Rising star Andre Berto makes his much anticipated 2010 debut when WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING: ANDRE BERTO VS. CARLOS QUINTANA AND CELESTINO CABALLERO VS. DAUD YORDAN is presented live SATURDAY, APRIL 10 (10:30 p.m. ET/7:30 p.m. PT) from the Bank Atlantic Center in Sunrise, Fla., exclusively on HBO. The WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING team of Jim Lampley, Larry Merchant and Emanuel Steward will be ringside for the event, which will be closed-captioned for the hearing impaired, presented in HDTV and presented in Spanish on HBO Latino..
Miami native Andre Berto (25-0, 19 KOs), who earned his welterweight title in 2008 and defended his crown twice last year, makes his first ring appearance of 2010 against the formidable Carlos Quintana (27-2, 21 KOs) of Moca, Puerto Rico in a 12-round title tilt. After a breakout year in 2009, the 26-year-old Berto, 26, was slated to make his first ring appearance of the new year Jan. 30, but the devastating earthquake that rocked Haiti Jan. 12 changed all that. With a host of family members still living in the country where his mother and father were born, Berto quickly left camp and turned his focus to relief, spending four days in Haiti assisting in the rebuilding effort.
Although his sister Naomi survived the earthquake, Berto’s uncle – and his uncle’s entire family – did not. Berto’s moving account of his visit to Haiti is posted at hbo.com/boxing.
Quintana, 33, faces a tall order in challenging Berto for his 147-pound crown, but this is familiar territory for the engaging Puerto Rican native. He boasts the only victory to date over Paul Williams, who was a 147-pound titleholder when they met in 2008.
The opening bout is a 12-round featherweight contest between Celestino Caballero (33-2, 23 KOs) of Panama City, Panama and Daud Yordan (25-0, 19 KOs) of Kalimantan, Indonesia. Caballero, a junior featherweight titleholder, has been a force for four years in the 122-pound division; now moving up to increased competition, he must first contend with the formidable Yordan.
Preceding the live doubleheader will be the debut of the all-access reality series “24/7 Mayweather/Mosley” at 10:00 p.m. (ET)/ 7:00 p.m. (PT), with an encore presentation immediately after the twin bill.
All HBO boxing events are broadcast 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, Dave Harmon; director, Marc Payton.
® WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING is a registered service mark of Home Box Office, Inc.
WORLD RENOWNED SOULJA BOY TELL ‘EM TO PERFORM LIVE ON SATURDAY APRIL 10 AT “FIGHTING FOR HAITI”: BERTO VS. QUINTANA AT THE BANK ATLANTIC CENTER IN SUNRISE, FLORIDA
World renowned hip hop star Soulja Boy Tell ‘Em will perform at Saturday’s “Fighting For Haiti” event featuring WBC welterweight champion Andre Berto defending his title vs. former champion Carlos Quintana, live from the BankAtlantic Center in Sunrise, Florida. Soulja Boy’s performance will come during Berto’s walk to the ring, which kicks off at 10:30 E.T. / 7:30 P.T. “Fighting For Haiti”, being promoted by DiBella Entertainment and sponsored by Champs Sports: Where Sport Lives and Packing Solutions and Investments, LLC of Nashville.
Soulja Boy Tell ‘Em, or just Soulja Boy as he is more commonly known, experienced a meteoric rise to the charts in 2007 at just sixteen years old when his song “Crank That (Soulja Boy)” spent seven straight weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. His debut album, Souljaboytellem.com, peaked at number four on the charts. His follow hit, “Kiss Me Thru the Phone” hit #3 on the top 100.
More recently, Soulja Boy is preparing for the release of his third studio album, Dre, set to drop this summer. He recently announced that collaboration with teen sensation Justin Bieber would appear on the record.
Tickets for the special Spring Ticket Sale are now available: Buy 2 Tickets At $250 And Get 1 Ticket Free Or Buy 2 Tickets At $100 And Get 1 Ticket Free. Tickets for “Fighting For Haiti” are available through Ticketmaster (1.800.745.3000) or by visiting, www.ticketmaster.com and BankAtlantic Center Box Office (1.954.835-7000) www.bankatlanticenter.com. Tickets are also priced at $65 and $35. VIP Ringside tickets are available for private sale for $500 by calling DiBella Entertainment (1.212.947.2577) www.dbe1.com. A portion of all ticket sales proceeds will go to the Berto Dynasty Foundation benefiting Project Medishare www.andreberto.com to help aide those affected by the recent earthquake in Haiti and are tax deductible.