McBride predicting victory on the 29th; ‘I’m the champ!’ Confident McBride predicting victory against undefeated Wach on the 29th

The man who ended Mike Tyson’s reign atop the heavyweight division six years ago is threatening to put an end to another promising career before it has a chance to blossom.

Clones, Ireland veteran Kevin McBride (35-9-1, 29 KOs) might be considered the heavy underdog on Friday, July 29th, 2011 at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn., but he’s predicting another major upset against undefeated Polish heavyweight Mariusz Wach (24-0, 12 KOs) in the main event of “Heat Wave,” presented by Jimmy Burchfield’s Classic Entertainment & Sports in association with Global Boxing Promotions.

The two are fighting in the 12-round main event for the vacant World Boxing Council (WBC) International heavyweight title, a belt once held by former world champions John Ruiz, David Tua, Oleg Maskaev and Oliver McCall, along with current heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko.

“I’m here to win,” McBride said Thursday at the Global Boxing Gym during the third leg of CES’ east-coast publicity tour. “God bless him – he’s undefeated and he has 24 wins, but I’m the champ. I’ve got more knockouts than he has wins.

“He better watch out. I know I’m still the underdog like I was against Tyson, but I feel I have the punch that can be the equalizer against anyone in the world.”

McBride is so confident he’ll win the title, he’s even gone as far as to plan his next move.

“I’m saving the fireworks for the 29th,” he said. “After I beat him, I’d like to fight [undefeated prospect] Tyson Fury and then take my shot at a world title.”

Even after beating Tyson in 2005, McBride never got a shot at world title before retiring two years later. Six months after his comeback fight in October of 2010, McBride fought former cruiserweight champion Tomasz Adamek for the North American Boxing Organization (NABO) and International Boxing Federation (IBF) International heavyweight titles, but lost a unanimous 12-round decision.

“He got tired of running around the ring because Adamek wouldn’t fight him!” Burchfield said.

A win over Wach on the 29th would bring McBride one step closer to a shot at that elusive world title.

“He’s worked real hard,” said McBride’s manager, Jerry Quint. “He’s putting his heart and soul into this fight.”

For Wach, the stakes are equally high; with a perfect 24-0 record, he’s now ranked 13th in the WBC and is on the cusp of a major title fight if he can get past McBride next Friday.

“This fight means a lot to me. It can open a lot of doors, or those doors could be closed,” Wach said. “I’ve spent the past three months putting in endless hours training. The plan is in place; I just hope he doesn’t break my plans for the future.”

“This is what boxing needs,” Burchfield added. “Someone is going to get knocked out. There is no doubt about that.”

Wach, who last fought on Feb. 19 in a knockout win over Jonathan Haggler, has benefited from the tutelage of trainers Juan and Carlos De Leon, who are known throughout boxing for their work with undefeated heavyweight “Baby” Joe Mesi.

“He’s a lot like Mesi,” Carlos De Leon said. “I feel as though I have a future heavyweight champion on my hands.”

Next week’s WBC International heavyweight title bout between Wach and McBride is one of two title fights at Mohegan Sun; Former world-title challenger Elvin Ayala (23-5-1, 11 KOs) of New Haven, Conn., will face Israel “Pito” Cardona (36-10, 28 KOs) of Hartford for the vacant WBC United States National Boxing Council (USNBC) middleweight title, a title once held by former world champions Paul “The Punisher” Williams and Lamont Peterson.

The undercard includes New Haven welterweight Edwin Soto (6-0-1, 2 KOs) battling Michael Denby (3-11-4, 2 KOs) of Felton, Del.; and undefeated heavyweight Artur Spzilka of Poland (5-0, 3 KOs) facing Philadelphia’s David Williams (6-4-1, 2 KOs). Cruiserweight Jose Torres of Springfield, Mass., will make his debut against fellow newcomer Pedro Rivera of Southbridge, Mass.; super middleweight Greg McCoy (2-3-1, 1 KO) of New Haven will fight in a separate four-round bout against Worcester’s Ralph Johnson (0-1); and super middleweight Keith Kozlin (6-2, 4 KOs) of Warwick, R.I., will face Woonsocket’s Reynaldo Rodriguez (5-2, 2 KOs) in a six-round intrastate showdown. The special attraction on July 29th will be an eight-round light middleweight bout featuring Worcester, Mass., veteran and former three-time world champion Jose Antonio Rivera (40-6-1, 24 KOs) against Paul Mpendo (7-7-4, 3 KOs) of Oregon. Junior welterweight Agustine Mauras (1-0, 1 KO) of Lawrence, Mass., will face rival Johnathan Vazquez (4-0, 3 KOs) of New Bedford, Mass., in a rematch of their amateur bout three years ago. All fights and fighters are subject to change.

♔EL Boxing Empress & MMA Princess♔, See you at the Fights and Thank You for your time.EL Boxing Empress Online @ Twitter http://www.twitter.com/Keishamorrisey ©®™ 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 All photos other than specified by "EL Boxing Empress & MMA Princess" Keisha Morrisey, for ♔Empire Morrisey Photo-Studios♔, KCKMT for Bloodline Boxing Communications Entertainment and ★Starlite Boxing's Sweetscience Magnews-Online Publication all rights reserved.

Against all odds Former three-time champion Jose Antonio Rivera continues improbable comeback July 29th

Ex-champ Rivera joins lineup at Mohegan‏; After winning close to 40 fights in 15 years and capturing three world titles, Jose Antonio Rivera suddenly reached a point in his career he never thought he’d see three decades ago when he first put on a pair of gloves at 8 years old.

“Boxing wasn’t fun anymore,” said the former three-time world champion from Worcester, Mass.

Weighed down by personal problems outside of the ring, Rivera hit the wall in 2007 when he lost his World Boxing Association (WBA) light middleweight title to Travis Simms. He announced his retirement shortly thereafter, only to attempt a brief comeback 10 months later that left him with an injured hand.

This time, it appeared Rivera (40-6-1, 24 KOs) was done for good, but the former welterweight and light middleweight title-holder proved you can’t keep a champion down for long, making his second comeback in May with a unanimous decision win over Luis Maysonet at the Palladium in Worcester.

Only three months removed from his 38th birthday, Rivera now has his sights set on a much bigger prize as he prepares to continue his comeback Friday, July 29th, 2011 on the undercard of Jimmy Burchfield’s Classic Entertainment & Sports’ “Heat Wave” show at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn.

Rivera will fight in a special eight-round light middleweight attraction on a show that features two championship bouts – a 12-round showdown between Kevin McBride (35-9-1, 29 KOs) and Mariusz Wach (24-0, 12 KOs) for the vacant World Boxing Council (WBC) International heavyweight title, and a 10-round intrastate battle between Elvin Ayala (23-5-1, 11 KOs) of New Haven, Conn., and rival Israel “Pito” Cardona (36-10, 28 KOs) of Hartford for the vacant WBC United States National Boxing Council (USNBC) middleweight title.

“I’m trying to push myself and test myself to see how much I have left in the tank,” said Rivera, who was born in Philadelphia and also lived in Puerto Rico before moving to Worcester as a teenager. “My goal is to get back into world-championship form.

“I want to ease my way into a couple of fights this year and by next year hopefully I’ll be knocking on the door of another big fight. … You’re only as old as you feel.”

Asked how old he feels, Rivera said, “Twenty-eight, both mentally and physically.”

How he feels mentally is arguably more important right now than how Rivera feels physically, especially considering the internal problems that derailed his career four years ago. His first comeback attempt in 2008 ended with a win over Clarence Taylor, but Rivera admits he still would’ve walked away again even without the subsequent hand injury because his “mind wasn’t right.”

“The injury was just the icing on the cake,” he said. “That gave me a more convenient excuse to retire, but the truth is I was still dealing with a lot of personal stuff, too.”

The idea of returning to the ring a second time was always in the back of his mind during his retirement phase, but Rivera didn’t pull the trigger until he knew he was mentally ready.

“I had to type up all the loose ends in my life,” he said. “As soon as everything was good, I said to myself, ‘OK, now is the time.’ Being mentally prepared is the key. I don’t care how strong you are. You could be a beast in that ring, but if you’re not mentally ready, then it all goes out the window.

“That’s what got me to take some time off. Everything going on in my life was affecting my performance and my career.”

On May 20th at the Palladium, Rivera proved he made the right decision with a convincing win over Maysonet, a Hartford native who entered the bout with 32 wins, including 25 by knockout. The former world champion struggled early, but settled into a groove later in the fight after solving Maysonet’s game plan. Rivera captured an eight-round unanimous decision, 79-73, on all three scorecards.

“I didn’t expect him to try to outbox me,” Rivera said. “He seemed hesitant to move inside. We trained for a brawl, and I had to adjust midway through the fight. His style kind of threw me off a little. By the time I warmed up in the sixth, seventh and eighth rounds, I was unloading on him.

“To tell you the truth, it went by so quickly. When I went back to my corner after the eighth round, the referee came to me and said the fight was over. I asked if he had quit and the referee said, ‘No, that’s eight rounds!’”

Rivera’s next bout on July 29th will go a long way toward determining whether his dream of winning a fourth world title – he captured the WBA light middleweight and welterweight titles, in addition to the International Boxing Organization (IBO) welterweight title – is a realistic premise or an improbable fantasy. One thing that’s certain is Rivera views his age as an advantage, not a roadblock, as he aims to follow in the footsteps of legends George Foreman and Bernard Hopkins, who beat the odds to win world titles at the ages of 45 and 46, respectively (Hopkins accomplished the feat by beating Jean Pascal the night after Rivera’s comeback win over Maysonet).

“A lot of people knock it, and that’s fine because it just gives me more motivation, but the great thing about being an older fighter is I bring a lot of experience to the ring,” Rivera said. “I know my body. Conditioning has always been the key to my success, and it’s one of the main reasons I became champion, but some of my losses were a result of overtraining when I was younger; I left it all in the gym. The things I took for granted back then are things I no longer take for granted anymore. That’s what makes it enjoyable.”

Rivera’s having fun again, and that could be bad news for the elite fighters in the 154-pound division.

“I just want another chance at a title fight, whether it’s the WBC, WBA or IBO – any of them,” Rivera said. “This is a great opportunity for me, and I’m excited to be on this card. I’ve always wanted to fight at Mohegan Sun and now I’ll have that chance. I’m just thankful Burchfield was able to make it happen.”

The undercard of “Heat Wave” features Pawtucket, R.I., middleweight Thomas Falowo (3-0, 3 KOs) facing Russ Niggemyer (2-2, 2 KOs) of Hilliard, Ohio; New Haven welterweight Edwin Soto (6-0-1, 2 KOs) battling Jose Duran (6-5-2, 3 KOs) of Sarasota, Fla.; undefeated heavyweight Artur Spzilka of Poland (5-0, 3 KOs) facing Philadelphia’s David Williams (6-4-1, 2 KOs), and New Bedford, Mass., welterweight Johnathan Vazquez (4-0, 3 KOs) taking on Agustine Maurus of Lawrence, Mass., in Maurus’ debut. Cruiserweight Jose Torres of Springfield, Mass., will make his debut; super middleweight Greg McCoy (2-3-1, 1 KO) of New Haven will fight in a separate four-round bout; and super middleweight Keith Kozlin (6-2, 4 KOs) of Warwick, R.I., will face Woonsocket’s Reynaldo Rodriguez (5-2, 2 KOs) in a six-round intrastate showdown. Also, former “The Contender” reality television star Jeff Fraza (17-3, 10 KOs) of Haverhill, Mass., will face Pawtucket, R.I., light middleweight Eddie Soto (12-2, 4 KOs) in a six-round bout. All fights and fighters are subject to change.

♔EL Boxing Empress & MMA Princess♔, See you at the Fights and Thank You for your time.EL Boxing Empress Online @ Twitter http://www.twitter.com/Keishamorrisey ©®™ 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 All photos other than specified by "EL Boxing Empress & MMA Princess" Keisha Morrisey, for ♔Empire Morrisey Photo-Studios♔, KCKMT for Bloodline Boxing Communications Entertainment and ★Starlite Boxing's Sweetscience Magnews-Online Publication all rights reserved.

Feel the burn CES kicks off warm-weather season with hottest show of the year

Summertime boxing is about to hit record-setting temperatures as Jimmy Burchfield’s Classic Entertainment & Sports unleashes its latest major-league fight card in the state of Connecticut.

Red-hot New Haven super middleweight Elvin Ayala (23-5-1, 11 KOs), a perfect 3-0 in 2011, and undefeated Polish heavyweight Mariusz Wach (24-0, 12 KOs), now fighting out of Bergen, N.J., return to the ring Friday, July 29, 2011 for “Heat Wave” at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville.

Ayala will star in the main event of “Heat Wave” as he searches for his fourth consecutive victory since his loss to David Lemieux in June of 2010. Since signing with CES, Ayala is 3-0 this year with back-to-back knockout victories over Joe Gardner (April 1) and George Armenta (May 6). Ayala’s bout on July 29 will be his first at Mohegan Sun since he defeated Mustafah Johnson by unanimous decision on Feb. 4, the first of Ayala’s three consecutive wins.

The new year has provided a welcomed change for Ayala both in and outside the ring. Upon signing with CES, the former world-title challenger also joined forces with a new management team and has since hired Peter Manfredo Sr. – the father of former International Boxing Organization (IBO) middleweight champion and “The Contender” reality television star Peter Manfredo Jr. – as his head trainer. Manfredo’s tutelage paid dividends on May 6 as a sharper, stronger Ayala stopped Armenta in four rounds.

For Wach, a native of Krakow, Poland, July 29 will be his Mohegan Sun debut and just his seventh fight in the United States. The 6-foot-7 “Polish Giant” recently signed a multi-year promotional agreement with CES in conjunction with New Jersey-based Global Boxing Promotions and will star in the 10-round co-feature of “Heat Wave.”

An alternate on Poland’s 2004 Olympic boxing team, Wach possesses the overwhelming size and knockout power to become a serious contender amongst the Klitschko brothers; current International Boxing Federation (IBF), World Boxing Organization (WBO) and IBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko enters his July 2 showdown against David Haye with a 55-3 record and 49 knockouts, while his brother, defending World Boxing Council (WBC) champion Vitali Klitschko is 42-2 with 39 knockouts.

Wach hasn’t fought since Feb. 19 in Newark, N.J., when he knocked out Jonathan Haggler in the third round to capture the WBC Baltic heavyweight title. Among Wach’s other notable wins are a fourth-round knockout win over Galen Brown on Nov. 12, 2010 in Lincoln, R.I., and a seventh-round TKO win over Eric Boose in July of 2008 on ESPN’s “Friday Night Fights” at the Aragon Ballroom in Chicago.

“Ayala and Wach provide the star power befitting of a summertime show of this caliber,” Burchfield said. “Elvin is as steady as they come. Now that he finally has the right people in his corner, there’s no doubt we will bring him back to the top of his division, and this next fight will be a step in the right direction. This is a fighter who gave Arthur Abraham everything he could handle and has been more than willing to compete with any fighter at any given time. He has a superior management team, a veteran trainer and a world-class promoter on his side. The sky’s the limit.

“We’re equally excited about Mariusz. The heavyweight division has been thirsting for new blood for quite some time, and in order to compete with the big dogs in this elite weight class, you need power. The Klitschko brothers have combined for 88 knockouts. That’s the same kind of power Mariusz has in his arsenal, and I can’t wait to watch him put it to use on July 29.

“With Elvin and Mariusz at the top of what will be another star-studded lineup next month, this is a rare opportunity to catch two future champions on the same night.”

“Heat Wave” will also feature the return of CES’ next generation of rising stars, including recently-signed Pawtucket, R.I., middleweight Thomas Falowo (3-0, 3 KOs), who will put his perfect record on the line. New Haven’s best and brightest are also returning to action, most notably middleweight Ricky Dawson (4-0, 1 KO), super middleweight Greg McCoy (2-3, 1 KO) and welterweight Edwin Soto (6-0-1, 2 KOs) each fighting in separate four-round bouts. More details are soon to follow. All fights and fighters are subject to change.

EL Boxing Empress See you at the Fights and Thank You for your time. EL Boxing Empress Online @ Twitter http://www.twitter.com/Keishamorrisey ©®™ 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 All photos other than specified by "EL Boxing Empress" Keisha Morrisey- Empire Morrisey Photo-Studios, KCKMT for Bloodline Boxing Communications Entertainment and Starlite Boxing's Sweetscience Magnews-Online Publication all rights reserved