LAS VEGAS (July 12 2011) – A solid undercard has been announced for the “Fire & Fury” pro boxing card, featuring World Boxing Association/International Boxing Association Light Heavyweight World Champion Beibut Shumenov in his third title defense, July 29 against two-time world title challenger Danny “The Bronx Bomber” Santiago, on TeleFutura’s“Sólo Boxeo Tecate” broadcast live from South Point Hotel Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada.
“Fire& Fury” is promoted by KZ Event Productions (Shumenov and his brother, Chingis, own and operate the Las Vegas-based KZ Event Productions) in association with Golden Boy Promotions, Don Chargin Productions, Guilty Boxing and South Point Hotel Casino and is sponsored by Cerveza Tecate and AT&T. Doors open at 5:30 PM PT, the first bout at 6:00 PM PT and the TeleFutura broadcast begins at 11:30 PM ET / PT (10:30 PM CT).
Tickets, starting at $25, are available for purchase at South Point’s box office, online at www.SouthPointEventCenter.com/tickets.php, or by calling 1.702.797.8055.
Fans at home can also be part of the action by participating in Cinturón Tecate and voting for the fighter in the main event who displays the most character in the ring by sending a text message to 55333. Voting will be open through the end of the weekend.
Other fights scheduled to complete the “Fire & Fury” card are a pair of WBA title bouts, in addition to an entertaining co-feature and two other competitive matches.
Shumenov (11-1, 7 KOs), the 2004 Kazakhstan Olympian who is now fighting out of Las Vegas, set a light heavyweight record for capturing a world title in the fewest career fights, 10, when (Jan. 10, 2010) he won a 12-round decision against Gabriel Campillo in Las Vegas. Shumenov has successfully defended his WBA/IBA titles twice against No. 1 mandatory challenger Viacheslav Uzelkov (UDEC12) and three-time world champion William Joppy (KO6) last January in Shymkent, Kazakhstan. In his 11 pro fights, Beibut has defeated four world champions (Campillo, Joppy, Byron Mitchell and Montell Griffin) and two world title challengers (Uzelkov and Epifanio Mendoza).
WBA #15 ranked Santiago (31-4-1, 19 KOs), fighting out of Ocala, Florida, is a two-time world title challenger. His most significant victory was a fourth-round technical knockout of Elvir Muriqi (30-1). Santiago was also featured on the third season of The Contender reality television series.
The co-feature between popular Las Vegas super featherweight Lonnie Smith (13-2-2, 9 KOs) and Minnesota-invader Wilton “Pretty Warrior” Hilario (12-2, 9 KOs) is also scheduled to be shown on TeleFutura’s “Sólo Boxeo Tecate”broadcast. Smith, rated No. 13 by the USBA, is riding an eight-fight win streak, while Hilario’s only two losses have been by decisions to Mario Honorio in their NABO title fight and undefeated Cuban Olympian Luis Franco.
Highly-regarded, unbeaten WBA FEDALATIN Welterweight Champion Ravshan Hudaynazarov (14-0, 12 KOs), rated No. 9 by the WBA, defends his title in a 10-round bout against veteran Hector “The Hurricane” Munoz(19-5-1, 12 KOs), the former USNBC titlist.
Undefeated, WBA No. 2-rated light heavyweight contender Gayrat Ahmedov (16-0-1, 12 KOs) defends his WBA International belt against veteran Max “The Fireman” Heyman (24-11-4, 14 KOs) in another 10-rounder.
Hudaynazarov and Ahmedov fight under the KZ Event Productions banner along with Beibut.
Las Vegas fan favorite Ramon Montano(17-9-2, 2 KOs) faces welterweight Juan Suazo (7-4-3, 5 KOs) in a six-round match. Also on the card against an opponent to be determined is Freddie Roach-trained, unbeaten super featherweight prospect Joel Diaz(4-0, 3 KOs) in a four-round bout. All fights and fighters are subject to change.
Dyer Joins Kevin Mitchell For Final Training Session Ahead of Saturday’s Showdown with John Murray
Earlier today Dagenham’s Kevin Mitchell undertook his final training session at the TRAD TKO Boxing Gym in Canning Town, for his career defining showdown with Manchester’s John Murray at the Echo Arena in Liverpool this coming Saturday.
Joining Kevin, and the attending media, for the public workout was Canning Town’s most famous son, actor Danny Dyer.
Danny, who has starred in such notable films as Borstal Boy, Mean Machine and The Football Factory amongst many others, took Kevin on the pads during the session, after which he said, “I’ve done it a little bit before, just ***king about with cage fighters and that, my ****hole is still shaking, that was some strong digs there.
Honestly I’ve been a fan of Kevin’s for a while now. It’s just nice to be around him and watch him, you know training and stuff.
I’m just looking forward to Saturday and know for a fact that he’s going to do the geezer, there’s no two ways about it.
It’s the only way, it’s Kevin’s time now. He had a bit of rick, maybe a kick up the arse, it’s probably what he needed and I know for a fact that he’s going to get stronger and stronger, so unlucky Murray you’ve had a good run but it’s tat tahavitch.”
A smiling Kevin then added, “Danny’s a good pad man, held his hands up close and took some good hits.” before moving on to talk about his final day of preparations, “I’ve done really well, weights spot on before training, I’ve dropped 3 or 4 lbs so will be just the one, maybe two pounds over
Going really well, sharp. I didn’t go too mad in the gym, you don’t want to go too mad in the gym at this point. Saturday’s when I want to be peaking.”
After the final session Kevin’s coaches, father and son team Jimmy and Mark Tibbs gave their view of his final day’s preparation, first Jimmy said “Yeah, all the heavy training’s finished. His weight’s bang on, perfect. We can’t do no more now, everything’s done and we’re ready.” after which Mark added, “He’s done everything that’s been expected from him and more. His weight is perfect, he’s in a hundred and ten percent condition bodily wise, mentally wise. Now he’s got to hold it together until the end of this week.”
Final word has to go to promoter Francis Warren who said “It’s a big, big fight , it’s obviously been highly anticipated for the last couple of years.
I’ve been to both their training camps now and they’re both looking really sharp, really on the ball.
It’s a hard one to call so unfortunately I’ll have to sit on the fence on this one.”
Kevin Mitchell versus John Murray, for the World Boxing Organization (WBO) Inter-Continental Lightweight title will feature on Ricky Burns’ defense of his WBO World Super Featherweight crown against Nicky Cook at the Echo Arena in Liverpool on Saturday 16th July 2011.
Tickets, priced at £50, £80 and £100, are available on 0844 8000 400 or www.echoarena.com
Bam Boxing
Knotted Together
Two respected Philadelphia trainers, English “Bouie” Fisher and James “Jimmy” Lowry, Sr., were buried over the weekend. I attended both viewings and others did the same. Lowry, who worked at the Harrowgate Boxing Club in the Port Richmond section of Philadelphia, has been overlooked by the media.
Lowry had a strong connection with many Philadelphia fighters. Local welterweight Danny “Swift” Garcia had this to say: “R.I.P. Jim Lowry, he was a great man and trainer. He schooled me to game since I was 10. He made me believe in myself when I didn’t as a kid.” Garcia was just one of many fighters Lowry influenced.
While one Golden Boy fighter, Garcia, was saying his goodbyes to Lowry, down the road another Golden Boy fighter and Philly native, Bernard Hopkins, was saying his goodbyes to Fisher. Garcia and Hopkins lost two men who believed in them before anyone else did.
Hopkins gave a wonderful speech at Fisher’s funeral that shed light on how strong their relationship truly was. It’s nice to see successful fighters remember those who supported them in the beginning.
Garcia (on the right) and Hopkins have something else in common. This Friday, July 15, at Bally’s Atlantic City, their chief sparring partner, Gabriel “King” Rosado, will look to make a statement. Rosado (on the left) will face Allen “Dream Shatterer” Conyers.
Conyers recently lost to Carlos Molina, who beat Kermit Cintron last Saturday in Las Vegas on the undercard of the Brandon Rios—Urbano Antillon bout televised by Showtime. I had to decide between Showtime and HBO Saturday night. I made the right choice, watching Showtime live and HBO on delay.
Molina ran over a rusty Cintron and coasted to a unanimous 10-round decision win. Meanwhile, in Atlantic City, junior middleweight Paul “the Punisher” Williams got the gift of all gifts over Erislandy Lara after 12 rounds. Not sure who was behind that decision, but the judges definitely need their eyes checked.
As long as Rosado gets past Conyers, rumors have it–and fans believe–Rosado has the goods to take on either of the real winners from that night, Molina or Lara. As for now, Rosado is not even thinking about that. He is focused solely on Conyers.
rosadoconyers Conyers (12-5, 9 K0s) has made a career out of taking risks. He has beaten Derek Ennis and James de la Rosa and he has lost to James Kirkland, Said Ouali and Molina. Each of the five fighters who have beaten Conyers has gone on to much bigger tests and succeeded.
The New York-based Conyers fights with a unique style. He tries to control the fight from the outside with his jab. When he goes inside, Conyers looks to throw combinations and work as much as possible. Before he was knocked out by Kirkland, Conyers was a brawler who would throw more punches than necessary.
Rosado (16-5, 9 K0s) also has made his career out of taking risks. He could have been undefeated at this point had he fought bums. Instead, Rosado stepped up again and again. Two of his losses were against contenders, lefty Fernando Guerrero and hard—punching Alfredo Angulo. Rosado is one of the few fighters around who will fight anyone, anywhere, anytime.
Another great thing about Rosado is that he is always willing to test himself. He will take in as much as he can from each fight, sparring session, training session or any interaction with those involved in boxing. Rosado is trained by Billy Briscoe, who not only has prepared Rosado physically, but also mentally for this fight. Briscoe represents simply the beginning of Rosado’s support system and that system is growing.
Rosado recently set up his fan page on facebook, facebook.com/KingGabRosado as well as his twitter account @KingGabRosado. Not all fighters take the time to prepare this aspect of their career; they think if they fight well that is all they need to do. Having the skills is step one to becoming a successful fighter; building a fan base is another step because fans ultimately pay the bills.
Risk After risk
Fighters often end up with controversial wins. Take a look at last Saturdays’ Williams-Lara fight. It is part of the business! It’s what happens after that controversial win that tells you a little bit more about fighters. Nearly 18 months ago, light-heavyweight Anthony Ferrante (10-2, 5 K0s) gained a split decision win over fellow-Philadelphian Andre Hemphill (10-17-2, 5K0s) in an eight-round fight which could have gone either way.
Ferrante and Hemphill meet again Friday night at Bally’s Atlantic City. Why did Ferrante agree to the rematch? What does he have to gain? People asked the same thing when welterweight Mike Jones agreed to fight Jesus Soto-Karass earlier this year after barely escaping the first time with the decision.
By agreeing to fight Hemphill again, Ferrante gained respect. I am sure Ferrante will be looking for a more convincing victory this time, which is what Jones successfully did in his second bout with Soto-Karass. Ferrante still has a lot to prove and this is the first step.
The first bout between Ferrante and Hemphill was enticing. It helped Ferrante develop and he probably realizes that if he can get through the first couple rounds he has a better chance of out-schooling Hemphill in the later rounds.
Hemphill believes he won the first fight and he wants to make it more decisive the second time. Ferrante wants to see if he has improved and is ready to convince us that the first decision in his favor was the right one. Both fighters are ready to make an impression. Do not miss this fight!
The author is a senior in sport and recreation management at Temple University. She joined Peltz Boxing as an intern. Follow Peltz Boxing on twitter @PeltzBoxing and our intern @bamrogers