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Devon Alexander-Randall Bailey Fight Sept. 8 in Vegas
DEVON ALEXANDER VS. RANDALL BAILEY WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP SHOWDOWN SET FOR SEPTEMBER 8 AT HARD ROCK HOTEL & CASINO IN LAS VEGAS
AJOSE OLUSEGUN AND LUCAS MATTHYSSE TO BATTLE FOR VACANT WBC INTERIM SUPER LIGHTWEIGHT BELT IN CO-FEATURE
SHOWTIME TO TELEVISE CHAMPIONSHIP DOUBLEHEADER LIVE
LOS ANGELES (August 15, 2012) – What do you get when you match up one of boxing’s best athletes and tacticians with a man considered to be the most devastating puncher in the sport today? A fight that can’t miss. That will be the case when former World Champion Devon Alexander “The Great” and IBF Welterweight World Champion Randall Bailey square off on Saturday, September 8,in a 12-round battle for Bailey’s title at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas.
There will be more championship action on September 8, as unbeaten Ajose Olusegun and Argentine power puncher Lucas Matthysse tangle for the vacant WBC Interim Super Lightweight crown.
Alexander vs. Bailey, a 12-round fight for Bailey’s IBF Welterweight World Title taking place Saturday, September 8 at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Las Vegas, is presented by Golden Boy Promotions in association with The Great Promotions and DiBella Entertainment and sponsored by Corona and AT&T. The SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING telecast will air live at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT (delayed on the West Coast) with Ajose Olusegun facing Lucas Matthysse for the vacant WBC Interim Super Lightweight title in the co-featured fight which is presented in association with Arano Box Promotions. Preliminary fights will air live on SHOWTIME EXTREME® beginning at 7:00 p.m. ET/PT (delayed on the West Coast).
Tickets, priced at $200, $100, $75, $50 and $25, along with a limited number of VIP suite seats priced at $150, go on sale on Friday, August 17 at noon PT and 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.
Devon Alexander “The Great” (23-1, 13 KO’s), no stranger to facing and beating powerful knockout artists as evidenced by his last two wins coming against Lucas Matthysse and Marcos Maidana, has the skill and will to baffle any opponent he faces. An eight-year professional who held both the WBC Super Lightweight and IBF Junior Welterweight World Titles before losing them via a controversial and close technical decision to Timothy Bradley in 2011, the proud 25-year-old St. Louis native has since reinvented himself at 147 pounds. After his big wins over two of Argentina’s best in Marcos Maidana (W10) and Lucas Matthysse (W 10), Alexander is looking forward to proving himself once again by beating Bailey and becoming a two-division world champion.
A veteran of more than 16 years in the professional game, Randall Bailey (43-7, 37 KO’s) has not slowed down a bit at age 37. In fact, if his recent one-punch knockout of previously unbeaten Mike Jones in June is any indication, he may be more powerful than ever. The Miami, Fla. resident has always had a gift for blasting out anyone who stood in his line of fire. Bailey utilized his trademark power to claim his first world title in 1999 when he knocked out Carlos Gonzalez for the WBO Junior Welterweight World Championship in just 41 seconds. In 2002, Bailey won a second title by knocking out Demetrio Ceballos, but his victory over Jones earlier this year for the IBF Welterweight crown, which extended his unbeaten streak to five in a row, may have been the sweetest win yet. Now, he looks to defend that title for the first time on September 8, in Las Vegas.
For a long time, boxing fans wondered if Nigeria-born Ajose Olusegun (30-0, 14 KO’s) would ever get his shot at a big fight. He was simply too risky for the big names to fight and the 32-year-old southpaw knew it. While awaiting his big shot, he did what all world-class competitors do-he kept fighting and kept winning, confident that his time would come. Now making his home in London, England, Olusegun is the British and Commonwealth Champion at 140 pounds, and after recent impressive wins over Colin Lynes and Ali Chebah, it’s clear that the 11-year professional has finally arrived. On September 8, he gets to prove that he belongs.
Perhaps the only man able to challenge Bailey for the unofficial title of “Most Feared Puncher” in boxing today, Trelew, Argentina’s Lucas Matthysse (31-2, 29 KO’s) has built his reputation with a ferocious attack that few can withstand. A longtime standout in his home country, Matthysse began making noise on the international scene with razor-thin split decision losses to former World Champions Alexander and Zab “Super” Judah that saw him drop both fighters during the course of each fight. In recent fights, Matthysse has left the judges out of it, most recently dispatching respected former World Champion Humberto “Zorrita” Soto in five rounds in June to earn his shot at the interim belt. Don’t expect Matthysse to let it get to the scorecards on September 8.
For more information, visit www.goldenboypromotions.com, http://Sports.SHO.com, follow us on Twitter at @GoldenBoyBoxing, @TheJointLV, @hardrockhotellv, @SHOsports, follow the conversation using #AlexanderBailey or become a fan on Facebook at www.facebook.com/GoldenBoyBoxing or www.facebook.com/ShoBoxing.
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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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