(Credit: Stephanie Trapp/SHOWTIME) NEW YORK (April 13, 2016) – WBC Featherweight Champion Gary Russell Jr. (26-1, 15 KOs), of Capitol Heights, Md., and Irish contender Patrick Hyland (31-1, 15 KOs), of Dublin, faced off at the final press conference Wednesday at Highline Ballroom in New York, as they approach this Saturday’s Featherweight World Title fight live on SHOWTIME® from the Fox Theater in Foxwoods Resort Casino in Mashantucket, CT.
Jose Pedraza
Jose Pedraza Looking to Make Statement Over Edner Cherry
Unbeaten IBF 130lb champion Jose Pedraza (20-0, 12ko), makes the maiden defence of his title this weekend in Ohio on the Broner/Allakhverdiev undercard, and is looking to make a statement over Bahamian former world title challenger Edner Cherry (34-6-2, 19ko).
The former 2008 Olympian won the belt back in June on the undercard of Deontay Wilder’s maligned heavyweight title fight with Eric Molina, beating Russia’s Andriy Klimov in a competent and assured performance, and the Puerto Rican stylist is looking to go one better against the experienced Cherry.
Broner vs. Allakhverdiev, Pedraza vs. Cherry quotes
(Photo credit: Stephanie Trapp/SHOWTIME) Adrien Broner (30-2, 22 KOs) and Khabib Allakhverdiev (19-1, 9 KOs) held a media workout at The Punch House in Cincinnati on Wednesday as they prepare for this Saturday’s WBA Super Lightweight World Championship, live on SHOWTIME (10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT) from U.S. Bank Arena.
Rustam Nugaev and Jose Pedraza victorious on ESPN Friday Night Fights
In the 10-round main event, Russian sluger Rustam Nugaev continued to impress the boxing world with a spectacular performance against a game Jose Hernandez. Both fighters had their moments in the early rounds. Hernandez would land combinations in spurts as did Nugaev, but it was the Russian who did the most damage in the exchanges. In the fifth round, Rustam landed a solid temple shot, followed by a vicious body blow that put Hernandez down and out. Nugaev never backed up during the fight and the pressure was too much for Hernandez who gave a valiant effort in defeat. With the KO victory, Nugaev moves to (27-4, 15 KOs) as Hernandez drops to (14-7-1, 6 KOs). The bout was stopped the 1:38 mark of round 5.