NEW YORK (April 18, 2012) – This Friday night, in a special edition of ShoBox: The New Generation on SHOWTIME®, former undisputed 160-pound world champion Jermain Taylor (29-4-1, 18 KO’s) meets the undefeated Caleb “Golden” Truax (18-0-1, 10 KO’s) in the 10-round main event. The 10-round co-feature will pit former Cuban amateur standout Erislandy Lara (15-1-1, 10 KO’s) against Ronald Hearns (26-2, 20 KO’s). Both bouts will be shown live this Friday, April 20, on SHOWTIME (11 p.m. ET/PT, delayed on the West Coast) from Beau Rivage Resort & Casino in Biloxi, Miss. The card is promoted by DiBella Entertainment (DBE) in association with Golden Boy Promotions.
Seeing action on the untelevised portion of the undercard will be three of DBE’s top up-and-coming
prospects, J’Leon Love (10-0, 6KO’s), Kelvin Price (12-0, 6KO’s) and Steven Martinez (11-1, 9KO’s).
The Detroit-native Love, who now lives and trains in the boxing hotbed of Las Vegas, NV, is looking to keep his unbeaten record intact when he takes on Ibahiem King (10-6, 4KO’s) in the middleweight’s first scheduled eight-rounder. Love has gained invaluable experience within in the last year, first serving as one of the main sparring partners for Antonio Margarito during Margarito’s preparation for his rematch with Miguel Cotto this past December, and is now currently in camp with pound-for-pound king Floyd Mayweather, as Mayweather prepares for his upcoming May 5 fight against Cotto. This will be Love’s second fight of 2012. In his most recent outing, Love won a convincing six-round unanimous decision over Elie Augustama on January 6.
Price got a very late start into the sport of boxing, and had only one amateur fight before turning pro in 2007. What Price lacked in experience though, he made up for in athletic ability and size. Standing at 6’7″ and weighing in usually around 235-plus pounds, Price was a standout basketball player and track star growing up. After playing his college ball at UNC-Charlotte, Price spent some time playing professional basketball overseas, before coming back to the States and falling in love with the sport of boxing. Price’s biggest win as a professional came in 2010 when he decisioned fellow undefeated prospect, Tor Hamer. Price is scheduled to take on Aaron Lyons (12-11-1, 9KO’s) in his first scheduled 10-round contest.
Rounding out the five-bout card will be the exciting junior middleweight Martinez. Martinez, a three-time NY Golden Gloves winner and 2008 National Golden Gloves Champion is looking to rebound from his first career loss, a close majority decision to fellow prospect Denis Douglin on ESPN’s Friday Night Fights earlier this year when he takes on Marcus Thompkins (5-6-1, 2KO’s) in a six-round junior middleweight matchup.
The special edition of ShoBox: The New Generation is promoted by DiBella Entertainment in association with Golden Boy Promotions. The main event features former undisputed middleweight champion Jermain “Bad Intentions” Taylor (29-4-1, 18 KO’s) taking on the undefeated Caleb “Golden” Truax (18-0-1, 10 KO’s) in a 10-round middleweight matchup. In the co-featured bout of the evening, former Cuban amateur star Erislandy Lara (15-1-1, 10 KO’s) takes on Ronald Hearns (26-2, 20 KO’s) in a fight originally scheduled for February 11 as the co-feature to Victor Ortiz vs. Andre Berto II, but that was rescheduled after a Berto injury caused a postponement of the event. SHOWTIME® will begin live coverage starting at 11 p.m. ET/PT (delayed on the West Coast).
Tickets, priced at $150, $100, and $50 plus tax and service charges, are available online at www.beaurivage.com, by phone at (888) 566-7469, or in person at the Beau Rivage Theatre box office. Beau Rivage room reservations can be made by calling (888) 567-6667 or visiting www.beaurivage.com.
O’KANE: BIG NIGHT EXPERIENCE GIVES ME EDGE IN BETFAIR PRIZEFIGHTER
Dungiven ace says he’s comfortable on the big stage – Heffron out
Eamonn O’Kane believes fighting on the Kell Brook vs. Matthew Hatton undercard was the perfect preparation for his Betfair Prizefighter all-Irish Middleweights appearance at King’s Hall in Belfast on May 5, live on Sky Sports.
The Dungiven man beat local boy Wayne Reed at the Motorpoint Arena Sheffield on St. Patrick’s Day in his fourth professional bout. The 30 year old put Reed down in the fifth on the way to an impressive 60-53 points win in their six rounder and now has his sights set firmly on the Betfair Prizefighter trophy and the £32,000 winner’s cheque – and the big fights and title shots that victory would bring.
“The night in Sheffield was a great night, I hadn’t fought since September so it was nice to blow the cobwebs out before Prizefighter,” O’Kane said. “It was great to be on such a massive card. It was the biggest crowd I’ve fought in front of. I’ve fought in the Odyssey Arena and that was seven or eight thousand, this was near enough 10,000 in Sheffield. It was fantastic.”
“It was my fourth professional fight and it started slowly, but then I started to find him and I caught him with some good shots and had him down in the fifth,” said O’Kane. “I was happy with the power I was showing. He was a game opponent and I like people who come to fight, so in the end it was an interesting fight.
“He told me afterwards that he was struggling and under pressure in there so to make up for it he was winding me up and I got caught up in it. I shouldn’t have, I should’ve just boxed. But you’re learning all the time and it while it wasn’t a perfect performance, it was a good one and a win so I was happy with it.”
O’Kane had extremely successful amateur career, the highlight being his Commonwealth Games gold medal in 2010, and he thinks that experience will give him the edge in the Kings Hall.
“All of my boxing career, both as an amateur and a professional, everything I’ve learned, especially from that night in Sheffield, will help me in Prizefighter,” said O’Kane. “When I won gold I knew it was live on TV and the stadium was full – all those experiences are going to help me to do well on May 5.
“There’s going to be hundreds of thousands of people watching it on Sky and internationally, and the King’s Hall will be packed out with people screaming and shouting for different guys. It’s going to be amazing on the night. Hopefully most of them will be screaming for me, but it will be a great night either way.”
O’Kane is joined in the 24th edition of Matchroom Sport’s eight-man, one night tournament by Anthony Fitzgerald, Joe Rea, JJ McDonagh, Simon O’Donnell, Ryan Greene and Darren Cruise, with the final name to be added in the next 24 hours after Mark Heffron pulled out with a hand injury.
Before the action gets underway there are two fights with exciting young flyweight Jamie Conlan becomes the latest Prizefighter Prospect and the ever-popular former British featherweight champion Martin Lindsay continues his journey back to title contention.
The Betfair Prizefighter all-Irish Middleweights is followed by a huge fight in the career of Paul McCloskey as he takes on former World champion ‘Chop Chop’ DeMarcus Corley in a bid to get back into World title contention.
Tickets are priced at £30 (unreserved), £40 (reserved balcony or unreserved floor), £60 (outer-ringside) and £100 (ringside) are available from Ticketmaster on 0844 277 4455 – UK/Northern Ireland customers, 0818 719 300 – Republic of Ireland customers and at www.ticketmaster.ie
VIP packages priced £150 are available from Matchroom Sport on 01277 359900 and at www.matchroomboxing.com
Paul McCloskey’s fans can also buy their tickets at the prices above from Eurospar Dungiven and any EuroXchange outlet.
Stephen Smith vs. Francisco Urena on May 11th
Liverpool star Stephen Smith returns to his home city on Friday 11th May to headline the Olympia, live on BoxNation (Sky Ch. 456/Virgin Ch. 546).
Smith will make the first defence of his World Boxing Organization (WBO) Intercontinental Super-Featherweight title against tough Spaniard Francisco Urena.
The 26-year-old is aiming to stay on track for a rematch with Lee Selby who inflicted the first loss on his record last September to take the Scouser’s British and Commonwealth titles in one of the biggest domestic upsets of last year.
He roared back with back-to-back first round wins over Arpad Vass in February and Ben Jones last month to win the title and he’ll be keeping an eye on rival Selby who defends his titles two weeks later in Newport.
And the Liverpool FC fanatic will be looking to make it a hat-trick of first rounders against Urena who has never been stopped in 21 fights.
Smith said, “I’m looking forward to returning to Liverpool to fight in front of my loyal home fans again and give them a good performance to show that I’m back to my best,”
“Urena looks like a tough challenger, but I haven’t seen too much of him yet, from what I’ve heard he likes to come forward which will play into my hands,”
“It would be great to stop him in the first round, like the last two have gone, but I don’t go in looking to end things early it’s just the way things have worked out and if I see an opening I go for it,”
“Of course, I want the fight with Selby again to have the chance to reclaim my titles and to put things right and I know I’ll get him down the line,”
“I’m fighting regularly, keeping sharp and improving all the time so when I do face him I’ll beat him.”
The Olympia undercard features unbeaten super-middleweight Rocky Fielding in an eight-rounder; unbeaten light-middleweight prospect Joe Selkirk; Ellesmere Port super-flyweight Paul Butler, plus Liverpool’s Andy Coulqhoun and Lyndon Newman.
Tickets are priced at £30, £40 and £60 and are available from Frank Warren Promotions on 01992 550 888 and Olympia Box Office on 0151 263 6633.