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Shumenov Defends Belt June 2
WORLD CHAMPION BEIBUT SHUMENOV DEVELOPING INTERNATIONAL STAR APPEAL
SHUMENOV TO FACE ENRIQUE ORNELAS AT HARD ROCK HOTEL & CASINO IN LAS VEGAS ON JUNE 2 LIVE ON FOX SPORTS NET AND FOX DEPORTES WITH FUEL TV TO AIR ON DELAYED BASIS
LAS VEGAS (May 17, 2012) – Unable to secure a unification title fight against the other 175-pound world champions, World Boxing Association (WBA) Light Heavyweight World Champion Beibut Shumenov returns on June 2 to make his fourth title defense against former super middleweight world title challenger Enrique Ornelas (33-7, 21 KO's) at The Joint at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, Nev. in a fight that will be televised live on FOX Sports Net and FIX Deportes and will be televised on a delayed basis on FUEL TV.
Shumenov vs. Ornelas is promoted by Golden Boy Promotions and KZ Event Productions and sponsored by Corona and DeWalt Tools. The FOX Sports Net and FOX Deportes bilingual simulcast will air live at 10:00 p.m. ET/7:00 p.m. PT. FUEL TV will rebroadcast the fight on Sunday, July 1, at 12:00 p.m. ET/9:00 a.m. PT.
Tickets, priced at $100, $60, $30, $25, along with a limited number of VIP suite seats priced at $125, may be purchased at the Hard Rock Hotel Box Office, all Ticketmaster locations, online at www.ticketmaster.com or by phone at (800) 745-3000.
“I'm looking forward to defending my world title belt, especially on a nationally televised show once again,” Shumenov said from his Las Vegas home.”
A unique boxing world champion, at least in terms of his background, Shumenov has growing international appeal. The chiseled 2008 Kazakhstan Olympian is a lawyer and boxing promoter who, along with his brother Chingis Shumenov, owns and operates KZ Event Productions out of Las Vegas.
Two-and-a-half years ago, also at The Joint at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, Shumenov captured the WBA World Title in just his 10th professional bout with a 12-round unanimous decision victory over former World Champion Gabriel Campillo. The win established a new record for a fighter winning a major light heavyweight world championship in the fewest professional fights.
Shumenov was scheduled for a unification fight on Jan. 8, 2011 against World Boxing Organization (WBO) World Champion Juergen Braehmer in Shymkent, Kazakhstan, but Braehner pulled out of the fight just a few days prior to the scheduled event. To avoid cancelling the show in the capital city of his native country, Shumenov fought former World Champion William Joppy, who was slated to face another fighter on the same card.
Since capturing his WBA World title belt, Shumenov has successfully defended against undefeated, mandatory challenger Vyacheslav Uzelkov (DEC 12), Joppy (KO 6) and most recently Danny Santiago (TKO 9) this past July.The 28-year-old Shumenov has defeated four world champions – Campillo, Byron Mitchell, Joppy and Montell Griffin – as well as former world title challengers Epifanio Mendoza, Uzelkov and Santiago in only 13 professional bouts.
“My goal has always been and remains to fight the best and unify the world light heavyweight title.” Shumenov noted. “To do that I need to keep practicing and improving with each and every fight. Someday, I hope one of the other world champions will put his belt on the line against mine.Until then, though, I am only focused on defending my world title belt against the toughest possible challengers like Ornelas.”
Some present and former world champions have made overtures about fighting Shumenov, but they have demanded that the fight be held in their respective hometowns. To his credit, Shumenov hasn't made a Kazakhstan showdown a mandatory demand, despite attracting more than 30,000 fans there for a fight against Griffin in 2008.
“All fighters dream of fighting in the boxing capital of the world, Las Vegas,” Shumenov remarked. “I'd love to fight again in Kazakhstan and intend to do that again someday, but Las Vegas is a perfect, neutral site.”
Hall of Fame promoter Don Chargin, who serves as Shumenov's advisor, has been frustrated by biased media reports about major fights for Shumenov. “I had discussions with representatives for a title fight with (Jean) Pascal and unification with (Nathan) Cleverly,” Chargin explained. “They wanted to fight in Canada and England, but we preferred Las Vegas or Kazakhstan.Beibut's the world champion and I didn't believe those options to fight in Canada or England were in his best interest. Discussions never got any further because neither of them were really serious about fighting us. Meanwhile, time had passed. Beibut's layoff was no fault of his own; he wanted to fight all along and patiently waited. Making either of those fights, though, was out of his control. If things go right June 2, we'll try again to make a unification fight.”
Shumenov understands that, first, he has to get past a tough, hungry challenger in Guanajuato, Mexico's Ornelas, who has moved up to the light heavyweight division after an impressive run at 168 pounds, where he owned the NABF title and proved to be a strong challenger for Robert Stieglitz' WBO title in 2010.
For more information on Golden Boy Promotions, visit www.goldenboypromotions.com, follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/GoldenBoyBoxing or visit us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/GoldenBoyBoxing.
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2015 Fight of the Year – Francisco Vargas vs Takashi Miura
The WBC World Super Featherweight title bout between Francisco Vargas and Takashi Miura came on one of the biggest boxing stages of 2015, as the bout served as the HBO pay-per-view’s co-main event on November 21st, in support of Miguel Cotto vs Saul Alvarez.
Miura entered the fight with a (29-2-2) record and he was making the fifth defense of his world title, while Vargas entered the fight with an undefeated mark of (22-0-1) in what was his first world title fight. Both men had a reputation for all-out fighting, with Miura especially earning high praise for his title defense in Mexico where he defeated Sergio Thompson in a fiercely contested battle.
The fight started out hotly contested, and the intensity never let up. Vargas seemed to win the first two rounds, but by the fourth round, Miura seemed to pull ahead, scoring a knock-down and fighting with a lot of confidence. After brawling the first four rounds, Miura appeared to settle into a more technical approach. Rounds 5 and 6 saw the pendulum swing back towards Vargas, as he withstood Miura’s rush to open the fifth round and the sixth round saw both men exchanging hard punches.
The big swinging continued, and though Vargas likely edged Miura in rounds 5 and 6, Vargas’ face was cut in at least two spots and Miura started to assert himself again in rounds 7 and 8. Miura was beginning to grow in confidence while it appeared that Vargas was beginning to slow down, and Miura appeared to hurt Vargas at the end of the 8th round.
Vargas turned the tide again at the start of the ninth round, scoring a knock down with an uppercut and a straight right hand that took Miura’s legs and sent him to the canvas. Purely on instinct, Miura got back up and continued to fight, but Vargas was landing frequently and with force. Referee Tony Weeks stepped in to stop the fight at the halfway point of round 9 as Miura was sustaining a barrage of punches.
Miura still had a minute and a half to survive if he was going to get out of the round, and it was clear that he was not going to stop fighting.
A back and forth battle of wills between two world championship level fighters, Takashi Miura versus “El Bandido” Vargas wins the 2015 Fight of the Year.
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Jan 9 in Germany – Feigenbutz and De Carolis To Settle Score
This coming Saturday, January 9th, the stage is set at the Baden Arena in Offenburg, Germany for a re-match between Vincent Feigenbutz and Giovanni De Carolis. The highly anticipated re-match is set to air on SAT.1 in Germany, and Feigenbutz will once again be defending his GBU and interim WBA World titles at Super Middleweight.
The first meeting between the two was less than three months ago, on October 17th and that meeting saw Feigenbutz controversially edge De Carolis on the judge’s cards by scores of (115-113, 114-113 and 115-113). De Carolis scored a flash knock down in the opening round, and he appeared to outbox Feigenbutz in the early going, but the 20 year old German champion came on in the later rounds.
The first bout is described as one of the most crowd-pleasing bouts of the year in Germany, and De Carolis and many observers felt that the Italian had done enough to win.
De Carolis told German language website RAN.DE that he was more prepared for the re-match, and that due to the arrogance Feigenbutz displayed in the aftermath of the first fight, he was confident that he had won over some of the audience. Though De Carolis fell short of predicting victory, he promised a re-vamped strategy tailored to what he has learned about Feigenbutz, whom he termed immature and inexperienced.
The stage is set for Feigenbutz vs De Carolis 2, this Saturday January 9th in Offenburg, Germany. If you can get to the live event do it, if not you have SAT.1 in Germany airing the fights, and The Boxing Channel right back here for full results.
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2015 Knock Out of the Year – Saul Alvarez KO’s James Kirkland
On May 9th of 2015, Saul “Canelo” Alvarez delivered a resonant knock-out of James Kirkland on HBO that wins the 2015 KO of the Year.
The knock-out itself came in the third round, after slightly more than two minutes of action. The end came when Alvarez delivered a single, big right hand that caught Kirkland on the jaw and left him flat on his back after spinning to the canvas.Alvarez was clearly the big star heading into the fight. The fight was telecast by HBO for free just one week after the controversial and disappointing Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao fight, and Alvarez was under pressure to deliver the type of finish that people were going to talk about. Kirkland was happy to oblige Alvarez, taking it right to Alvarez from the start. Kirkland’s aggression saw him appear to land blows that troubled the young Mexican in the early going. Alvarez played good defense, and he floored Kirkland in the first round, displaying his power and his technique in knocking down an aggressive opponent.
However, Kirkland kept coming at Alvarez and the fight entered the third round with both men working hard and the feeling that the fight would not go the distance. Kirkland continued to move forward, keeping “Canelo” against the ropes and scoring points with a barrage of punches while looking for an opening.
At around the two minute mark, Alvarez landed an uppercut that sent Kirkland to the canvas again. Kirkland got up, but it was clear that he did not have his legs under him. Kirkland was going to try to survive the round, but Alvarez had an opportunity to close out the fight. The question was would he take it?
Alvarez closed in on Kirkland, putting his opponent’s back to the ropes. Kirkland was hurt, but he was still dangerous, pawing with punches and loading up for one big shot.
But it was the big shot “Canelo” threw that ended the night. Kirkland never saw it coming, as he was loading up with a huge right hand of his own. The right Alvarez threw cracked Kirkland in the jaw, and his eyes went blank. His big right hand whizzed harmlessly over the head of a ducking Alvarez, providing the momentum for the spin that left Kirkland prone on the canvas.
Saul “Canelo” Alvarez went on to defeat Miguel Cotto in his second fight of 2015 and he is clearly one of boxing’s biggest stars heading into 2016. On May 9th Alvarez added another reel to his highlight film when he knocked out James Kirkland with the 2015 “Knock Out of the Year”.
Photo by naoki fukuda
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