LOS ANGELES. (April 9, 2012) – Undefeated former World Lightweight Champion BRANDON “Bam Bam” RIOS (29-0-1, 22 KOs), of Oxnard, Calif., and his opponent, World Boxing Association (WBA) interim lightweight champion and Cuban expatriate RICHARD ABRIL (17-2-1, 8 KOs), of Miami, Fla., hosted a Los Angeles news conference today at the Millennium Biltmore Hotel to kickoff Fight Week for their WBA lightweight title tilt. Hostilities quickly broke out and they had to be separated by their respective camps when they began shoving each other during their photo op. Here’s what they had to say.
Richard Abril
“I did what I did at the Miami press conference to tell Rios he should be fighting me, not Gamboa, because I am a real champion. Rios is not as good as what people say.”
Brandon Rios
“No unheard of fighter like Abril will ever beat me. He’s going to go down and go down real hard. In the boxing world Abril is in the darkness and I plan to keep him there. I haven’t forgotten what he did to me in Miami. He’s going to pay big-time for that.”
Three-division world champion and Méxican icon JUAN MANUEL MÁRQUEZ (53-6-1, 39 KOs), of México City, will be going for his fourth world title in as many different weight divisions when he rumbles with World Boxing Organization (WBO) European junior welterweight champion SERGEY FEDCHENKO (30-1, 13 KOs), of Kharkov, Ukraine for the vacant WBO interim 140-pound world title. Rios will attempt to reclaim his old title when he battles Abril for the vacant WBA lightweight championship belt. Márquez vs. Fedchenko and Rios headline a world championship pay-per-view event that’s so big its main events are originating from two different countries!
Márquez-Fedchenko will take place in México City’s brand new Arena México, while Rios-Abril, along with a 10-round junior welterweight collision between Top 10 contenders “Mile High” MIKE ALVARADO (32-0, 23 KOs), of Denver, and MAURICIO HERRERA (18-1, 7 KOs), from Riverside, Calif. and a 10-round lightweight bout featuring MERCITO GESTA (24-0-1, 12 KOs), of Cebu, Philippines, against OSCAR CUERO (15-7, 12 KOs), of Cartagena, Colombia, Saturday, April 14, at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. Boxing fans at Mandalay Bay will also see the Márquez-Fedchenko world title fight live, via closed-circuit, on a jumbo screen. The Márquez/Rios world championship event will be produced by Top Rank and distributed Live by HBO Pay-Per-View®, beginning at 9 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. PT.
Promoted by Top Rank, in association with Zanfer Promotions, Tecate and AT&T, remaining tickets, priced at $250, $150, $100, $50 and $25, not including applicable service charges, are available at all Ticketmaster locations (select Smith’s Food and Drug Centers and Ritmo Latino). To charge by phone with a major credit card, call Mandalay Bay at (877) 632-7400 or Ticketmaster at (800) 745-3000. Tickets also will be available for purchase at www.mandalaybay.com or www.ticketmaster.com.
AIBA and Kazakhstan Boxing Federation sign Host City agreement for the AIBA World Boxing Championships Astana 2013
Lausanne, Switzerland, 12 April 2012 – Dr Ching-Kuo Wu, AIBA President, signed this Thursday 12 April 2012 with the President of the Kazakhstan Boxing Federation (KBF), Mr Timur Kulibayev, the agreement confirming Astana as the Host City for the 2013 AIBA World Boxing Championships. The press conference was held at the Rixos hotel in Astana, Kazakhstan.
The AIBA President stated: “Kazakhstan is one of the leading nations in boxing, in terms of quality of boxers and in quality of tournaments. Hosting the AIBA World Boxing Championships next year is another milestone for the country and we are also very excited about the AIBA World Boxing Academy that is currently being built near Almaty. This will be a world class facility to welcome the world’s best boxer. This project was endorsed by the Federation and by the Ministry of Sports and once again demonstrates that Kazakhstan is building the foundations for the future of our sport”.
AIBA anticipates to have the Opening of the AIBA World Boxing Academy at the same time as the AIBA World Boxing Championships Astana 2013 in October.