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Undercard Deets For Friday PBC Card in Chicago
FAN FAVORITES ROBERTO GARCIA & ARTUR SZPILKA SHINE AT UIC PAVILION IN CHICAGO ON FRIDAY, APRIL 24
PLUS, UNDEFEATED PROSPECTS & LOCAL FAVORITES ROUND OUT A FULL NIGHT OF UNDERCARD ACTION AS PREMIER BOXING CHAMPIONS ON SPIKE TAKES OVER CHICAGO
CHICAGO (April 20, 2015) – A slew of local favorites and exciting fighters come to UIC Pavilion in Chicago on Friday, April 24 as part of a stacked undercard topped by hard-punching Roberto “La Amenaza” Garcia (36-3, 23 KOs) battling James Stevenson (22-1, 15 KOs) in the first televised bout and heavyweight bruiser Artur Szpilka (17-1, 12 KOs) taking on Ty Cobb (18-6, 10 KOs).
These exciting undercard bouts will precede the Premier Boxing Champions on Spike doubleheader featuring Anthony “The Dog” Dirrell (27-0-1, 22 KOs) battling Badou Jack “The Ripper” (18-1, 12 KOs) and Daniel “Miracle Man” Jacobs (28-1, 25 KOs) taking on Caleb “Golden” Truax (25-1-2, 15 KOs) The televised action on Spike TV begins at 9 ET/8 CT.
Keith Tapia (13-0) will be showcased in an eight-round cruiserweight bout, Ramiro Carrillo (7-0, 4 KOs) takes on Ramon Guevara (10-23-2, 6 KOs) in four-rounds of welterweight action, Maciej Suiecki (19-0, 4 KOs)faces Daryl Cunningham (30-7, 11 KOs) in an eight-round middleweight fight and Semajay Thomas (5-0, 3 KOs) goes up against Jose Santiago (3-5, 3 KOs).
Remaining undercard fights will pit Alex Martin (7-0, 5 KOs) against Jonathan Garcia (4-12) in an eight-round welterweight bout, Ricky Edwards (5-0, 2 KOs) fighting Javier Garcia (6-8-1, 2 KOs) in six-rounds of junior welterweight action, Joe F. Quezada (5-0, 4 KOs) battling Edgardo Torres (2-3, 2 KOs) in a six-round lightweight attraction and Eddie Ramirez (7-0, 5 KOs) facing Mario Hermosillo (12-19-4, 2 KOs) in a six-round junior welterweight bout.
Tickets for the live event, which is co-promoted by Warriors Boxing and Mayweather Promotions, are priced at $151, $101, $51, and $31, not including applicable service charges, and are on sale now. To charge by phone with a major credit card, call Ticketmaster at (800) 745-3000 or UIC Pavilion Box Office at (312) 413-5740. Tickets are also available at www.ticketmaster.com or by visiting the UIC Pavilion Box Office (Thursday or Friday 9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.).
A veteran of the sport for nearly 15 years, Garcia is looking for his ninth consecutive victory when he fights at UIC Pavilion for the third time on April 24. Born in Mexico, but having moved to Weslaco, Texas at a young age, Garcia was able to pile up enough wins to eventually earn himself a shot at former world champion Antonio Margarito. While he lost that decision, Garcia has rebounded nicely on his curreny hot streak, which includes wins over Breidis Prescott and Victor Manuel Cayo. Garcia will take on the 32-year-old Stevenson out of Baltimore.
With only one loss to the undefeated Bryant Jennings on his record, the 26-year-old Szpilka will look to build on his most recent victory, a unanimous decision in Nov. 2014 over heavyweight star Tomas Adamek. Born in Wieliczka, Poland, he has made a name for himself in Chicago having fought there twice before and picking up knockout victories each time. He will be challenged by the 39-year-old Cobb, out of Wichita Falls, Texas.
An undefeated cruiserweight prospect, the 24-year-old Tapia turned pro in 2011 and has not lost since. Fighting out of Santurce, Puerto Rico, he will face the 32-year-old Williams who fights out of Jackson, Michigan.
Having fought four times before at UIC Pavilion, the 24-year-old Carrillo will hope to have the home crowd behind him when he goes for his eighth professional win on April 24. His opponent is the 31-year-old Guevara who was born in the Dominican Republic but fights out of Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Eager to make his U.S. debut on April 24, the 25-year-old Sulecki has never lost since turning pro in 2010. Fighting out of Warsaw, Poland he faces Daryl Cunningham out of Detroit.
A young undefeated prospect and just 22-years-old, Ramirez makes his fourth straight start at UIC Pavilion on April 24. He was a Chicago Golden Gloves champion and a National Golden Gloves runner-up. Born in Aurora, Illinois, Ramirez will face the 28-year-old Hermosillo out of Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico.
Another young, undefeated prospect, Edwards fights for the first time outside of his home state of New Jersey for the first time on April 24. The 24-year-old from Paterson will take on the 32-year-old Garcia out of San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Another staple of UIC Pavilion, all five of Quezada‘s pro victories have come at UIC Pavilion. A 25-year-old out of Alsip, Illinois, he will look to remain undefeated when he takes on the 28-year-old Torres from Vineland, New Jersey.
Making his fourth consecutive start at UIC Pavilion in his hometown of Chicago, the highly regarded Thomas will look to start 2015 with his sixth professional win. The 22-year-old was an accomplished amateur who was the 2011 USA Boxing National Champion. His next challenge is Santiago out of Bayamon, Puerto Rico
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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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