hopping about like an enkindled finch against Jeffrey Mathebula, Nonito dropping Toshiaki “Is Japanese for Cash-Out” Nishioka, and finally Nonito whupping Jorge Arce into his first retirement – to finish 2012.

Declared that year’s best fighter, and in retrospect it should have been a sign of all the badness to come that beating four guys with an aggregate of 14 career losses got a guy declared Fighter of the Year, Donaire talked a whole lot about becoming a father before his April 2013 match with the Cuban master Guillermo Rigondeaux, and then Rigondeaux handled Donaire so thoroughly that, in an instant, the boxing community collectively sighed, congratulated Nonito on fatherhood, and redirected the lot of its premature-greatness rhapsody towards Mikey Garcia.

Whatever came of Mikey anyway, you’re wondering, and the answer shall be revealed someday, one imagines. Why don’t we hear about that kid anymore, you’re also wondering, and that answer can be revealed directly: Gennady “GGG” Golovkin!

With all of Nonito’s charm, though interestingly never a whisper about VADA testing, and none of Mikey’s Oxnardian rebelliousness, Golovkin has supplanted both Nonito and Mikey as the prizefighter most likely to endanger a commentator’s descriptions with hyperbole overdose. And get this: Golovkin is older than both Donaire and Garcia, despite being discovered after them.

Golovkin is also dining on Mexican, Saturday, in HBO’s main event, when Marco Antonio Rubio, a man beaten soundly by “Son of the Legend” Julio Cesar Chavez Jr 32 months ago, will be brought to Golovkin’s table in Carson missing only an apple in his mouth. Far more sporting than anything to come in the ring during the main event will be the straining that goes on at ringside, as HBO’s promotional crew tries to convince viewers Rubio, the very same guy stretched in one round by Kofi Jantuah 10 years ago, has a granitic chin, moments before GGG performs the impossible feat of scoring an eighth-round corner stoppage on the unstoppable Mexican.

Saturday’s broadcast will illustrate elegantly the difference between an athletic contest and a promotional spectacle, with Walters and Donaire providing the former.

Bart Barry can be reached via Twitter @bartbarry

Photo by Chris Farina / Top Rank

LOS ANGELES (September 19, 2014) — Top Rank® announced today that 2012 Fighter of the Year and four-division world champion NONITO “The Filipino Flash” DONAIRE and undefeated world champion NICHOLAS “The Axe Man” WALTERS will battle it out to determine the undisputed World Boxing Association (WBA) featherweight world champion. Donaire vs. Walters will take place Saturday, October 18, at StubHub! Center in Carson, Calif. It will be televised live on HBO World Championship Boxing, beginning at 10:00 p.m. ET/PT. The telecast will also feature WBA/IBO middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin defending his titles against World Boxing Council (WBC) interim middleweight champion Marco Antonio “El Veneno” Rubio. Golovkin vs. Rubio and its undercard are presented by K2 Promotions and GGG Promotions, in association with Promociones Del Pueblo

Donaire and Walters boast a combined record of 57-2 (41 KOs) — a winning percentage of 97% and a victory by knockout ratio of 72%. When it comes to these two world featherweight champions, “You could have knocked me over with a feather,” is more than just a figure of speech!

“I am very excited for this fight. We are doing everything we can to be ready for everything Walters brings on October 18,” said Donaire.

“This is my dream fight. It’s now the time to show everyone who is the best 126 pound world champion in the entire world,” declared Walters.

“The featherweight division has a rich history with epic matchups, said Todd duBoef, president of Top Rank. “Nonito Donaire and Nicholas Walters are two of the great champions in the division today. This promises to be an entertaining, exciting world title unification battle.”

“Nonito Donaire is a four-division world champion and former fighter of the year, who always delivers for fans by challenging the toughest competition, which is precisely what he’ll be facing when he fights undefeated power-puncher Nicholas Walters in a superb featherweight championship co-feature on October 18 at the StubHub Center in Carson, CA, live on HBO World Championship Boxing,” said Peter Nelson, vice president, programming, HBO Sports.

Donaire (33-2, 21 KOs), a native of General Santos City, Philippines, now living in Las Vegas, has been a consensus Top-10 pound-for-pound fighter for several years. He returned to the top of the mountain as a world champion in his last fight, on May 31, at The Venetian Macao, dethroning defending WBA featherweight champion Simphiwe Vetyeka via a vicious five-round technical decision. His banner year in 2012 included four world championship victories. He beat former world champion Israel Vazquez, Jr. to capture the vacant WBO junior featherweight title, then unified the title by defeating IBF junior featherweight champion Jeffrey Mathebula. Donaire collected his third belt of the year by knocking out WBC Diamond Belt super bantamweight champion Toshiaki Nishioka, ending Nishioka’s eight-year, 16-bout, winning streak. Donaire concluded his magnificent year by blasting out Mexican icon Jorge Arce in the third round and sealing his 2012 Fighter of the Year honors while extending his 12-year, 30-bout winning streak. He lost his title to undefeated Cuban sensation and WBA super bantamweight champion Guillermo Rigondeaux in a title unification bout at a sold-out Radio City Music Hall on April 13, 2013. Career highlights for Donaire also include knockout victories of defending IBF flyweight champion Vic Darchinyan, former WBA bantamweight champion Wladimir Sidorenko, and defending WBC/WBO bantamweight champion Fernando Montiel, ending Montiel’s 25-bout winning streak. That victory was named the 2011 Knockout of the Year. Donaire’s ended 2013 with a ninth-round knockout victory of Darchinyan in their eagerly-awaited rematch. Donaire has held a world title every year dating back to 2007. Three of his last four victories have been by way of knockout.

Walters (24-0, 20 KOs), of Montego Bay, Jamaica, enters this fight having won 10 of his last 11 fights by knockout. He captured the vacant WBA featherweight title on December 12, 2012, knocking out Daulis Presscott (26-1, 19 KOs) in the seventh round. He has successfully defended the title twice — both by knockout — stopping Alberto Garza and former two-division world champion Vic Darchinyan in the fourth and fifth rounds, respectively. A former amateur standout who collected gold medals at the 2007 Pan American Games Qualifier III and the 2005 and 2007 Caribbean Championships, Walters is known for his expert boxing skills and movement and two-fisted punching power that are at a caliber of a much higher weight class.

Remaining tickets to the Golovkin-Rubio/ Donaire-Walters world championship doubleheader, priced at $210, $105, $53 and $27, plus applicable service charges, are available online at www.AXS.com, by phone at 888-9AXS-TIX (888-929-7849) and www.StubHubCenter.com. Doors will open at 3:00 p.m. PT, with the first bell scheduled for 3:15 p.m. PT.

For Donaire vs. Walters fight updates go to www.toprank.com, or www.hbo.com/boxing, on Facebook at facebook.com/trboxing, facebook.com/trboxeo, or facebook.com/hboboxing, and on Twitter at twitter.com/trboxing, twitter.com/trboxeo, or twitter.com/hboboxing. Use the Hashtag #DonaireWalters to join the conversation on Twitter.

According to Dan Rafael of espn.con, Nonito Donaire will fight undefeated Nicholas Walters on October as part of the Gennady Golovkin – Marco Antonio Rubio card in Carson, California.

“Even before this fight was made the response we’ve gotten to Gennady’s fight with Rubio has been incredible. There has been a great response. This just makes the show even bigger and better,” said K2 Promotions Tom Loeffler, who formally announced Golovkin-Rubio at a Los Angeles news conference on Wednesday, but couldn’t announce Donaire-Walters because the deal with Top Rank was not agreed to until several hours later.

“They are both Top Rank fighters, but we wanted to make the best fight possible even if it didn’t involve our fighters (in the co-feature),” Loeffler said. “This fight adds a lot of value to Gennady’s fight with Rubio.”

“These guys want to fight and we want them to fight, so this was a good spot for them,” said Top Rank’s Carl Moretti. “The fight is agreed to and the paperwork is going out. It’s a terrific fight. It’s Walters’ relative youth versus Donaire’s experience. Walters is a strong, younger, hungry fighter. Donaire is an established pound-for-pound fighter, one of the biggest names in the sport still. It’s not like Donaire hasn’t faced guys like this before. We know Donaire has been there before. Now we’ll see what Walters can do on this kind of big stage.”

By Bart Barry-

After nine years of sitting ringside at Top Rank shows – my first media credential came from Lee Samuels, in April 2005 – one flatters himself to think he can discern the difference between a well-built fight and a well-built fighter, noting hallmarks of the promoter’s extraordinary eye for talent and talent for matchmaking in the differences between a well-built fight like Donaire-Montiel and a well-built fighter like Miguel Cotto. In Dallas one year ago to see Mikey Garcia continue his ascent, while actually witnessing its antithesis, I believed the best-built fighter I saw at American Airlines Center was not Garcia but an undefeated kid from Nebraska named Terence Crawford.

Saturday confirmed that opinion and ratified Crawford as one of the world’s two best lightweights (and if a fight’s probable aesthetics should require ambiguity, may it ever do so in the case of Crawford and Miguel Vazquez), when Crawford overcame undefeated Cuban Yuriorkis Gamboa’s initial superiority of reflex and craft to make a first defense of his world title the proper way: TKO-9. At Omaha’s CenturyLink Center, Crawford switched from orthodox to southpaw, socked Gamboa from most every direction, dropped him four times, and commanded referee Genaro Rodriguez’s mercy, in a performance that made aficionados everywhere suddenly invest in the Nebraskan’s fortunes.

Crawford-Gamboa was an excellent fight conducted near the height of boxing’s current powers, though not quite as much as HBO’s hyperbolic commentating crew proclaimed – so thrilled were they to be somewhere new in front of a spectacle competitive. Terence Crawford is a rarity among contemporary prizefighters: A talented fighter able to sell tickets at home though nevertheless willing to travel anywhere and make fight real fights against real fighters. He is a monument to how Top Rank alone can build a fighter when it wishes to, when it takes a nothing-much-to-lose approach and moves him properly, making sterner tests steadily, and giving him a chance to surprise himself and others when his moment comes.

If a prizefighter improves considerably by becoming a champion, Crawford just became better again by defending his belt before a hometown crowd. Whatever collectedness Crawford showed throughout the match and afterwards, however much the ferocity of Gamboa’s attack elevated Crawford’s demeanor in aficionados’ eyes from insipid to poised, there can be no doubt he was surprised and overjoyed by his performance and its result. Watch him immediately after being hoisted on his handler’s shoulders in the traditionally celebratory way; he begins with the menacing glare one sees predominately in staredowns and hip-hop clubs then surrenders his face to a wide and nearly disbelieving grin.

It was, in its way, a metaphor for the transition in demeanor our sport’s fans underwent these last 30 days: After a scowl-inducing opening five months, 2014 righted its course, if it didn’t fully redeem itself, with definitively heroic showings by Carl Froch, Chris Algieri, Vasyl Lomachenko and Terence Crawford, interrupted early by a coronation of sorts for Miguel Cotto, aficionados’ consensus pick for the veteran prizefighter most deserving of one. While a single stretch in a mediocre run would not save a programming regime in a meritocracy, in the current state of premium-cable programming it likely buys those running HBO Sports another year or so.

As if in late-arriving rebuttal to Showtime’s groundbreaking work with Chuck Giampa in 2012, HBO unveiled Saturday its own fan-battle and groggy-cam innovations, the former a feature in which, rather than feign objectivity at the outset, Max and Roy each pick an opposing fighter and comb a match’s every indecisive moment for evidence his fighter took it, while Jim scores their efforts and Steve agrees. Max selects the object of his greater overstatements in bygone fights, and Roy picks whichever guy resembles Roy. Perhaps the fan-battle innovation, then, marks not an innovation but a feedback mechanism: Any time Max tore his eyes from Gamboa’s spellbinding athleticism, Saturday, it meant Crawford did something exceptional, and each time Roy got Gamboa’s name right it was because the Cuban showed much heart, son.

The groggy-cam innovation, though, was exactly that: Effectively as Chuck Giampa once took Showtime viewers inside the mind of a judge so did HBO’s camerawork take subscribers inside the massively concussed brain of a nearly unconscious man in a championship prizefight. Viewers who delighted in HBO’s rope-obstructed shots in the opening rounds had no choice but to concede the close of Saturday’s main event was nigh intoxicating, if not intoxicated. After Gamboa rose from the blue mat and readied himself for his final act of self-immolation in round 9, HBO gave its viewers a jerky Omaha-crowd-as-Pacific-Ocean angle nonsensical as broadcasting a Tiger Woods sudden-death putt from the Goodyear Blimp.

Self-immolation was indeed the phrase that often came to mind while watching Gamboa in Saturday’s final rounds. Gamboa, who has been rendered HBO-camera-like just about every time a fight of his makes television, brought to mind the Mike Tyson whom Evander Holyfield stopped in their first match, though without a chin fractionally reliable as Tyson’s. Just as Holyfield weathered the initial onslaught of Tyson’s reflexive rage and raging reflexes, weathered it to remind Tyson who the physically stronger man was, so did Crawford get too close and then too far in his opening 12 minutes with Gamboa, determining what he might be missing in the Cuban’s all-offense-always style and what the consequences of his carelessness later might bring, before marching forward and imposing himself the way a man should in a confrontation.

Unlike Crawford, Gamboa had no means of countering a force that moved him backwards, asserting once more his claim on contemporary prizefighting’s largest delta between physical ability and ring IQ – that somewhat fuzzy quality one needn’t define precisely before knowing Crawford has much larger stores of it than Gamboa. More enticing, still, is this: Crawford utilized his IQ to make a wager worthy of prizefighting’s master gambler, Juan Manuel Marquez, choosing to absorb Gamboa’s overhand rights, from a southpaw stance, in the hopes of deploying his own arsenal with more devastating effect.

When such hopes find full satisfaction in an arena filled with one’s hometown fans, it’s OK to break character afterwards and smile widely, Terence. You’ve got lots of folks smiling.

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

Nonito Donaire won the WBA Featherweight title with a unanimous technical decision over Simpiwe Vetyeka at the Cotai Arena in the Venetian in Macau, China.

Donaire was cut over the left eye in round one and he did not stop bleeding throughout the fight. It was a close fight with Donaire landing the more effective blows. Vetyeka was effective in spots. Doanire sealed the fight when he landed a booming left hook in the middle of an exchange that sent Vetyeka to canvas. Donaire was seen by the ringside doctor multiple times during the fight and the contest was stopped at the beginning of round five with Donaire ahead 49-46 on all cards.

Donaire, 126 lbs of General City, Philippines is now 33-2. Vetyeka, 125 1/2 lbs of South Africa is now 26-3.

Simpiwie Vetyetka 125.5 – Nonito Donaire
Nicholas Walters 125.5 – Vic Darchinyan 125.5
Egveny Gradovich 125.5 – Alexander Miskirtchian 125.5

LONDON (May 29) – Filipino hotshot Nonito Donaire is ready to begin a new era of dominance when he challenges Simpiwe Vetyeka in his bid to become a five-weight world champion.

The 31-year-old is looking to get his career back on track following a disappointing 2013 which saw him lose to skilled Cuban Guillermo Rigondeaux before scraping past Vic Darchinyan with a ninth round knockout, having been down on the judges’ scorecards.

‘The Filipino Flash’ takes on Vetyeka for the WBA Super featherweight world title this Saturday, live on BoxNation, with the aim of looking like the man who claimed the 2012 ‘Fighter of the Year’ accolade and was a constant name in the mythical pound-for-pound list.

“2013 was a year I would say was covered in darkness, but that’s how life is,” said Donaire. “For me this is a new beginning with Vetyeka. He’s an amazing fighter and we understand what he’s capable of. For us this is a statement, regardless of whether I have it or not. And that’s something everyone will be excited to see. And we’ll find out Saturday,” he said.

Taking place from the Cotai Arena in Macao, the former super-bantamweight king is making the move up to the 126 pound featherweight division as he looks to go back to the drawing board following a tough year.

“Last year I got away from what made me successful and I paid the price for that when I met Guillermo Rigondeaux. And even when I knocked out Vic Darchinyan in our rematch last year, that wasn’t the best me,” said Donaire.

“It’s been a long time since I entered a fight as an underdog but that has inspired me more. I re-evaluated everything. I moved my training camp to the Philippines to take advantage of the heat and humidity and to eliminate the distractions I had in Las Vegas.

“It was a great move. I let a lot of things I worked hard to achieve slip through my fingers last year. I want to return to where I was in 2012 and go beyond that for the remainder of my boxing career,” he said.

Vetyeka enters the ring on a high following his sensational win over the hugely respected Chris John last December.

With 26 wins in his 28 fights, and coming off a convincing win over one of boxing’s slickest operators, Donaire is well aware of the threat the South African possesses.

“I had to work on a lot of things in camp because Vetyeka is so multidimensional inside the ring. He’s dangerous and has a lot of weapons,” he said.

“His last two fights were knockout victories of Daud Yordan and Chris John. Those are two tough guys. But I am confident I have the game plan and the talent to beat him. There is no doubt that May 31st at The Venetian Macao is going to be my finest hour,” said Donaire.

The exciting switch-hitter will also have his father back in his corner, who joins as head trainer, and he agrees with his son’s honest assessment of his recent outings.

“I agree with Nonito 100%,” said his father Nonito Donaire, Sr. “Nonito got away from what made him great – his speed and footwork in combination with his power. Last year he just came forward, didn’t move his head and relied too much on his power, and that’s exactly the wrong way to fight a pure boxer like Rigondeaux as we all saw.

“This camp we went back to Nonito’s bread and butter – creating a mix that combines speed, movement and power. I have never seen a fighter work harder and totally dedicate himself to his tasks than Nonito did during this training camp,” he said.

The 33-year-old Vetyeka was to the point in his evaluation of the fight and can’t wait to get in the ring.

“Thank you to Nonito for accepting my challenge. I’m the champion, but I chose to fight Nonito and he accepted. Fight night I’ll make sure I defend my title successfully. That’s why I’m here,” said Vetyeka.

The main event is one of three featherweight world championship fights, with undefeated WBA world featherweight champion Nicholas Walters defending his title against two-division world champion Darchinyan, and undefeated IBF champion Evgeny Gradovich taking on number one contender Alexander Miskirtchian.

Donaire vs. Vetyeka is live and exclusive on BoxNation (Sky 437/490HD & Virgin 546) this Saturday at 2pm. Visit www.boxnation.com to subscribe.

-Ends-

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MACAU, CHINA (May 28, 2014) – It’s back to the future for four-division world champion and 2012 Fighter of the Year Year NONITO “The Filipino Flash” DONAIRE as he finishes off a training camp that hasn’t been this rigorous and back to basics since his stellar year in 2012. Donaire is moving up yet another weight division, this time to challenge World Boxing Association (WBA) Undisputed featherweight world champion SIMPIWE “V12” VETYEKA.

Promoted by Top Rank® and Sands China Ltd, in association with Tecate, PS4 and Foreman Boys Promotions, Vetyeka vs. Donaire will be televised from the Cotai Arena at The Venetian® Macao This Saturday! May 31, on HBO, beginning at 4:00 p.m. ET/PT. The telecast will also include the world super middleweight title rematch between defending champion Carl Froch and top contender George Groves, which will take place at Wembley Stadium in London.

“Last year I got away from what made me successful and I paid the price for that when I met Guillermo Rigondeaux. And even when I knocked out Vic Darchinyan in our rematch last year, that wasn’t the best me,” said a very candid Donaire.

“I agree with Nonito 100%,” said his father Nonito Donaire, Sr., who is back in his corner as head trainer. “Nonito got away from what made him great – his speed and footwork in combination with his power. Last year he just came forward, didn’t move his head and relied too much on his power, and that’s exactly the wrong way to fight a pure boxer like Rigondeaux as we all saw. This camp we went back to Nonito’s bread and butter – creating a mix that combines speed, movement and power. I have never seen a fighter work harder and totally dedicate himself to his tasks than Nonito did during this training camp.”

The Donaires remember all too well what it was like to enter a world championship fight as underdogs. Seven years and 15 pounds ago, Donaire shook up the boxing world with a one-punch stoppage of undefeated International Boxing Federation flyweight champion Vic Darchinyan, ending his three-year world title reign. It was the consensus Knockout of the Year and Upset of the Year for 2007.

“It’s been a long time since I entered a fight as an underdog but that has inspired me more,” said the four-division world champion. “I reevaluated everything. I moved my training camp to the Philippines to take advantage of the heat and humidity and to eliminate the distractions I had in Las Vegas. It was a great move. I let a lot of things I worked hard to achieve slip through my fingers last year. I want to return to where I was in 2012 and go beyond that for the reminder of my boxing career.

“I had to work on a lot of things in camp because Vetyeka is so multidimensional inside the ring. He’s dangerous and has a lot of weapons. His last two fights were knockout victories of Daud Yordan and Chris John. Those are two tough guys. But I am confident I have the game plan and the talent to beat him. There is no doubt that May 31 at The Venetian Macao is going to be my finest hour.”

Donaire vs. Vetyeka is one of three featherweight world championship battles headlining Featherweight Fury! at Cotai Arena. Undefeated WBA world featherweight champion NICHOLAS “The Axe Man” WALTERS will defend his title against two-division world champion VIC “Raging Bull” DARCHINYAN; and undefeated IBF champion EVGENY “The Mexican Russian” GRADOVICH, making his third consecutive featherweight title defense at the Cotai Arena, will be battling No. 1 contender ALEXANDER MISKIRTCHIAN. Walters vs. Darchinyan and Gradovich vs. Miskirtchian and most of the undercard will be streamed live via http://www.toprank.tv. The only undercard bout not available via the live stream will be the IBF junior featherweight title elimination bout between Top-Five contenders CHRIS “The Hit Man” AVALOS and YASUTAKA ISHIMOTO. That fight will be televised via same-day delay as the main event on Sólo Boxeo Tecate on UniMás. The winner will be declared the IBF’s No. 1 contender and mandatory challenger to IBF junior featherweight world champion Kiko Martinez.

Donaire (32-2, 20 KOs), a native of General Santos City, Philippines, now living in Las Vegas, has been a consensus Top-10 pound-for-pound fighter for several years. His banner year in 2012 included four world championship victories. He beat former world champion Israel Vazquez, Jr. to capture the vacant WBO junior featherweight title, then unified the title by defeating IBF junior bantamweight champion Jeffrey Mathebula. Donaire collected his third belt of the year by knocking out WBC Diamond Belt super bantamweight champion Toshiaki Nishioka, ending Nishioka’s eight-year, 16-bout, winning streak. Donaire concluded his magnificent year by blasting out Mexican icon Jorge Arce in the third round and sealing his 2012 Fighter of the Year honours while extending his 12-year, 30-bout winning streak. He lost his title to undefeated Cuban sensation and WBA super bantamweight champion Guillermo Rigondeaux in a title unification bout at a sold-out Radio City Music Hall on April 13, 2013. Career highlights for Donaire also include knockout victories of defending IBF flyweight champion Vic Darchinyan, former WBA bantamweight champion Wladimir Sidorenko, and defending WBC/WBO bantamweight champion Fernando Montiel, ending Montiel’s 25-bout winning streak. That victory was named the 2011 Knockout of the Year. Donaire’s last fight was a ninth-round knockout victory of Darchinyan in their eagerly-awaited rematch which took place on November 9, 2013.

Vetyeka (26-2, 15 KOs), of Mdantsane, South Africa, will be making the first defence of the title he won from the legendary Chris John. A 12-year professional, four of Vetyeka’s five last victories have been by knockout. He scored a major upset to win his world title last December, knocking out the undefeated defending WBA featherweight champion John in the sixth round. John had celebrated the 10th year of his title reign two months earlier, which included 18 title defences.

Walters (23-0, 19 KOs), of Montego Bay, Jamaica, enters this fight having won nine of his last 10 fights by knockout. He captured the vacant WBA featherweight title on December 12, 2012, knocking out Daulis Presscott (26-1, 19 KOs) in the seventh round. He made his first title defence on November 9, 2013, stopping Alberto Garza (25-5-1, 20 KOs) in the fourth round.

Darchinyan (39-6-1, 28 KOs), a native of Armenia whose home base has been Sydney, Australia, is one of the lower division’s most exciting fighters. A member of Armenia’s 2000 Olympic boxing team, he won his first world title in his 22nd professional bout, knocking out undefeated IBF flyweight champion Irene Pacheco in the 11th round of their 2004 battle, ending Pacheco’s five-year reign. During his own three-year tenure as world champion, Darchinyan successfully defended his title six times – all by stoppage – against the division’s top contenders. After losing the title and his undefeated record to Donaire, in 2007, Darchinyan moved up in weight and claimed the IBF junior bantamweight crown, knocking out defending champion Dimitri Kirilov in the fifth round. He unified the 115 pound world titles in his next fight, knocking out World Boxing Council (WBC) / WBA super flyweight champion Cristian Mijares in the ninth round. The first person to unify three of the titles in that weight division, Darchinyan successfully defended his titles three times during his two-year reign as unified super flyweight champion, including an 11th-round stoppage of Méxican icon Jorge Arce. Darchinyan vacated his titles in mid-2010 to campaign as a bantamweight, defeating former IBF bantamweight champion Yonnhy Perez, Evans Mbamba and Eric Barcelona, while losing competitive decisions to world champions Abner Mares, Joseph Agbeko and Shinsuke Yamanaka. Last November, Darchinyan finally got his long-awaited rematch with Donaire. It was an exciting fight that had Darchinyan leading on the judges’ scorecards through eight rounds until he got caught by Donaire and was stopped in the ninth round.

Gradovich (18-0, 9 KOs), of Igrim, Russia, captured the IBF featherweight title on March 1, 2013, winning a gritty split decision over defending champion Billy Dib. He has successfully defended the twice – both at Cotai Arena – where he has developed a rabid fan following. At Fists of Gold II last July, Gradovich won a dominating unanimous decision over Mauricio Muñoz and on the November 24 Pacquiao-Rios undercard, he knocked out Dib in the ninth round of their rematch.

Miskirtchian (24-2-1, 9 KOs), of Namur, Belgium, will be making his Asian debut. He enters this fight riding a five-year, 11-bout winning streak, with over half those victories coming by way of knockout. After winning the European featherweight title and defending it twice during his two-year reign, he won a 12-round decision over Sofiane Takoucht, in an IBF featherweight title elimination bout, to become the IBF’s No. 1 contender and mandatory challenger to Gradovich. This will be Miskirtchian’s first world title shot.

Avalos (23-2, 17 KOs), of Lancaster, Calif., enters this fight riding a two-year, four-bout winning streak, including an NABO junior featherweight title victory over Drian Francisco last July. He is currently world-rated No. 1 by the WBO, No. 4 by the IBF and No. 5 by the WBA.

Ishimoto (24-6, 7 KOs), of Tokyo, Japan, is riding a two-year, five-bout winning streak himself, with four of those victories coming by way on knockout. His most impressive victory during his current streak was for the WBO International junior featherweight title, where he won a majority decision over former world champion Wilfredo Vazquez Jr. at the Coati Arena on April 6, 2013. He is world-rated No. 5 by the IBF and No. 8 by the WBO.

Promoted by Top Rank and Sands China Ltd, in association with Tecate, PS4 and Foreman Boys Promotions, Featherweight Fury will take place on Saturday, May 31, with the first bout beginning at 5:30 p.m. local time. Tickets to the multi-bout event can be purchased at all Cotai Ticketing box offices*, and are available in seven categories, ranging from HKD/MOP 80 (~PHP 450) to HKD/MOP 3,280 (~PHP 18,800). HKD/MOP 88 adds a round trip Cotai Water Jet ferry ticket between Hong Kong and Macao (HKD/MOP 80 tickets excluded). Tickets can be booked online at www.cotaiticketing.com, or by phone at +853 2882 8818 (Macao) / +852 6333 6660 (HK) / 4001 206 618 (China) / +63 2 395 3370 (Philippines). Tickets are also available through Hong Kong Ticketing (customer service fee applies), online at www.HKTicketing.com or by phone at +852 3128 8288, and via Macao Kong Seng Ticketing Network, online at www.macauticket.com, by phone at +853 2855 5555, or in person at selected retail outlets (for locations, visit www.macauticket.com/TicketWeb/ServiceStations.aspx). Hotel packages including two tickets and one night accommodation at your choice of The Venetian Macao-Resort-Hotel, Conrad Macao, Cotai Central; Sheraton Macao Hotel, Cotai Central; Holiday Inn Macao Cotai Central; or Four Seasons Hotel Macao, Cotai Strip are also available for purchase starting at HKD/MOP 3,240† (~PHP 18,500) through Cotai Ticketing.

American boxing fans can catch a highly anticipated UK rematch and a title fight from Macau when HBO BOXING AFTER DARK®: CARL FROCH VS. GEORGE GROVES II AND SIMPIWE VETYEKA VS. NONITO DONAIRE is seen SATURDAY, MAY 31 at 4:00 p.m. (ET/PT). The HBO Sports team will be calling both events, which will be available in HDTV, closed-captioned for the hearing-impaired and presented in Spanish on HBO Latino.

Other HBO playdates: June 1 (8:30 a.m.) and 3 (1:00 a.m.)
HBO2 playdates: June 1 (3:15 p.m.) and 2 (11:00 p.m.)
Just six months after their first encounter, two of the UK’s favorite sons, Carl Froch (32-2, 23 KOs) of Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, England, and George Groves (19-1, 15 KOs) of Hammersmith, London, England, clash in a 12-round title rematch before more than 80,000 fans. Groves dominated the first eight rounds of their Nov. 2013 bout, and appeared well on his way to a unanimous decision, but Froch launched a tireless barrage of shots midway through the ninth in a dramatic turn of events. While the hurt yet gritty Groves remained on his feet, Froch’s attack compelled the referee to end the fight in controversial fashion. This highly charged 168-pound bout will air on HBO at 4:45 p.m. (live ET/tape-delayed PT).
The action begins at 4:00 p.m. (ET/PT) with full same-day coverage of the scheduled 12-round featherweight title fight between challenger Nonito Donaire (32-2, 21 KOs) and titleholder Simpiwe Vetyeka (26-2, 16 KOs) from Cotai Arena at The Venetian® Macao in Macau, China. In his season debut, Donaire, who has won titles in four divisions and was the sport’s 2012 Fighter of the Year, seeks a new crown. A native of General Santos City, Philippines, now living in Las Vegas, he started a new winning streak last fall on HBO with a ninth-round KO victory over Vic Darchinyan in their rematch. Vetyeka, of Mdantsane, South Africa, will be making the first defense of his 126-pound title.
Later that evening (11:15-11:45 p.m. ET/PT), HBO presents the first episode of “24/7 Cotto/Martinez,” the latest installment of the Emmy ®-winning series. The show profiles superstars Miguel Cotto and Sergio Martinez as they prepare for their June 7 blockbuster encounter on HBO Pay-Per-View®.
At midnight (ET/PT), HBO Latino presents a special edition of “HBO Latino Boxing” from the Tropicana Casino Hotel and Resort in Las Vegas. Javier Fortuna (24-0-1, 18 KOs) of the Dominican Republic takes on Mexico’s Juan Antonio Rodriguez (26-4, 23 KOs) in a super featherweight event scheduled for ten rounds, while Luis Rosa (16-0, 7 KOs) and Luis Orlando Del Valle (18-1, 13 KOs), both of Puerto Rico, open the show with a scheduled ten-round super bantamweight fight. Subscribers can also catch the action with English-language commentary on HBO2 at midnight (ET/PT).
HBO2 and HBO Latino will replay FROCH VS. GROVES II after the action from Las Vegas concludes.
All HBO boxing events are presented in HDTV. HBO viewers must have access to the HBO HDTV channel to watch HBO programming in high definition.
Follow HBO boxing news at hbo.com/boxing, on Facebook at facebook.com/hboboxing and on Twitter at twitter.com/hboboxing.
The executive producer of HBO BOXING AFTER DARK is Rick Bernstein; producer Thomas Odelfelt; director, Johnathan Evans.
® HBO BOXING AFTER DARK is a registered service mark of Home Box Office, Inc.

MACAO (April 22, 2014) – A press conference in Manila on Tuesday announced the details of Featherweight Fury – a championship event with three featherweight world title main event fights to be hosted by The Venetian® Macao on Saturday, May 31 at the Cotai Arena.

The world-class event is headlined by three spectacular featherweight title matchups: four-division world champion and 2012 Fighter of the Year NONITO “The Filipino Flash” DONAIRE will challenge World Boxing Association (WBA) undisputed featherweight world champion SIMPIWE “V12” VETYEKA; undefeated WBA world featherweight champion NICHOLAS “The Axe Man” WALTERS will defend his title against two-division world champion VIC “Raging Bull” DARCHINYAN; and undefeated International Boxing Federation (IBF) champion EVGENY “The Mexican Russian” GRADOVICH, making his third consecutive featherweight title defense at the Cotai Arena, will be battling No. 1 contender ALEXANDER MISKIRTCHIAN.

The Donaire-Vetyeka title fight will be televised on the same day in the U.S. on HBO, beginning at 4:00 p.m. ET/PT. The telecast will also include the world super middleweight title rematch between defending champion Carl Froch and top contender George Groves, which will take place at Wembley Stadium in London.

All “Featherweight Fury” undercard bouts will be streamed live via http://www.toprank.tv with Fran Charles handling the blow-by-blow and former world champion Ray “Boom Boom” Mancini and Hall of Famer Larry Merchant adding their expert analysis and commentary, except for the IBF junior featherweight title elimination bout between Top-Five contenders CHRIS “The Hit Man” AVALOS and YASUTAKA ISHIMOTO. That fight will be televised via same-day delay as the main event on Sólo Boxeo Tecate on UniMás. The winner will be declared the IBF’s No. 1 contender and mandatory challenger to IBF junior featherweight world champion Kiko Martinez.

“All eyes will be on the fabulous Cotai Arena with these three world title fights in one of boxing’s hottest divisions,” said Hall of Fame promoter Bob Arum. “Featherweight Fury is one of the most exciting events I have promoted in a long time.”

“This is our fifth time working with Bob Arum and Top Rank to bring sports entertainment at its best to Macao,” said Edward Tracy, President and Chief Executive Officer of Sands China Ltd. “The world’s eyes will continue to be drawn to Macao as we continue to establish our city as a world centre of tourism and leisure with the diverse offerings of our multi-tiered entertainment strategy.”

Donaire (32-2, 20 KOs), a native of General Santos City, Philippines, now living in Las Vegas, has been a consensus Top-10 pound-for-pound fighter for several years. His banner year in 2012 included four world championship victories. He beat former world champion Israel Vazquez, Jr. to capture the vacant WBO junior featherweight title, then unified the title by defeating IBF junior bantamweight champion Jeffrey Mathebula. Donaire collected his third belt of the year by knocking out WBC Diamond Belt super bantamweight champion Toshiaki Nishioka, ending Nishioka’s eight-year, 16-bout, winning streak. Donaire concluded his magnificent year by blasting out Mexican icon Jorge Arce in the third round and sealing his 2012 Fighter of the Year honours while extending his 12-year, 30-bout winning streak. He lost his title to undefeated Cuban sensation and WBA super bantamweight champion Guillermo Rigondeaux in a title unification bout at a sold-out Radio City Music Hall on April 13, 2013. Career highlights for Donaire also include knockout victories of defending IBF flyweight champion Vic Darchinyan, former WBA bantamweight champion Wladimir Sidorenko, and defending WBC/WBO bantamweight champion Fernando Montiel, ending Montiel’s 25-bout winning streak. That victory was named the 2011 Knockout of the Year. Donaire’s last fight was a ninth-round knockout victory of Darchinyan in their eagerly-awaited rematch which took place on November 9, 2013.

Vetyeka (26-2, 15 KOs), of Mdantsane, South Africa, will be making the first defence of the title he won from the legendary Chris John. A 12-year professional, four of Vetyeka’s five last victories have been by knockout. He scored a major upset to win his world title last December, knocking out the undefeated defending WBA featherweight champion John in the sixth round. John had celebrated the 10th year of his title reign two months earlier, which included 18 title defences.

Walters (23-0, 19 KOs), of Montego Bay, Jamaica, enters this fight having won nine of his last 10 fights by knockout. He captured the vacant WBA featherweight title on December 12, 2012, knocking out Daulis Presscott (26-1, 19 KOs) in the seventh round. He made his first title defence on November 9, 2013, stopping Alberto Garza (25-5-1, 20 KOs) in the fourth round.

Darchinyan (39-6-1, 28 KOs), a native of Armenia whose home base has been Sydney, Australia, is one of the lower division’s most exciting fighters. A member of Armenia’s 2000 Olympic boxing team, he won his first world title in his 22nd professional bout, knocking out undefeated IBF flyweight champion Irene Pacheco in the 11th round of their 2004 battle, ending Pacheco’s five-year reign. During his own three-year tenure as world champion, Darchinyan successfully defended his title six times – all by stoppage – against the division’s top contenders. After losing the title and his undefeated record to Donaire, in 2007, Darchinyan moved up in weight and claimed the IBF junior bantamweight crown, knocking out defending champion Dimitri Kirilov in the fifth round. He unified the 115 pound world titles in his next fight, knocking out World Boxing Council (WBC) / WBA super flyweight champion Cristian Mijares in the ninth round. The first person to unify three of the titles in that weight division, Darchinyan successfully defended his titles three times during his two-year reign as unified super flyweight champion, including an 11th-round stoppage of Méxican icon Jorge Arce. Darchinyan vacated his titles in mid-2010 to campaign as a bantamweight, defeating former IBF bantamweight champion Yonnhy Perez, Evans Mbamba and Eric Barcelona, while losing competitive decisions to world champions Abner Mares, Joseph Agbeko and Shinsuke Yamanaka. Last November, Darchinyan finally got his long-awaited rematch with Donaire. It was an exciting fight that had Darchinyan leading on the judges’ scorecards through eight rounds until he got caught by Donaire and was stopped in the ninth round.

Gradovich (18-0, 9 KOs), of Igrim, Russia, captured the IBF featherweight title on March 1, 2013, winning a gritty split decision over defending champion Billy Dib. He has successfully defended the twice – both at Cotai Arena – where he has developed a rabid fan following. At Fists of Gold II last July, Gradovich won a dominating unanimous decision over Mauricio Muñoz and on the November 24 Pacquiao-Rios undercard, he knocked out Dib in the ninth round of their rematch.

Miskirtchian (24-2-1, 9 KOs), of Namur, Belgium, will be making his Asian debut. He enters this fight riding a five-year, 11-bout winning streak, with over half those victories coming by way of knockout. After winning the European featherweight title and defending it twice during his two-year reign, he won a 12-round decision over Sofiane Takoucht, in an IBF featherweight title elimination bout, to become the IBF’s No. 1 contender and mandatory challenger to Gradovich. This will be Miskirtchian’s first world title shot.

Avalos (23-2, 17 KOs), of Lancaster, Calif., enters this fight riding a two-year, four-bout winning streak, including an NABO junior featherweight title victory over Drian Francisco last July. He is currently world-rated No. 1 by the WBO, No. 4 by the IBF and the WBC and No. 5 by the WBA.

Ishimoto (24-6, 7 KOs), of Tokyo, Japan, is riding a two-year, five-bout winning streak himself, with four of those victories coming by way on knockout. His most impressive victory during his current streak was for the WBO International junior featherweight title, where he won a majority decision over former world champion Wilfredo Vazquez Jr. at the Coati Arena on April 6, 2013. He is world-rated No. 5 by the IBF, No. 7 by the WBO and No. 8 by the WBC.

Promoted by Top Rank®, in association with Tecate, PS4 and Foreman Boys Promotions, Featherweight Fury will take place on Saturday, May 31, with the first bout beginning at 5:30 p.m. local time. Tickets to the multi-bout event can be purchased at all Cotai Ticketing box offices*, and are available in seven categories, ranging from HKD/MOP 80 (~PHP 450) to HKD/MOP 3,280 (~PHP 18,800). HKD/MOP 88 adds a round trip Cotai Water Jet ferry ticket between Hong Kong and Macao (HKD/MOP 80 tickets excluded). Tickets can be booked online at www.cotaiticketing.com, or by phone at +853 2882 8818 (Macao) / +852 6333 6660 (HK) / 4001 206 618 (China) / +63 2 395 3370 (Philippines). Tickets are also available through Hong Kong Ticketing (customer service fee applies), online at www.HKTicketing.com or by phone at +852 3128 8288, and via Macao Kong Seng Ticketing Network, online at www.macauticket.com, by phone at +853 2855 5555, or in person at selected retail outlets (for locations, visit www.macauticket.com/TicketWeb/ServiceStations.aspx). Hotel packages including two tickets and one night accommodation at your choice of The Venetian Macao-Resort-Hotel, Conrad Macao, Cotai Central; Sheraton Macao Hotel, Cotai Central; Holiday Inn Macao Cotai Central; or Four Seasons Hotel Macao, Cotai Strip are also available for purchase starting at HKD/MOP 3,240† (~PHP 18,500) through Cotai Ticketing.

NOTE: Bouts and times subject to change

Photos from the press conference and workout session will be available at:

http://tinyurl.com/Featherweight-Fury

###

Entertainment at Sands China Ltd. Properties
Sands China Ltd. has as a clear vision to establish Macao as Asia’s top entertainment destination.

The 15,000-seat Cotai Arena is the only venue in Asia ranked in Pollstar’s Top 100 Worldwide Arena Venues based on ticket sales. It is the top entertainment destination in southern China, hosting the world’s and the region’s biggest names in music, sports and awards shows. Superstars frequently choose the venue as the starting point of their Asian tours.

The 1800-seat, multi-purpose Venetian Theatre is one of the most luxurious entertainment venues in greater China. Featuring ushers in black-tie, champagne service, gourmet food and beverage items and other unique, premium amenities, it offers an intimate, luxurious and exclusive venue experience. The Venetian Theatre is playing a key role in bringing the best in international and Chinese entertainment to Macao, with a luxury theatre experience like no other in the region.

The 650-seat Sands Theatre regularly features internationally-renowned singers, performers and artists of the highest calibre. From traditional Chinese-costumed dancers to modern performances, and from singing troupes to contemporary bands, everything from Western rock to Cantonese pop is covered.

With an unbeatable diversity, the entertainment offering of Sands China Ltd. is ushering in a new era of entertainment in Macao.

For information about upcoming shows and events, visit www.venetianmacao.com/entertainment.html.

About The Venetian® Macao-Resort-Hotel
Opened in 2007, The Venetian® Macao-Resort-Hotel is Macao’s first integrated resort featuring stunning replicas of the famous canals and architectural icons of Venice, Italy. The Venetian Macao features 3,000 suites, 1.2 million square feet (111,000 square metres) of convention and meeting facilities as well as a 15,000-seat Cotai Arena designed for world-class sports events and electrifying entertainment. The Venetian Macao is also home to the unique, 1,800-seat luxury Venetian Theatre, hosting the best in international and Chinese entertainment; more than 30 renowned restaurants; TAIVEXMALO Day Hospital & Spa; the incredibly fun QUBE indoor playground and more than 300 retailers at Shoppes at Venetian. Outdoor recreation areas include swimming pools and cabanas and a mini-golf course.

For more information, please visit www.venetianmacao.com.

About Cotai Strip Resorts Macao – Macao’s Integrated Resort City
Sands China Ltd. is the leading developer, owner and operator of integrated resorts in Macao. The befittingly named Cotai Strip Resorts Macao, situated on reclaimed land between the islands of Coloane and Taipa, is the one destination that provides a stunning array of experiences at the heart of Cotai. Cotai Strip Resorts Macao has transformed a gaming-centric day-trip market into an integrated resort city and international hub for business and leisure travellers.

Pulsating with life, both night and day, Cotai Strip Resorts Macao features an expansive offering of affordable luxury available nowhere else in Macao, with approximately 9,000 hotel rooms and suites, international superstar live entertainment, duty-free shopping with 600 retailers offering an unparalleled array of name brands, 1.3 million square feet (120,000 square metres) of meeting and exhibition space for Asia’s leading conferences and exhibitions, gaming excitement, transportation offerings and well over 100 dining options, including international restaurants, bars and lounges. Cotai Strip Resorts Macao is a must-see destination providing every guest with an unforgettable experience and unparalleled excitement.

Comprised of The Venetian® Macao-Resort-Hotel; The Plaza™ Macao, featuring the Four Seasons Hotel Macao; and Sands® Cotai Central, featuring the world’s largest Conrad, Sheraton, and Holiday Inn hotels, Cotai Strip Resorts Macao is where Asia’s ultimate destination is all within reach.

Cotai Strip Resorts Macao….Macao Starts Here. For more information, please visit
www.cotaistrip.com.

Nonito Donaire will attempt to win a Featherweight title when he takes on Simpiwe Vetyeka on May 31 in Macau on a card that will feature two other Featherweight title bouts according to Dan Rafael of espn.com

“We’re going to increase the number of cards we are going to do in Asia and we can’t have Zou Shiming on every card,” promoter Bob Arum said of the two-time Chinese Olympic gold medalist, who has been the central figure in Top Rank’s recent series of cards in Macau. “So now we have to build up interest in other fighters. Donaire (a native of the Philippines) will have a big following since it’s only an hour and five minutes by plane from Manila to Macau and there are regular flights. There’s also a big Filipino population in Macau and in Hong Kong (which is a half-hour ferry away).”

The card will also include two other featherweight world title bouts as Nicholas Walters is due to defend his belt against an opponent to be determined and Evgeny Gradovich will fight mandatory challenger Alexander Miskirtchian, the former European champion. If Donaire wins he is likely to later face one of the winners of the other title bouts, Arum said.

However, Donaire, 31, is already in training in the Philippines, where is father, Nonito Donaire Sr., is preparing him. Father and son reunited before the Darchinyan rematch following a lengthy estrangement, and Nonito Sr. worked the corner as an assistant to head trainer Robert Garcia.

Cameron Dunkin, Donaire’s manager, told ESPN.com that he was not sure what Garcia’s role would be in the training camp, if any, since he is training his other fighters at his Oxnard, Calif., gym, including Gradovich.

“Robert I’m sure will go to the fight, but I’ve got to iron all that out,” Dunkin said. “Nonito thought it was the right thing to train over there [in the Philippines] since the fight is in Asia. He’s really comfortable there and he will already be on the same time zone.”

“This is the guy who knocked out Chris John, which means something after he made 18 defenses,” Arum said. “It’s a very important fight for Donaire, obviously.”

Said Dunkin, “Nonito is really excited and motivated for this fight. It’s the most motivated I have seen him in a long, long time. Before the fight with Rigondeaux, he told he didn’t even know if he wanted to fight anymore. He had his shoulder problems and hand problems. He beat himself up because he was so active (with four fights in 2012). He wasn’t healing between fights and hard training camps.

“He told me he’s motivated for this fight and that he wants to fight and wants to show everyone what he can do and show the people who have given up on him, or think he isn’t what he once was. He wants to show people that he is still one of the best, which he is. I love that attitude. He’s a tremendous fighter and when his mind is right and he’s motivated, he’s terrific.”

“Nonito has a great deal and it will be even better if he wins this fight,” Dunkin said. “But this guy (Vetyeka) is a tough, tough guy, maybe the toughest guy Nonito has ever fought other than Rigondeaux, maybe even tougher than that because of his size. He can punch, he’s long-armed and he’s big.”

Mikey Garcia had to climb off the canvas and come back to score an 8th round stoppage over Roman Martinez and win the WBO Jr. Lightweight championship at the American Bank Center in Corpus Christi, Texas.

Garcia boxed very well for most of the fight the exception of a brief moment in round 2 when he was caught with a sneaky right hand that sent him to the canvas. That advantage was short lived for Martinez as Garcia started finding a range with his power shots. In round six, a left hook wobbled Martinez. Garcia finished the round landing a nice right hand and a body shot. Garcia continued landing good shots and in round eight he landed a perfect left to the body that sent Martinez down on all fours. he was unable to beat the count and the fight was over at 56 seconds of round eight.

Garcia of Oxnard, CA is now 33-0 with 28 knockouts. Martinez of Puerto Rico is now 27-2-2.

Nonito Donaire made it two for two against Vic Darchinyan as the Filipino Flash had to come from behind to score a ninth round stoppage in their Featherweight bout.

Both guys landed hard shots for the first eight rounds with Darchinyan landing more often and even rocking Donaire, the heavy favorite several times. Finally in round nine, Donaire dropped Darchinyan with a huge left hook. Donaire went in and landed a huge flurry of punches and the fight was stopped at 2:06 of the ninth round. Donaire was down 78-74 on two cards while a 3rd card was even at 76-76.

Donaire is now 32-2 with 21 knockouts. Darchinyan falls to 39-6-1.

Demetrius Andrade won the WBO jr. middleweight championship with a workmanlike split decision over 2004 U.S. Olympian and previously undefeated Vanes Martirosyan.

Andrade of Providence, Rhode Island, is now 20-0 with 13 knockouts and is promoted by Arthur Pelullo’s Banner Promotions and Joe DeGuardia’s Star Boxing.

Andrade proved early that he had the heart of a champion as he came back from a flash first -round knockdown.

Andrade got off the deck and dominated the rest of the bout as he stuck his hard right jab consistently in
Martirosyan’s face.

Andrade’s best round was the sixth when he hit Martirosyan with repeated power shots that raised swelling around his left eye.

Andrade was never challenged down the stretch as he put on a beautiful boxing exhibition that Martirosyan had no answer for.

According to Compubox Andrade landed 219 of 769 while Martirosyan only managed 83 of 443.

Two judges had Andrade winning by scores of 117-110 and 114-113, While a third judge turned in a dubious card that had Martirosyan ahead 115-112.

“He caught me but I stayed focused,” said Andrade about the knockdown. “I stayed focused and continued to jab and started to pick him apart. I started to feel comfortable inside and won the fight.”

On becoming a world champion, “This feels great and my time is now.”

Said co-promoter Arthur Pelullo, “This is what we envisioned when we signed him. That was to become world champion and he did that tonight. We feel that he is on track to become the best jr. middleweight in the world. Winning this belt puts him in the mix to be able to prove that.”

Mikey Garcia 128 3/4 vs. Rocky Martinez 129 3/4
(WBO jr lightweight title)
Nonito Donaire 125 1/4 vs. Vic Darchinyan 125 3/4
Vanes Martirosyan 153 3/4 vs. Demetrius Andrade 153 3/4
(Vacant WBO jr middleweight title)
Nicholas Walters 125 vs. Alberto Garza 125 1/2
(WBA featherweight title)
Oscar Valdez 127 3/4 vs. Jesus Lule 127 3/4
Alex Saucedo 145 1/4 vs. Steve Hall 146
Erick De Leon 129 3/4 vs. Jesus Aguinaga 130 1/4
Oscar Cantu 117 1/2 vs. Roberto Ceron 118 1/4

Affirmation and reclamation are on a loaded card Saturday night that is intriguing on several levels. There’s much to prove for Mikey Garcia, Nonito Donaire, Vic Darchinyan and even trainer Robert Garcia in Corpus Christi, Tex.

For Mikey Garcia, there’s the chance to affirm his ascendancy at a new weight against a tough Puerto Rican, junior-lightweight champion Ramon Martinez.

For Nonito Donaire, there’s the chance to reclaim his pound-for-pound credentials against old rival Vic Darchinyan, who for his own part is fighting to regain the aura that made him such a feared fighter.

For the busy Robert Garcia, there are a couple of chances to silence a few critics.

If that’s not enough, there’s a sense that the Top Rank card (HBO 9:30 p.m., ET/PT) is a chessboard full of potential moves that could determine who will be in position to claim Manny Pacquiao’s spot at the top of the marquee if he falls against Brandon Rios in a couple of weeks at Macao.

Start with Mikey Garcia. He’s in the main event, because of a promotional blueprint that has him ticketed for big things. Among them, there’s Fighter of the Year, a possibility that was addressed during a conference call Wednesday.

“I don’t look for that,’’ said Garcia, who possesses a tactical mastery and poise rivaled by perhaps only Gennady Golovkin. “That is something every writer and critic will have to decide on their own. I just try to win every fight and it has been a good year for me so far. I want to finish strong and maybe next year will be an even better year for me.’’

If all goes as well as expected against Martinez, indications are that it won’t be long before Garcia jumps to lightweight. He failed to make the featherweight mandatory, 126 pounds, in his last outing. Martinez gives him a chance to claim another acronym-sanctioned title in another weight against a fighter who never been knocked off his feet. His brother and trainer, Robert Garcia, hinted that a move from 130 to 135 is near.

“Moving up in weight – we should not have a problem but it is still not easy, said Robert Garcia, who will also train Donaire before he packs his bags and heads to Macao next week to work Rios’ corner. “It was hard to get down to 128, which was the weight he fought at last time. That was 128, so it wasn’t even the featherweight division and everybody had seen what Mikey went through to make that weight. One-thirty, hopefully he can make that weight but it won’t be that easy.’’

For Donaire, the trip to Corpus Christi comes on the heels of a rapid rise and quicker fall. A year ago, he was just a few months from being voted 2012’s Fight of the Year. Then, he lost to Guillermo Rigondeaux, perhaps 2013’s Upset of the Year. He arrives in south Texas as a new dad and reunited with his father, who will assist Robert Garcia. Donaire’s dad was there, Nonito said, when he was at his fundamental best — a 2007 stoppage of Darchinyan.

Nonito looked at his young son and thought of his dad. If he was starting over, it only made sense to reunite with the father who was there for the beginning.

Darchinyan has his own ideas. He always does. Since his move into the bantamweight ranks, he’s not been the intimidating force he was as a flyweight. But the edge on his confidence is as sharp as ever.

“I think (Nonito) was exposed in his loss to Rigondeaux,’’ Darchinyan said. “He had a good year and was voted Fighter of the Year, but inside me I know – personally he is a good guy — but about skills and power, he should not be pound-for-pound.’’

Never at a loss for words, Darchinyan had more to say.

“I will stalk him,’’ he said. “It is not about him. It is about me. I have more skills and I have more power. If I am motivated against someone – all of my title fights – I am getting prepared for me. I am not getting prepared for my opponent. I am getting prepared for myself. I have prepared mentally. I know everything that he is going to do and I know everything that I am going to do. I just want to come and demolish him, that’s what I want.’’

There wasn’t much response from the soft-spoken Donaire about all that Darchinyan said. He might still be talking.
Donaire has things to do other than just listen to Darchinyan. Things like sleeping and eating. Still, it sets the stage for a fight with plenty at stake for each.

There’s that, too, for Robert Garcia. Garcia, also Marcos Maidana’s trainer for a Dec. 14 clash with Adrien Broner in San Antonio, was asked about Rios’ loss to Mike Alvarado in a March rematch and Donaire’s defeat to Rigondeaux in April.

“Everybody mentions those two losses that we had with Brandon Rios and Nonito Donaire,’’ he said “But nobody mentions that Mikey beat Orlando Salido, the best featherweight in the division at that time and beat him so easy. Nobody mentions Evgeny Gradovich who beat Billy Dib when he was the underdog and we had an upset. And Jesus Cuellar, who became a featherweight champion also. People just don’t want to remember that. Now we have very important fights coming up with Donaire, with Mikey, with Brandon, with Marcos Maidana – those fights are very dangerous.

“We are training to win the fights, not to please the media or the people that like to criticize our team. We are doing it to win, not to be mentioned among the best trainers in the world.

“We do it because we want to win.’’

On a rare night full of multiple opportunities to do just that, it’ll be interesting to see who walks away with the most say-so.

CORPUS CHRISTI, TX (September 18, 2013) — The Lone Star State will play host to an exciting tripleheader featuring two world championship fights and a grudge rematch between former world champions that’s been building for over six years. Two-time World Boxing Organization (WBO) junior lightweight champion ROMAN “Rocky” MARTINEZ will defend his title against undefeated former WBO featherweight champion MIKEY GARCIA; 2012 Fighter of the Year NONITO “Filipino Flash” DONAIRE and former two-division world champion VIC “Raging Bull” DARCHINYAN will be looking to settle each other’s hash in a 10-round featherweight rumble and undefeated No. 1 and No. 2 contenders and one-time U.S. Olympians VANES “The Nightmare” MARTIROSYAN and DEMETRIUS “Boo Boo” ANDRADE will battle it out for the vacant WBO junior middleweight title This boxing extravaganza will take place Saturday, November 9, at the American Bank Center in Corpus Christi, TX. All three fights will be televised live on HBO Boxing After Dark®, beginning at 9:30 p.m. ET/PT.

Promoted by Top Rank®, in association with Foreman Boys Promotions, PR Best Boxing, Arthur Pelullo’s Banner Promotions, Joe DeGuardia’s Star Boxing and Tecate, tickets to the Martinez vs. Garcia world championship event will go on sale This Friday! September 20, at 10:00 a.m. CT. Tickets, priced at $200, $100, $60, $40 and $25, plus applicable charges, can be purchased at the American Bank Center Box Office (Monday-Friday, 10am-6pm), all Ticketmaster Outlets (HEB Stores), ticketmaster.com, or by phone at 1-800-745-3000.

“This fight is a great opportunity to clear any doubts about my value as a world champion, “Martinez said to Primera Hora. “A win over Garcia will prove that I am a real champion and it will take me to the next level.”

“I’m fighting a defending champion. It won’t be easy but I think I have all the tools to beat Rocky,” said Garcia. “I want to be champion again and Rocky is in my way. I will become champion again.”

“This is a very important fight for me,” said Darchinyan. “It gives me the opportunity to face and defeat an opponent who beat me in the past. This win will be sweet revenge for me.”

“I am ready to go,” said Martirosyan. “The last fight postponement might be a blessing in disguise because it is just making me hungrier and hungrier every day. I just can’t wait to get into the ring and prove how badly I want this. I have been training very hard and have a great game plan with Freddie Roach. A lot of one-on-one with Freddie, combined with great sparring and training along with the likes of Miguel Cotto and George St. Pierre. That has been very inspirational and motivating. Andrade is a great fighter. I hope he is ready to go to war. We are on HBO and I plan on stealing the spotlight that night with a very exciting and entertaining win for the fans.”

“I am looking forward to this fight and have been waiting for this fight ever since I walked into the gym at age 7”, said Andrade. “I always wanted to be champion of the world and on November 9th I will be crowned champion. I wanted to win an Olympic gold medal and since they took that from me, I am going to take this world title. I was a 2008 Olympian and he made it in 2004. It’s great that the fans will get to see two Olympians battle on HBO. I know I will bring home the title.”

“We are proud to present to the fans of Corpus Christi a fistic feats involving some of the greatest boxers in the world,” said Hall of Fame promoter Bob Arum. “There are at least five fights on this card which could be the main event in any arena. This will be the most exciting night ever for boxing fans in Corpus Christi.”

“In all three fights, fans expect big statements to be made in the ring,” said Peter Nelson, director of programming, HBO Sports. “The night presents a fistic hat-trick of exciting match-ups in which the momentum can shift at any time.”

Martinez (27-1-2, 16 KOs), of Vega Baja, Puerto Rico, captured his first world title in 2009, knocking out defending champion Nicky Cook in the fourth round of a bout held in Cook’s backyard, Manchester, England. Rocky successfully defended the belt twice — both by knockout — during his 18-month reign before losing it to Ricky Burns in Scotland in a hotly-contested battle that saw the close decision go to Burns. He bagen his second and current world championship tenure last year, winning the vacant WBO junior lightweight crown with a majority decision over Miguel Beltran, Jr. a toe-to-toe brawl that had the crowd on its feet from the opening bell. He has successfully defended his title twice since regaining it, a Draw against Juan Carlos Burgos and a split decision over Diego Magdaleno, last January and April, respectively.

Garcia (32-0, 27 KOs), of Oxnard, Calif., a 2010 graduate of California’s Ventura County Police and Sheriff’s Reserve Officer Academy, returns to the ring having won 15 of his past 17 bouts by knockout and has not gone the distance in over three years. He captured the WBO featherweight title in January, dethroning two-time featherweight champion Orlando Salido at Madison Square Garden via an eight-round technical win that had Garcia winning virtually every round against the seasoned veteran. He was forced to vacate the title in his first defense, for not being able to make the 126-pound weight limit. Though drained, he was still able to rise to the occasion and knock out former two-division world champion Juan Manuel “Juanma” Lopez in the fourth round last June. Garcia, 25, had a career-best year in 2012, knocking out one-time world title challenger Bernabe Concepcion and former world champion Mauricio Pastrana, in the seventh and second rounds, respectively. He ended his 2012 campaign by knocking out former World Boxing Association (WBA) featherweight champion Jonathan Barros in the eighth round last November. Garcia is trained by his father Eduardo Garcia and co-managed and trained by his brother, 2012 Trainer of the Year Robert Garcia, the former International Boxing Federation (IBF) junior lightweight champion.

Donaire (31-2, 20 KOs), a native of General Santos City, Philippines, now living in Las Vegas, Nev., has been a consensus top-10 pound-for-pound fighter for several years. His 12-year, 30-bout winning streak came to an end in his last fight, losing a decision to undefeated Cuban sensation and WBA super bantamweight champion Guillermo Rogondeaux in a title unification bout last April. Trained by 2012 Trainer of the Year and former world champion Robert Garcia, Donaire is himself the reigning Fighter of the Year. 2012 was a career year for Donaire, winning four world title fights — all televised live on HBO. Highlights included capturing the vacant WBO junior featherweight title in February, winning a gritty split-decision battle over former world champion Wilfredo Vazquez, Jr. He unified the title later that summer, via a dominant unanimous decision victory over defending IBF champion Jeffrey Mathebula. Donaire followed that victory with another legacy-making knockout — a ninth-round stoppage of WBC Diamond Belt super bantamweight champion Toshiaki Nishioka in October, ending Nishioka’s eight-year, 16-bout winning streak. Donaire capped the year in December, blasting out Méxican icon Jorge Arce via a third-round knockout. Career highlights for Donaire also include knockout victories of defending IBF / International Boxing Organization (IBO) flyweight champion Vic Darchinyan, in the fifth round, the first loss of Darchinyan’s professional career, former WBA bantamweight champion Wladimir Sidorenko, in the fourth round, and defending WBC / WBO bantamweight champion Fernando Montiel in the second round, ending Montiel’s 25-bout winning streak while also claiming his third world title in as many weight divisions. That victory was named the 2011 Knockout of the Year.

Darchinyan (39-5-1, 28 KOs), a native of Armenia whose home base has been Sydney, Australia, is one of the lower division’s most exciting fighters. A member of Armenia’s 2000 Olympic boxing team, he won his first world title in his 22nd professional bout, knocking out undefeated International IBF flyweight champion Irene Pacheco in the 11th round of their 2004 battle, ending Pacheco’s five-year reign. During his own three-year tenure as world champion, Darchinyan successfully defended his title six times – all by stoppage – against the division’s top contenders. After losing the title and his undefeated record to Donaire, in 2007, Darchinyan moved up in weight and claimed the IBF junior bantamweight crown, knocking out defending champion Dimitri Kirilov in the fifth round. He unified the 115 pound world titles in his next fight, knocking out WBC / WBA super flyweight champion Cristian Mijares in the ninth round. The first person to unify three of the titles in that weight division He successfully defended his titles three times during his two-year reign as unified super flyweight champion, including an 11th-round stoppage of Méxican icon Jorge Arce. Darchinyan vacated his titles in mid-2010 to campaign as a bantamweight, defeating former IBF bantamweight champion Yonnhy Perez, Evans Mbamba and Eric Barcelona, while losing competitive decisions to world champions Abner Mares, Joseph Agbeko and Shinsuke Yamanaka. Last September, Darchinyan made his debut as a super bantamweight, winning the NABF title by shellacking previously undefeated prospect Luis Del Valle. Darchinyan returns to the ring fresh from a fourth-round knocked out of Francisco Gallo in May. Darchinyan is currently world-rated No. 2 by the WBO and the WBC, No. 4 by the WBA and No. 5 by the IBF.

Martirosyan (33-0-1, 21 KOs), a native of Armenia who fights out of Glendale, Calif., is one of the super welterweight division’s most promising contenders. A member of the 2004 U.S. Olympic team, Martirosyan’s amateur resume boasts victories over future world champions Timothy Bradley, Jr., Austin Trout and Andre Berto. Trained by Hall of Fame trainer Freddie Roach, Martirosyan captured his first title in 2009, knocking out defending NABA/NABO champion Willie Lee. He successfully defended the title in his next fight, in 2010, a 10-round unanimous decision victory over former IBF junior middleweight champion Kassim Ouma. He added the NABF title to his trophy case with another 10-round unanimous decision later that same year, at Yankee Stadium, this time over previously undefeated Joe Greene, and captured the World Boxing Council (WBC) Silver super welterweight title in 2011, via a seventh-round TKO of Saul Roman. Currently world-rated No. 1 by the WBO, Martirosyan returns to the ring fresh from knocking out Ryan Davis, his seventh knockout victim in his last 11 fights.

Andrade (19-0, 13 KO), of Providence, RI, has been a mainstay on television since making his professional debut following his stint on the 2008 U.S. Olympic team. Co-promoted by Banner Promotions and Star Boxing, Andrade’s aggressive style has attracted and created fans on both coasts of the U.S. One doesn’t have to look any further than his recent record where Andrade has stopped five of his last seven opponents. In his last fight, Andrade pasted one-time world title challenger Freddy Hernandez for 10 rounds, winning every round on all three judges’ card en route to a unanimous decision victory. Andrade is currently world-rated No. 2 by the WBO.

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Vic Darchinyan will look to extract revenge for his knockout defeat to Nonito Donaire in 2007 when the meet in a rematch as part of an HBO televised tripleheader on November 9th according to Dan Rafael of espn.

The bout could possibly take place in Corpus Christie, Texas that will also feature two title bout. WBO Super Featherweight champion Rocky Martinez defending against former Featherweight titlist Mikey Garcia while Demtrius Andrade and Vanes Martirosyan vie for the vacant WBO Super Welterweight title.

“Darchinyan is an awkward guy and he can punch,” said Cameron Dunkin, Donaire’s manager. “He’s a dangerous guy and he really wants this fight and revenge. You never take a guy like this lightly. Anything can happen in this business.”

“Vic has wanted this fight for a long time. He wants redemption,” Frank Espinoza, Darchinyan’s manager, said. “This is a fight he’s been waiting for. I was able to get him that opportunity, but now it’s up to Vic to prepare himself well. I’ve only had Vic for one fight, but here we are, in our second fight together, and he’s got the rematch with Nonito that he has wanted for a long time.

“Of course, it was monetary, too [accepting the higher weight], but it’s good money for Vic. He’s at the point in his career he doesn’t want to wait any longer. He wants redemption, and by beating Donaire, the doors will open for him again.”

“Vic is the smaller guy, but he’s up for the challenge,” Espinoza said. “He really wants to fight Nonito again. This is the first time at 126 for both of them, but Donaire is coming off a loss and the surgery and my guy is coming off two wins.”

“He’s happy and wants to get back in the ring and fight. He’s anxious to fight,” Dunkin said. “He kept asking me, ‘When are we gonna get the contract? When can I fight again?’

“He was really disappointed in himself and didn’t think he fought as well as he should have against Rigondeaux. He said, ‘I know I can beat him but I didn’t, so you gotta give him credit. He beat me.’ But Nonito said he didn’t train properly and that he took it for granted. He says that won’t happen again. He said, ‘Look, I’m 30 years old and I want to finish strong.’ He knows Darchinyan will be really fired up for this fight, so Nonito will really prepare for this one.”