Ovill McKenzie has been sparring with Tony Bellew’s big rival World Boxing Organization (WBO) World Light-Heavyweight Champion Nathan Cleverly ahead of his rematch with the Scouser.
Derby puncher McKenzie and Bellew, the Commonwealth Light-Heavyweight Champion, face each other again at the Liverpool Echo Arena on Saturday 16th July in a return of their thriller last December that saw both men hit the canvas, with Bellew winning by stoppage in the eighth round.
“Bomber” Bellew will be looking to get McKenzie out of the way so that he can get it on with his Welsh adversary who has just returned to training after his world title win.
Cleverly and Bellew came to verbal blows at a heated press conference in May when Bellew stepped in to replace Juergen Braehmer who failed to show up for his showdown with Cleverly.
Ultimately Bellew was beaten by the scales and couldn’t make the weight in time, but it has set up an explosive clash of unbeaten fighters that could happen later this year.
“I got a call saying that McKenzie wanted some good hard sparring for his fight with Bellew and we said come down for tomorrow and the next day he was there ready to go,” Said Cleverly.
“It was my first day back in training yesterday and instead of easing back in gently I did twelve hard rounds with McKenzie at our gym in Bargoed,”
“There’s was no holding back between us, he is really up for the fight and fancies pulling off the upset as he came close last time. He’s punching hard and I can see how he floored Bellew in the first fight.”
“I’ll be ringside at the Liverpool Echo Arena on the night and I see it as a 50/50 fight between them. I’d want Bellew to come through because that sets up a massive fight between us and we can settle our differences once and for all.”
“I want to be the one to knock Bellew clean out after his lack of respect at the press conference in May. He got me really riled up and I just want to put some manners back on him and show him that I’m the best in Britain.”
Bellew v McKenzie features on a massive fight card at the Liverpool Echo Arena, live on Sky Sports 1HD, that is headlined by Ricky Burns’ WBO World Super-Featherweight title defence against Nicky Cook; Kevin Mitchell’s highly-anticipated showdown with John Murray for the Vacant WBO Intercontinental Lightweight title; Frankie Gavin’s WBO Intercontinental Welterweight title defence against Curtis Woodhouse, plus a top quality undercard.
Tickets, priced at £50, £80 and £100, are available on 0844 8000 400 or www.echoarena.com
Rees injured, pulls out of Matthews bout
Gavin Rees has been forced to withdraw from his European Lightweight title defence against Derry Mathews on July 23 in Cardiff.
Rees was due to defend the title against the English champion in the Motorpoint Arena venue where he won the belt against Andy Murray in June, but a damaged hand during training has forced the “gutted” Welshman out of the fight.
Promoter Eddie Hearn has confirmed that the fight will be rescheduled later this year and hopes that a date in September or October can be fixed soon.
Fans who purchased tickets for the show will receive a full refund from their point of purchase.
ROONEY JR RETURNS ON RODRIGUEZ-WOLAK UNDERCARD JULY 15TH AT ROSELAND BALLROOM
On Friday July 15th, at the Roseland Ballroom in NYC, Delvin Rodriguez (25-5-2, 14KO’s) squares off against Pawel “Raging Bull” Wolak (29-1, 19KO’s) in a must see ten round jr. middleweight showdown. The bout, promoted by Joe DeGuardia’s Star Boxing, will be the feature bout on that week’s edition of ESPN’s “Friday Night Fights”. Before Rodriguez and Wolak step inside the ring, Kevin “Kid” Rooney, the son of world renowned trainer, Kevin Rooney, and Star Boxing’s own publicist, will look to improve to 2-0 when he takes on Queen’s Elmer Vera in a four round jr. middleweight match-up.
“As soon as we began working on this card, Kevin told me he wanted to be on it,” stated Joe DeGuardia, President and CEO of Star Boxing (Rooney’s boss). “Kevin put on a good performance in his pro-debut, and he had a lot of people make the trip out to Connecticut to show their support. Now he has the opportunity to showcase his skills right here in NY in front of his hometown fans and I know he is really looking forward to it.”
Rooney, is coming off an impressive victory in his pro-debut back on April 22nd at the Mohegan Sun Resort and Casino in Uncasville, CT. Before a large contingent of fans, Rooney won a dominating four round decision over Philadelphia’s, Dave Navarro. The fight, which was shown live on ESPN’s “Friday Night Fights”, saw Rooney control the fight against Navarro from the opening bell, dropping his opponent just a half minute into the first round with a left hook. Rooney dropped Navarro again hard in the second with another left hook, and went on to dominate the remainder of the fight. The two left hooks from Rooney earned him the Just For Men, “Punch of the Night”. Now Rooney (1-0) looks to turn in an equally impressive performance on July 15th.
“I’m really excited to get back in there and put on another exciting performance for everyone who comes out to the Roseland Ballroom,” stated Rooney. STAR BOXING “Overall I was very happy with my debut. I had a tremendous amount of fan support and I’m really excited about having the opportunity now to fight right here in NYC. I know there were things I could have done better in my debut, but I am just going to keep working hard in the gym and listening to my father and keep improving from each fight to the next.”
“KC (as Rooney Sr. refers to his son) fought on Friday and was back in the gym training on Monday, he is very determined and a very hard worker, and as a trainer and father I couldn’t ask for more than that,” stated Rooney Sr. “KC put on a very good showing in his debut and I expect an even better performance out of him on July 15th.”
Tickets are priced at $50, $75, $100 and $200 and can be purchased by calling Star Boxing at (718) 823-2000, or visiting www.starboxing.com. Tickets may also be purchased through any Ticketmaster outlet or simply by Clicking Here. Doors open at 6:30PM, with the first bout scheduled for 7:00PM. ESPN will begin live coverage at 9PM ET.
AFO “Glory” Comes to Revere, MA Friday July 15th
Revere, MA – The American Fighting Organization will make its debut in Revere, Massachusetts at the Wonderland Entertainment Complex on Friday night July 15th with its inaugural “Glory” event.
“We have a nice collection of AFO mainstays and crowd favorites on this show”, AFO President Pete Dilorenzo said.
“We expect a full house and plenty of fun fights. We sold out of certain sections of the venue before we really even began to promote this show too much. Revere seems to be a place we’re going to want to visit more than just this once.”
On the card, AFO amateur flyweight champion Jared Sarno will defend his title against Dan “The Hamburglar” Cormier. Also, North Attleboro’s Theo Desjardin (2-4, 1 KO, 1 submission) takes on Christian Rivera (5-14, 4 submissions) in a flyweight fight featuring two AFO veterans, Fred Mandrachia (0-1) takes on Todd Sweeney (1-4) in another flyweight bout and lightweight standouts Thane Stimson and Sergio Cabrera will duke it out in a scheduled 3 round fight.
Every fight will be taped to air on the AFO’s TV series Proving Grounds which airs on RTV Saturday nights at midnight in the Boston area.
For a complete card for this upcoming event, visit www.AFOMMA.com.
About the AFO: The American Fighting Organization is a New England based MMA promotion featuring some of the best local fighters and prospects in the country. The AFO is one of the most active promotions in the country. In 2010, the AFO debuted Proving Grounds, a weekly TV show that aired full length AFO fights. Season Two of AFO Proving Grounds is airing currently on RTV Saturday nights at midnight.