On Friday, July 22, 2011, at the Morongo Casino Resort in Cazabon, California, and live on ESPN Friday Night Fights, Gary Shaw Productions will proudly present Fight Night at Morongo Casino Resort, featuring Flint, Michigan’s World Boxing Council (WBC) #4-rated contender Anthony “The Dog” Dirrell (22-0, 19 KOs) taking on Saint Louis, Missouri’s Kevin “Hitman” Engel (18-4, 15 KOs) in the 10-round super middleweight main event.
26-year-old Dirrell, the brother of Olympic bronze medallist Andre, will be looking to stay unbeaten while he waits for a world title shot. He was last seen in front a huge hometown crowd in Michigan, stopping former Olympian Dante Craig in five rounds with a body shot. Against Dirrell, 31-year-old Engel will be looking to pull the same kind of upset magic he sprung on up-and-coming contender Darryl Cunningham in 2007.
The televised co-feature will pit Houston’s once-beaten Lanard Lane (12-1, 7 KOs) against Winter Haven, Florida’s undefeated knockout artist Joseph Elegele (12-0, 10 KOs) in a welterweight 10-rounder.
A full-time firefighter, 28-year-old Lane will be looking to extinguish the unbeaten streak of 27-year-old southpaw Elegele.
On the undercard, Austin, Texas’s undefeated Kurtiss Colvin (5-0, 4 KOs) will face Long Beach, California’s Cleveland Ishe (3-1, 1 KO) in a middleweight four-rounder; Philadelphia’s Julian Williams (6-0-1, 4 KOs) will take on Bakersfield, California’s Raul Rodriguez (2-5-1, 1 KO) in a junior middleweight six-rounder; undefeated Californian Marcus Robinson (3-0) will go against Mexico’s Mario Evangelista (3-9, 3 KOs) over six junior middleweight rounds; San Ardo, California’s undefeated Roman Morales (4-0, 3 KOs) will face Santa Rosa, California’s Juan Tepoz (4-5-1) in a featherweight four-rounder; and Palmdale, California’s DonYil Livingston (4-0, 2 KOs) will face an opponent that is still TBA in a middleweight four-rounder.
AYI BRUCE REPLACES CONYERS AGAINST GABRIEL ROSADO JULY 15 AT BALLY’S ATLANTIC CITY
Atlantic City, NJ—A bone chip in the middle finger of his right hand has forced junior middleweight Allen Conyers out of his scheduled 10-round main event with Gabriel Rosado on Friday evening, July 15, at Bally’s Atlantic City.
Stepping in to replace Conyers is Ayi Bruce, winner of five in a row and perhaps a tougher test for Rosado.
Fighting at Bally’s will be no problem for Bruce, 25, who upset southpaw Shamone Alvarez last Dec. 4 in the same ring in the loser’s backyard.
A pro since 2006, Bruce is 13-3, 7 K0s, and is 5-2 since coming to the United States from Accra, Ghana, in 2010. Once Bruce got acclimated after losses to a pair of unbeaten prospects, lefty Emmanuel Taylor and Ray Serrano (by majority decision), he has never looked back.
Conyers sustained his knuckle injury over the weekend and notified Peltz Boxing on Tuesday evening he would be unable to fulfill his contract to fight Rosado.
Rosado, 25, is 16-5, 9 K0s. He has won his last two fights, out-pointing Jose Medina, of Tilton, NH, over eight rounds and knocking out fellow-Philadelphian Jamaal Davis in 12.
He also lost a 12-round majority decision last summer to fellow-Philadelphian, Derek Ennis for the USBA junior middleweight title.
Rosado has defeated ex-International Boxing Federation (IBF) world junior middleweight champ Kassim Ouma, of Uganda, and Saul Roman, of Mexico.
Tickets priced at $50 and $75 are on sale at the offices of Peltz Boxing Promotions (215-765-0922) and through Ticketmaster (800-745-3000). They also can be purchased online at www.peltzboxing.com and www.ticketmaster.com.