Boxing News: Update from Main Events

UNDEFEATED . . . BUT NOT FOR LONG:  Caesar’s Palace’s Open-Air Amphitheater will serve as host for one of the year’s most anticipated fight cards.  On June 24 four undefeated boxers will square off in an electrifying doubleheader of 12 round bouts. In the main event Calvin Brock (28-0, 22 KOs), heavyweight boxing’s hottest contender, will risk his undefeated record when he battles fellow undefeated contender Timur Ibragimov (21-0-1, 13 KO’s) in a 12 round bout.  In the co-feature Joel Julio (27-0, 24 KO’s), boxing’s hottest prospect, challenges fellow undefeated prospect Carlos Quintana (22-0, 18 KO’s) in a 12 round WBA Welterweight Eliminator . . . Tickets, priced at $250, $200, $150, $100, and $50, are available through Ticketmaster (Las Vegas: 702-474-4000; Los Angeles: 213-480-3232), online at www.ticketmaster.com, or in person at the Caesars Palace Box Office 10am-10pm 7 days per week.

Joel Julio is training in Vero Beach, FL with James “Buddy” McGirt and Roberto Quesada. McGirt’s son, James McGirt, Jr., and Alex Perez are serving as sparring partners for Julio . . . Julio was featured in the May 22 issue of ESPN: The magazine . . .

Carlos Quintana is training in Catalina, PR for the Julio bout.  Manager Rafael Joglar reports that Quintana has been in camp for about a month, under the guidance of trainer Jose Bonilla. Bonilla has worked in the past with Fres Oquendo, Joel Casamayor, and Jose Nieves . . .  Joglar says that Quintana understands the magnitude of the bout and the quality of his opponent: “Carlos thinks Julio is a very good boxer and a very tough opponent. He recognizes Julio’s punching power and the velocity of his punches. This will be a very tough fight and Carlos knows that this is the most important fight of his career. But Carlos also believes that he is very experienced and that he will know how to handle anything that Julio can show him” . . .

***NEXT WEEK:  BROCK, IBRAGIMOV CAMP NOTES***

“I DO”:  On Feb 25 Raul Martinez (14-0, 10 KO’s) tied the knot with Martha Patricia Sanchez. On June 24 the undefeated bantamweight prospect hopes to celebrate his four month wedding anniversary with a victory over Alex Becerra (18-3, 8 KO’s), the toughest opponent he has faced since turning pro on May 8, 2004. The San Antonio native knows that Becerra “had a good amateur career and that he is currently ranked in the top-10 by the WBO.  He’s a strong fighter that I’m not taking lightly” . . . . . Martinez will spend the last three weeks of training camp at Poncho Rosales’ Gym in Mexico City.  Among the notables who have trained there is former world champion Miguel Angel Gonzalez. Martinez hopes his luck will change with the switch in locales from San Antonio and Georgetown to Mexico. While training in the two Texas towns, Martinez managed to lose his wallet, to nearly ruin his digital camera by leaving it in the front pocket of a laundered pair of shorts, and to get ticketed for not making a complete stop at a stop sign. . . In his last bout on April 14, 2006, Martinez captured a unanimous decision Adalberto Davila in Monterrey, Mexico (W 10).  It was the first time in his career that Martinez fought 10 rounds . . .

GATTI:  Fewer than 2,000 tickets remain for the July 22 world championship bout at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, NJ, between Arturo Gatti (40-7, 31 KOs) and WBC world-recognized linear welterweight champion Carlos Baldomir (42-9-6, 12 KOs).  Of the 2,000 tickets left, 1,100 are priced at $50. Tickets, priced at $400, $250, $150, $100 and $ 50, can be purchased by calling Ticketmaster at 1-800-736-1420 . . .  Gatti-Baldomir will be televised on HBO’s “World Championship Boxing Series,” marking the 20th time in Gatti’s career that he has fought on the network.  He is among the top-five boxers who have most appeared on the HBO network . . .

JULY 22 UNDERCARD:  Undefeated contenders Malik Scott and Giovanni Lorenzo will headline the July 22 undercard.

Scott (24-0, 10 KO’s) will box in an in an eight round heavyweight bout against James Walton (21-8-2, 11 KO’s). The bout will be Scott’s first under trainer Joe Goossen.

Lorenzo (20-0, 12 KO’s) will compete in a 10 round jr middleweight bout. He has been training in the Dominican Republic and helping his younger brother Melvin Lorenzo prepare for a Central American tournament next month.  Giovanni will arrive in New York on Sunday to begin his seven-week camp here in the U.S. . . . Lorenzo plans to use the July 22 bout as a springboard for a high-profile bout by year’s end.  Two of the opponents being discussed are undefeated Brooklyn, NY native Sechew Powell and undefeated prospect Ireland’s John Duddy . . . Lorenzo’s views on his two potential opponents are on opposite ends of the spectrum:

“Powell is all talk and hype. He is not a real fighter.” Lorenzo was upset by Powell’s open support for Archak Ter-Meliksetian during the Lorenzo-Ter-Meliksetian bout on March 10. 2006 at “Back To The Future II”: “He was rooting like crazy for Archak. He even followed Archak into the ring.  In fact, when I stopped Archak at the end of the seventh, people tell me he cried, OH NO!  I don't think he really acted like someone who wants to fight me—and for good reason because he knows I will knock him out”.  Lorenzo also added, “When Powell fought Archak he ran from him and went 10 boring rounds. I knocked his lunch out of him [Archak] and I'll do the same to Powell. If he runs he will not be able to stand up to my body shots. I will break him down. He looks too soft in the middle. If he fights like a man,  I will knock him out cold and then people will realize who the best 154-pounder in New York is” . . .

Lorenzo had nicer things to say, however, about John Duddy: “I like him. He is a great fighter who has all the abilities that I have:  speed, power, and he fights the way fighters should. He takes risks in the ring. He is the best prospect to come along since me. He is exciting, and most of all he is a nice respectful person who will be a world champion. I would love to fight him in NYC. He would bring out the best in me. Imagine what the atmosphere in MSG would be like with all my Dominican fans and all his Irish fans.  That would be exciting they would need extra security” . . .

DIAZ-SIM II: Main Events has won the purse bid to promote the rematch between WBA World Lightweight Champion Juan Diaz (29-0, 14 KO’s) and WBA #1 mandatory challenger Lakva Sim (21-4-1, 18 KO’s).  Diaz defeated Sim on July 17, 2004 to win the WBA title . . . Main Events plans to stage the bout on the Mosley-Vargas II fight card on July 15 . . .