Three unbeaten boxers headline FedExForum card DiBella's HBO event built to be affordable
By Ron Higgins
Boxing promoter Lou DiBella's head and stomach have driven him to Memphis again.
Unbeaten boxers Andre Berto, Chazz Witherspoon and Rayonta Whitfield headline an HBO "Boxing After Dark" tripleheader on June 21 in FedExForum. The eight-bout card is presented by New York-based DiBella Entertainment in association with Memphis-based Prize Fight Boxing.
Berto, the unbeaten NABF welterweight champion at 21-0 with 18 knockouts, faces Miguel Angel Rodriguez (29-2, 23 KOs) in a 12-round WBC title elimination bout between that organizations' No. 1 and No. 2 ranked contenders. In the next few weeks, it's likely the WBC will revise the fight to being an interim world title bout.
Witherspoon, an unbeaten heavyweight (23-0, 15 KO's) who's ranked third nationally by the USBA, will slug it out with Chris Areola, who's also unbeaten (23-0, 21 KOs) and ranked No. 6 in the world by the IBF. The opponent for Whitfield, 21-0 with 10 KOs as the NABO flyweight champion and ranked No. 1 in the world by the WBO, hasn't been finalized.
The complete card will be announced later this week at a press conference in
FedExForum.
DiBella originally had the fight set in New York, but staging it there was cost prohibitive. So he turned to Memphis, where he has teamed once more with tireless promoter Brian Young of Prize Fight Boxing. DiBella and Young staged FedExForum cards the last two years with former middleweight world champ Jermain Taylor of Little Rock as the main attraction.
"Memphis is a great place to do an event, and I do need my barbecue fix," DiBella said. "The Rendezvous already has my name on it for one night, and I'll be doing my circle of barbecue for a week."
The one thing DiBella learned from his previous experiences in Memphis -- besides the difference between wet and dry ribs -- is the ticket price ceiling of the Memphis sports fan.
That's why DiBella and Young have priced tickets from a mere $25 to $100 (for a ringside seat). All seats will be on the floor and the lower bowl of the arena, and Young said 70 percent of the tickets will be $50 or less. Tickets will likely go on sale Friday or Saturday.
"The economy is terrible right now," DiBella said. "But we've gotten a good deal with the FedExForum, and they've allowed us to make this a very affordable fight. I know Memphis isn't Las Vegas and isn't a casino town, but Memphis is a great place to do an event. This (fight) is a way for me to come back to Memphis and price a fight to where even the ringside seats are affordable for regular folk to see some of the best in boxing."
Four years ago, Berto, Witherspoon and Whitfield were chasing Olympic dreams at the U.S. Olympic boxing trials in Tunica. That's why it will be unique to have them on the same card in the three featured fights.
Berto last fought in September, scoring an 11th-round knockout of David Estrada in Atlantic City. The victory gave Berto the NABF welterweight championship and made him the No. 1 contender in the WBC and IBF, just ahead of Rodriguez.
June's fight against Rodriguez will be Berto's third in FedExForum. His last appearance in May 2006, on the Jermain Taylor-Cory Spinks undercard, ended with his seventh-round TKO of Martinus Clay.
"Rodriguez is a real knockout puncher, so Berto has to be careful," DiBella said.
The Areola-Witherspoon fight is scheduled for 12 rounds, but Young said it won't last that long.
"They are both headhunters, and they are the two best American heavyweights out there, America's best hopes to get the title back," Young said. "Right now, the Russians are dominating."
Young said Whitfield's bout is a stepping stone to bigger and better things.
"He's very close to fighting for a world title," said Young, who's Whitfield's promoter. "He has this one more test to pass in June, then he could get the world title fight, possibly in the fall. This is the biggest fight of his life so far."
Young is excited about the diversity of talent on the card and the ticket prices.
"We've made the tickets very affordable, so there's no excuse why people can't come out and watch world class fighters on an HBO-televised card," said Young, who is bringing a televised world title fight to Memphis for the seventh straight year.
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Williams (37-1, 27 KO), born in Aiken, SC, living in Augusta, GA, and training in Washington, DC, started his World Championship rein in 2007 by defeating Antonio Margarito for his Welterweight Championship. Not finding additional willing challenges at welterweight, Williams moved to super welterweight and beat then-champion Verno Phillips. Once again saddled without a line of waiting challengers, Williams moved up again, to middleweight, to challenge two-time world champion “Winky” Wright. Williams thoroughly defeated Wright to establish himself as a modern day Henry Armstrong, willing to take on the toughest challenges in any weight-class. The three-time world champion had planned to battle WBC/WBO middleweight world champion Kelly Pavlik next, but unfortunately for Williams, twice those bouts were cancelled when Pavlik pulled out.
