WBO MIDDLEWEIGHT CHAMPION PETER QUILLIN and FORMER CHAMP & SHOWTIME ANALYST PAULIE MALIGNAGGI ASSESS UNDEFEATED PROSPECT HUGO CENTENO, JR.

“…I have to be worried that one day that he can fight for my belt.” – Peter Quillin

Centeno Faces Fellow Unbeaten Gerardo Ibarra

In ShoBox: The New Generation Main Event

This Friday, June 6, LIVE on SHOWTIME at 10 p.m. ET/PT

NEW YORK (June 5, 2014) – Undefeated middleweight prospect Hugo Centeno Jr., faces unbeaten, late-replacement Gerardo Ibarra this Friday, June 6, in the ShoBox: The New Generation ( 10 p.m. ET/PT on SHOWTIME^®) main event, but he’s already received the stamp of approval from stablemates Peter Quillin and Paulie Malignaggi.

“He’s very confident and talented as a contender,” said the undefeated Quillin, the WBO Middleweight World Champion. “He has that mentality to become a champ and he comes and brings it every time I spar with him. He’s the type of guy where I have to be worried that one day that he can fight for my belt.”

Centeno (20-0, 11 KOs), like Quillin and Malignaggi, is trained by Eric Brown at Wild Card Gym in Los Angeles. He sparred with Quillin prior to his bout with Winky Wright, his first world title fight against Hassan N’Dam N’Jikam and prior to the Fernando Guerrero bout.

“He helped me when a lot of guys didn’t want to spar with me and helped give me the work that I needed to become a champ,” Quillin said. “He gave me great work. He’s a very talent prospect and, more than that, he has the whole “Hugo Boss” persona going for him. You don’t see many guys at that level like that. He’s building his name and putting himself out there.”

Malignaggi, a SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING analyst with a keen and experienced eye for the sweet science, agrees. He has worked with Centeno in the gym and has first-hand knowledge of the prospect’s skill set.

“He’s a solid prospect with a mature attitude and a good work ethic,” Malignaggi said. “He’s

a good fundamental boxer. It will be interesting to see his development as he faces tougher competition.”

Centeno, of Oxnard, Calif., is currently sparring with WBO Light Welterweight Champion Ruslan Provodnikov. Centenohas the tough task of facing a late-replacement in his return to ShoBoxthis Friday. His original opponent, Domonique Dolton, suffered a hand injury in training and was forced to withdraw from the 10-round bout.

Dolton was replaced by Ibarra (14-0, 8 KOs), an opponent with an identical record and one that Centeno will have little more than one week to prepare for.

“I think the last minute replacements are the most dangerous,” Quillin said. “You don’t know much about them and they can throw you off your game. You train for one guy during your entire training camp and then you have a completely different fighter in there with you. It’s extremely dangerous.”

In the ShoBox co-feature, New York City phenom Eddie “E Boy” Gomez (16-0, 10 KOs) faces Francisco Santana ( 19-3-1, 7 KOs) of Santa Barbara, Calif., in a 10-round junior middleweight match.

Bronx, NY (June 3, 2014). As he winds down training in Atlanta, Georgia

for his upcoming world title defense, WBO Junior Middleweight World

Champion Demetrius Andrade was visited by FOX-TV for

a terrific news piece.

Along with speaking about his title defense against top rated contender,

England’s Brian Rose, Andrade also discussed his desire to face boxing’s

Pound-For-Pound King, Floyd Mayweather in an upcoming fight.

The Andrade/Rose clash, presented by Joe DeGuardia’s Star Boxing

will take place title at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York

on Saturday, June 14 and LIVE on HBO.

***Tommy Brooks: This time next year Price will be ready for Klitschko***

Tommy Brooks knows a thing or two about heavyweights. The legendary American coach has trained a who’s who of heavyweight greats including Evander Holyfield, Mike Tyson and the Klitschko brothers.

Brooks’ latest charge is British heavyweight star David Price (17-2, 15 KOs). Brooks has been overseeing the rebuilding process for the Olympic Bronze medalist, following back-to-back defeats to Tony Thompson.

The rebuilding process continues for Price when he takes on the hard-hitting Yaroslav Zavorotnyi (16-6, 14 KOs) at the Sport and Congress Center in Schwerin, Germany on Saturday, June 7th. Ahead of Saturday night’s action Brooks offers his perspective on Price’s development.

‘’He is coming on like gangbusters, baby!’’ said Brooks. ‘’He has a real bright future ahead of him. I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t think he could make it all the way to the top.

‘’His losses to Thompson came because of inexperience. He didn’t know what to do. When he got dropped he jumped straight up. When he had Thompson hurt he ran right at him, you’ve got to set it up.

‘’But experience doesn’t fall out of the sky. He needs to be shown. That’s why I am here, to teach him, so that if he is in that situation again he knows what he has to do.

‘’You can tell he is really starting to understand what I am showing him. If he keeps listening to what I am saying, this time next year he will be ready for Vladimir (Klitschko).‘’

Kalle Sauerland, Tommy Brooks, David Price, Franny Smith
Photo Credit: Photo Wende

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