HBO BOXING AFTER DARK® kicks off 2010 with an explosive featherweight doubleheader from the Big Apple when STEVEN LUEVANO VS. JUAN MANUEL LOPEZ AND YURIORKIS GAMBOA VS. ROGERS MTAGWA is presented SATURDAY, JAN. 23 (9:45 p.m. live ET/tape-delayed PT) from the WaMu Theatre at Madison Square Garden in New York City, exclusively on HBO. The HBO Sports team of blow-by-blow announcer Bob Papa, commentator Max Kellerman and expert analyst Lennox Lewis 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.
Making his sixth title defense, featherweight champ Steven Luevano (37-1-1, 15 KOs) of La Puente, Cal. meets undefeated, fast-rising Juan Manuel Lopez of Caguas, Puerto Rico (27-0, 24 KOs). Luevano is an experienced fighter who uses his range and speed to tactically pick apart opponents. His challenger, junior featherweight titleholder Lopez, looks to prove that his technically sound style and power punching will be just as effective at 126 pounds when he moves up a weight class for this 12-round slugfest..
The opening bout pits undefeated featherweight titleholder Yuriorkis Gamboa of Guantanamo, Cuba (16-0, 14 KOs) against veteran challenger Rogers Mtagwa of Dodoma, Tanzania (26-13-2, 18 KOs) in a 12-round fight for Gamboa’s 126-pound crown. With incredible hand speed and the ability to attack from all angles, knockout artist Gamboa has made quick work of nearly every fighter he’s faced to date. Opponent Mtagwa is a battle-tested, aggressive fighter with a wide-open style. Last October, he brought the pressure to Juan Manuel Lopez, putting the junior featherweight champ on the ropes in the late rounds before losing in a close decision.
The executive producer of HBO BOXING AFTER DARK is Rick Bernstein; producer, Jonathan Crystal; director, Mike Sheehan.
® HBO BOXING AFTER DARK is a registered service mark of Home Box Office, Inc.