Teon “The Technician” Kennedy (14-0-1, 6 KO’s) will be making his first ring appearance since the tragic death of Francisco Rodriguez in his last fight. In that fight which took place on November 20th, Kennedy and Rodriguez fought a classic back and forth brawl with thrilled the fans at The Legendary Blue Horizon in Philadelphia. Kennedy finally stopped Rodriguez in round ten and just days after, Rodriguez unfortunately passed away due to injuries in that “Fight of the Year” candidate..
Kennedy, who is ranked number thirteen in the world by the IBF, maybe the best Prospects under 126 lbs on the east coast and is always in fan friendly tussles and a win over Beranza would catapult him to a very significant fight late this Summer or early Fall.
Beranza of Mexico City has a record of 32-17-2 with twenty-five wins coming via knockout.
He has fought the “whose-who” of fighters in the lower weight divisions.
Some of the recognizable names on his resume include former world title challengers Raul Juarez, Jorge Lacierva, Diosdado Gabi, Nestor Rocha, and AJ Benal; Former world champions Jhonny Gonzalez, Currant world champion Wilfredo Vasquez Jr.
He holds a win over former WBC champ Ivan Hernandez.
Just two fights ago, Beranza shocked than 9-0 top prospect Juan Carlos Velasquez in front of a nationally televised audience on ESPN 2.
That fight is just one of seven big fights set for this Saturday night.
The co-feature will be an interesting Middleweight clash between Polish import and undefeated Patrick Majewski (12-0, 7 KO’s) risking his unblemished mark against upset minded Loren Myers (7-7-1, 2 KO’s)
Anthony Flores (8-1, 5 KO’s) looks to rebound from his first pro loss when he takes on the upset specialist Carlos Vinan (9-8-3, 1 KO) in a six round Jr. Lightweight bout.
Vinan holds wins over Orlando Gonzalez (4-0-1); Eric Hunter (5-0); Andrew Cancio (8-0-2) and Victor Vasquez (11-3).
Ina six round Jr. Welterweight bout, Ronald Cruz (8-0, 5 KO’s) takes on grizzled vet, Juan Ramon Cruz (16-8-1, 12 KO’s)
Local favorite, Josh Mercado (3-1, 1 KO) battles Joel Nieves (0-1) in a four round Welterweight bout.
Ryan Carson (2-0, 1 KO) takes on Marcos Garcia (0-1) in a four round lightweight affair.
Rounding out the card will be a tussle between Troy Maxwell (2-0, 1 KO) and Rafael Jastrzebski (1-6) in a super middleweight bout scheduled for four rounds.
Seven big fights which includes an important championship bout for just $9.99 is one click away at http://www.gofightlive.tv/showEvent.do?eventId=668
The action begins promptly at 7:30pm eastern
Raushee Warren Wins the National Golden Gloves for the first time in his career
For the first time in his very successful amateur career, Raushee Warren, Cincinnati’s 2 time Olympian competed and brought home the National Golden Glove Belt in the 114 pound weight class. After competing at the Hyatt Regency on April 9 2010 in the Regional’s and becoming a Cincinnati Team member, they went on to compete in Little Rock, Arkansas May 3- May 7, 2010. This is one step towards Raushee representing Cincinnati for a third time in the 2012 Olympics.
As a 17-year-old at the 2004 Olympics, southpaw Rau’Shee Warren was not only the youngest member of the 2004 U.S. boxing team, he was the youngest male on any American team at those Games. In 2008 when Warren returned to represent the United States and Cincinnati again he was the first American boxer to compete in back-to-back Olympics since Davey Lee Armstrong in 1972 and 1976. Raushee plans to return in 2012 will make him again a young man again making history, he will be a 3 time Olympian and that is something no one has ever done in the sport of Boxing or any sport in then United States.
Catching Up with Corinne DeGroot!
With the WIBA bantam title at stake, Corinne DeGroot (11-1, 5 KO) has been preparing to rematch Guyana’s Shondell Alfred (11-5), again in Guyana May 22, after a September 2009 fight that left Corinne, who resides in Atlanta, Georgia, on the losing end of their first title clash. Corinne offered details of the fight. “She dropped me in the third round, then I dropped her once in the eighth round, and three times in the tenth,” Corinne said “ The last knockdown, there were 10 or 15 seconds left in the round when I caught her with a straight left to the body then a left hook to the head. She went down, her gloves touched the canvas. The referee ruled it a slip, picked her up and walked her back to her corner.” Amazingly, Alfred was given a unanimous decision, but Corinne is not about to let the title go again. “May twenty second,,” Corinne promised, “I am not leaving a decision in the hands of the officials. I’m knocking Shondell Alfred OUT, and she will wish that the first time the referee hadn’t cheated.” After securing the WIBA title, Corinne’s goal is to keep busy by unifying all of the 118 pound titles, then see what other opportunities present themselves.
Since the first Alfred bout, Corinne has spent time healing a pinched nerve in her neck, doing stunt work for some television shows and feature movies, and mentoring junior high girls in the Atlanta area, and of course, training for the rematch with Alfred.
With her work that includes television and films, Corinne has enjoyed lots of exposure and visibility, but hopes women’s boxing is finally recognized and given air time on such premium channels as HBO, but believes promoters need to present better bouts with fighters being of equal caliber. “When female fighters are given opponents of equal caliber and not badly mismatched, you will get good, strong matches,” Corinne said, “instead what happens is promoters mismatching the fighters so badly that the entire skill level of female fighters looks poor. There are very good female fighters out there, they’re just not being showcased properly”.
May twenty second Corinne plans to showcase her talents and bring the WIBA bantam title home to Atlanta, then stay prepared for her next ring date. She is looking forward to the challenge of unifying the 118 pound titles and is ready to see who will step up and fight.