World Boxing Association (WBA) middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin will defend his title against Lajuan Simon on Friday night at the Intercontinental hotel in Düsseldorf, Germany. Originally, the bout was scheduled on Saturday night’s fight night Wladimir Klitschko vs. Jean-Marc Mormeck in the 53,000 seat ESPRIT arena, which was cancelled on Monday.
Gennady Golovkin: “I had a great training camp and I am happy that the fight is going to take place. I am also excited to be working together with K2 Promotions. I am looking forward to follow in the footsteps of the Klitschko brothers and want to be as successful as they are.”
Wladimir Klitschko: “It is good that Golovkin’s fight will take place. He is a very talented fighter and I am sure that he will beat Felix Sturm next year if he dares fighting Golovkin.”
Golovkin, who lives in Stuttgart, Germany, won the silver medal in the 2004 Olympic Games and was a two time world champion as an amateur. He is considered one of the most exciting boxers in the sport today. This will be his third world title defense and the first time Golovkin will box in Germany since 2009. Lajuan Simon is from Philadelphia (USA) and has a fight record of 23 wins (12 KOs) with three draws and two defeats.
In the second title fight, Isa Akberbayev, 8-0 with 5 KOs, from Kazakhstan will fight for the vacant IBO Intercontinental Cruiserweight title against local favorite Armin Dollinger, 21-2 with 8 KOs from Munich, Germany. Further fights are planned.
Doors open at 7.00 pm at the Ballroom of the Hotel Intercontinental Düsseldorf, Königsallee 59. Tickets are available at the ticket counter on fight night. Tickets cost 50 Euro with open seating.
Frampton faces Hughes in New Year Commonwealth defence on January 28th
The Jackal takes on Scotsman at York Hall on January 28
Carl Frampton will make the first defence of his Commonwealth Super Bantamweight title against Kris Hughes on January 28 at York Hall, Bethnal Green live on Sky Sports.
Frampton claimed the vacant title in September with a commanding fourth round stoppage against Mark Quon at the Odyssey Arena in Belfast, stretching his unbeaten record to 11 fights, and fights in London for the second time in his career.
Former World Featherweight champion Barry McGuigan continues to guide the career of the 24 year-old Belfast boy, and the Clones Cyclone is predicting that his charge could add more titles to his Commonwealth belt by the end of 2012.
“It’s a big year for us – we’re not looking past Kris but I believe Carl can go a long way, and by the end of 2012 I would like to think he would be European Champion,” said McGuigan. “(British Champion) Scott Quigg is a target fight down the line too and he’s enthusiastic for the fight so there’s exciting things ahead, but Kris comes first and Carl will be ready.”
For Scotsman Hughes, also 24, it’s a second crack at the title after a narrow decision loss to Jamie Arthur last October in east London. The Scottish Area Featherweight champion will look to go one better this time round, and McGuigan is looking forward to seeing Frampton face a tough challenge in London.
“He’s a tall rangy guy who gave Jamie Arthur a real work out, he’s got experience and he is a Southpaw so it’s a different type of fight and challenge for Carl and I’m looking forward to it,” said McGuigan.
“We’re looking forward to fighting in the York Hall again – it’s just like the Ulster Hall really so it’s a home away from home for Carl, every bit as atmospheric and we will be bringing a lot of fans over.
“There’s a huge underground movement of excitement and support for Carl from boxing fans all over the place who are talking about him so it’s good to get him fighting in new places. I’m sure that there will be three or four-hundred fans from here going over and a large number in London who will be looking forward to seeing Carl in the flesh for the first time.”
It will be Matchroom Sport’s first boxing show of 2012 and promoter Eddie Hearn says he is thrilled to be starting with Frampton’s first Commonwealth title defence, promptly followed by the first Prizefighter of the year on February 11 at the Civic Hall in Wolverhampton with the Light Welterweights II.
“I’m delighted to be kicking off the New Year with one of Boxing’s most exciting prospects in Carl Frampton,” said Eddie Hearn. “There are some big fights out there for Carl in 2012 and I know he will be looking to make a statement on January 28. We will be putting together a jam packed undercard led by our rising middleweight star John Ryder, who will be looking to extend his unbeaten run ahead of a promising year.”
Tickets for Carl Frampton vs. Kris Hughes for the Commonwealth Super Bantamweight title plus full championship undercard led by John Ryder are on sale now from Matchroom Sport priced £35 unreserved, £60 ringside and £100 VIP – to book call 01277 359900 or visit www.matchroomboxing.com
Khan vs. Peterson, Mitchell vs. Ibragimov plus Cotto-Margarito replay this Saturday
HBO SPORTS HEADS TO WASHINGTON, D.C. FOR A
UNIFIED SUPER LIGHTWEIGHT TITLE SHOWDOWN WHEN
WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING®: AMIR KHAN VS. LAMONT PETERSON
AND SETH MITCHELL VS. TIMUR IBRAGIMOV
IS PRESENTED LIVE SATURDAY, DEC. 10 ON HBO
PLUS THE EXCLUSIVE REPLAY OF COTTO VS. MARGARITO II
HBO Sports serves up an intriguing unified super lightweight title bout when WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING: AMIR KHAN VS. LAMONT PETERSON AND SETH MITCHELL VS. TIMUR IBRAGIMOV is presented live SATURDAY, DEC. 10 (9:45 p.m. ET/6:45 p.m. PT) from Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C., exclusively on HBO. Ringside for HBO Sports will be host and blow-by-blow announcer Jim Lampley joined by commentators Larry Merchant and Max Kellerman. The telecast will be closed-captioned for the hearing impaired, presented in HDTV and presented in Spanish on HBO Latino.
With regular analysts Emanuel Steward and Roy Jones Jr. unavailable due to previous fight commitments, HBO will pair veteran commentators Merchant and Kellerman with Lampley on what should be a entertaining and engaging night of boxing commentary and opinions. Merchant joined HBO in 1978, while Kellerman came on board in 2006.
A 2004 Olympic Silver Medalist, London’s Amir Khan (26-1, 18 KOs) faces the resourceful Lamont Peterson (29-1-1, 15 KOs) in a highly anticipated 12-round title match. Khan, who is enormously popular in Britain and turns 25 two days before the fight, has displayed a willingness to cross the pond to meet formidable opposition, and will be putting his 140-pound belts on the line in his fourth U.S. fight. Under the guidance of legendary trainer Freddie Roach, Khan has met every challenge, including a bout with Zab Judah last July.
Battle-tested Lamont Peterson has defied long odds to reach this point in his career. He and brother Anthony survived a turbulent childhood that included homelessness on the streets of D.C. Now the 27-year-old has a shot at the top in this highly competitive division.
The opening fight features Brandywine, Md. native Seth Mitchell (23-0-1, 17 KOs) in a ten-round heavyweight battle with Uzbekistan’s Timur Ibragimov (30-3-1, 16 KOs). A former linebacker at Michigan State who didn’t begin boxing until his 20s, Mitchell is making his HBO debut.
The doubleheader marks HBO’s first visit to the nation’s capital for boxing since 1993.
Prior to the live action, HBO will kick off the night of boxing programming with the exclusive replay of Cotto vs. Margarito II. The all-action fight took place on Dec. 3 at New York’s Madison Square Garden and featured Miguel Cotto scoring a 10th round TKO victory over Antonio Margarito.
All HBO boxing events are presented in HDTV. HBO viewers must have access to the HBO HDTV channel to watch HBO programming in high definition.
Follow HBO boxing news at hbo.com/boxing, on Facebook at facebook.com/hboboxing and on Twitter at twitter.com/hboboxing.
The executive producer of WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING is Rick Bernstein; producer, Thomas Odelfelt; director, Marc Payton.
® WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING is a registered service mark of Home Box Office, Inc.