★Starlite★ Boxing's Sweetscience©®™

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Don King Boxing Card at Casino Miami Jai-Alai Featuring Miami’s Joey “Twinkle Fingers” Hernandez On Saturday, April 14

Don King Boxing Card at Casino Miami Jai-Alai Featuring Miami’s Joey “Twinkle Fingers” Hernandez
On Saturday, April 14

Part of Historic Miami Venue’s Grand Opening of $87-Million Expansion

Don King Productions will present the first boxing event at Casino Miami Jai-Alai on Saturday, April 14 to celebrate completion of their $87-million expansion. The card will be headlined by local favorite and World Boxing Council United States super welterweight champion Joey “Twinkle Fingers” Hernandez (20-1-1, 11 KOs) against Shakir “The Assassin” Ashanti (16-12, 4 KOs), from New Bern, S.C.

An international undercard with South Florida appeal will include Brazilian light heavyweight knockout artist Marcus “Happy” Oliveira (22-1-1, 22 KOs), from Sao Paulo, and Miami light heavyweight Azea “Haitian Hitman” Augustama (12-1, 7 KOs).

Reserved and general admission tickets priced from $10 to $75 are on sale now and can be purchased at or by calling toll free by phone at (866) 468-3399.

“I am very excited to be returning to Miami Jai-Alai with a great card to celebrate their expansion into full-fledged casino gaming,” promoter Don King said. “Dan Licciardi and everyone at Casino Miami Jai-Alai should be proud of their beautiful new multi-million dollar expansion.”

Miami Jai-Alai first opened in 1926 and has enjoyed a proud tradition in boxing since the 1960s. They earned the moniker “Mecca of Miami” in the sport after having staged numerous world championship matches—including events featured on both HBO and SHOWTIME. With construction complete, the venue now becomes Casino Miami Jai-Alai with new restaurants, bars and over 1,000 Las Vegas-style slot machines adjacent to the existing fronton where jai-alai continues to be presented live.

“Our official grand opening for the expansion will take place on Saturday,” Casino Miami Jai-Alai Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Dan Liccardi said. “We thought April 14 would be a great time to treat our customers to another Don King boxing card. It’s an exciting time for us, and boxing has been a part of what we do for decades, so we added it to our celebration lineup.”
♔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.

Girl’s Just Want To...Fight!

2012 seems to becoming quite a defining year for Women’s Boxing in the UK, not only will it be an Olympic sport for the first time at the London 2012 Olympics and the female pro boxing is beginning to take off here at long last, but there’s also a thriving female White Collar scene.

Photos and Report by Gianluca (Rio) Di Caro

A fair amount has been already been written on the Amateur and Pros, but not that much on the real grass roots scene, so with that in mind I spent a little time with a group of girls training at the legendary TRAD TKO Boxing Gym, in London’s East End, for a White Collar event that takes place at the Troxy in Limehouse this coming Friday.

Before we get to the Women, let’s backtrack to the beginning of the White Collar Boxing phenomenon , which first saw the light of day in 1988.

The whole sport came about after New York attorney Dr. Richard Novak challenged Dr. David Lawrence to a competitive boxing contest, not for money, but purely to test their newly developed boxing skills.

The contest took place at the World famous Gleason’s Gym in Brooklyn, New York, whilst there is no record of who had won, both gentlemen seemed content with the result and promptly went out to dinner to celebrate the birth of a new sport.

Word quickly spread and soon there were regular events taking place in the World financial districts, from London to New York and Sydney to Singapore it seems that every week there was at least one White Collar show taking place somewhere.

Ok, now let’s get back to date. This Friday’s event, titled ‘This Is It’, is promoted by the Bad Boy Promotions organisation, which coincidentally is run by female promoter Chrissy Morton.

As if to prove the popularity of White Collar boxing ‘This is It’ is crammed to the gills with fights, twenty three bouts in all, three of which are all female bouts. That’s quite impressive when you consider that the biggest of the pro boxing shows feature around fourteen bouts on the card.

Chrissy, who has been spearheading White Collar Boxing in the Capital makes no apologies for her desire to encourage more women to take up the sport.

“Myself being a Woman and my promoting a White Collar show I like to have the girls there as well.

It makes me feel good when the girls can go out and get stuck in as good as the men, that’s why I’m so pleased that Marianne (Marston) is now helping us, by training our girls as well as having two of her girls on the show.

Marianne’s a pro boxer and trains girls at the TRAD TKO, since she’s been helping the girls they have come along in leaps and bounds, I expect the girls fights to be some of the best of the night.

Hopefully one day in the future there will be enough girls boxing so that we can have a show on equal terms, with half the bouts being girls ones.”

Chrissy’s star female boxer is Tiffany Simons, a postal team leader who has had four fights to date and will be also fighting on the Troxy event..

“I used to do kick boxing when I was younger” explained Tiffany, “Then I stopped all kind of exercise and I got a bit fat and lazy.

I then decided I wanted to get into something and I saw the advertisement in the Metro for Bad Boy Promotions and that’s how it all started.”

Tiffany then spoke on what it was like to be one of those pioneering females taking part in a White Collar event, “The first fight was a little bit awkward actually, because there was only myself and another girl that were at the club.

Unfortunately she was a lot lighter than me so it was more of an exhibition than a proper fight.

It was good because you got to move around and experience being in a ring in front of a crowd, which was a good starting point.”

Being fully aware that both Amateur and Professional female boxers struggle to find opponents here, I wondered if it was the same for White Collar.

“As I said for the first fight it was just the two of us,” Tiffany said before continuing, “The second time there were a lot more girls.

I think because we took part in the first one it kind off promoted girls in boxing and then when we went back to the gym to continue training there was like twelve girls that joined, which was really good and meant that everybody got a fight and there was a lot more girls on the night.

Then it fluctuated, it sort of dropped off, but then we moved here and again we’ve got more girls as there was already a thriving girls class, and now we have more girls training than at any time previously, it’s really good.”

Tiffany then explained what it was like when she started training for her first fight.

“I know it’s hard for girls to get involved, but for myself it was quite easy because I’m quite determined. I must admit that the first time I went to the gym it was just all boys there, blokes should we say there, which did feel a bit awkward.

I kind of used to put myself in a corner out of the way and do my own thing and kind of keep my head down really, but everybody starts talking and because everybody was doing White Collar you get to realise that for a lot of the blokes it was their first time as well, so they like wanted someone to talk to.

I suppose for them it is unusual to see a girl doing boxing, so it interests them. It was a kind of transition for myself that was easy, everybody was in the same position so you’ve got a bond there already and I think once they’ve actually seen you sparring and they’ve seen you training they realise you not there for fun and you are taking it as seriously as they are.

Chrissy really kind of puts us at the forefront, she really encourages us, which is really good and I think for her she would always love to have more girls. Obviously it’s an unusual thing. On my first fight she did a couple of press releases because girl fighting is quite unusual, girls in boxing is quite unusual. As I said each time I’ve done a show there have been more and more girls doing it and it’s kind of generating interest and showing that girls can do it just as well as boys, maybe not as strong but we still take it seriously and we want to do just as well.”

Turning her attention to the amateur and pro disciplines Tiffany continued enthusiastically, “I think it’s brilliant, absolutely brilliant, that Women’s boxing is at the Olympics this year, it can only do the sport good especially for us girls involved in the sport as it goes to show that when we put our mind to it we can achieve it.

I think it’s excellent, and the fact that more women are accepted into the sport is a good thing. Anything that encourages people to get fit, healthy and motivated is worthwhile.

I mean boxing for me is good for the mind and it’s a brilliant way of keeping fit and I don’t think it should just be for blokes, it’s a sport for everybody.

Whilst I haven’t yet been to a female pro fight, I think it’s brilliant that there has already been a female fight in London this year. I think that women's boxing isn’t as well promoted as male boxing, I think that’s the only thing is if people got behind it but I suppose the problem is getting the media interested but men dominate the sport so they take more of an interest, I think that’s where things need to change, it should be about boxing not whether it’s girls or blokes fighting.

I know there’s a lot of women that campaign for women’s boxing but again it’s still really hard to be accepted, you can tell that just by the fights that they televise, you never see a women’s fight and it’s never promoted in the same way, you’ll never see the equivalent of a big David Haye fight if it was a women’s fight.

They say that behind every great man, is a great woman and we’ll just bring ourselves to the forefront and show everyone what we can do now.

It’s good and if more and more women get involved in boxing it’s going to keep it alive, which is good.”

The TRAD TKO is a proper old school East End Boxing gym, not exactly the kind of place you would expect to be pioneering Women’s boxing. This is the gym that has some of the oldest of old school coaches, Johnny Eames and Jimmy Tibbs, and is where World Champions are bred, Graham Earl, Tony Oakey and Kevin Lear are just a few of their old boys and the class of 2012 includes such stars as Colin Lynes, Kevin Mitchell, Billy Joe Saunders and Leon Williams.

However initial impressions are very, very deceptive as the TRAD TKO is also home to not one but two female pro boxers, Marianne ‘Golden Girl’ Marston and Areti ‘The Master’ Mastrodovka.

Marianne, who was the first female boxer to be be signed to the TRAD TKO team by Johnny Eames, is not just a fighter, she also trains female boxers at the gym and created the first Women’s Boxing Classes series in the UK.

Marianne spent three years being trained in America by some of the biggest names in sport, initially with legendary Heavyweight Champion of the World Smokin’ Joe Frazier and his son Marvis.

After the Frazier’s landmark North Philadelphia gym closed it’s doors in 2008 Marianne moved to Percy ‘Buster’ Custus’ James Shuler Memorial Gym in West Philadelphia, where she was invited to join two time IBF Cruiserweight World Champion Steve ‘USS’ Cunningham’s newly formed professional squad and was coached by Steve, Shar’ron Baker and occasionally Steve’s fight coach the esteemed Naazim Richardson.

With that kind of pedigree, it seems out of place that Marianne would put so much time in to help complete novices learn to box. Marianne’s answer came as a complete surprise.

“I had already started boxing training before I went to America, but it was virtually impossible to get taken seriously here” Marianne said before continuing, “When I returned to London in 2009 nothing had changed, in fact it may have got worse. I approached a few London boxing gyms but none accepted women, the one that did, All Stars, said I they only offer Boxercise to Women.

I was so angry, I mean I had a fight contract in America yet here in the UK I couldn’t even find somewhere to train, let alone a proper training team.”

Things did change for the Norwich born blonde, as she explained, “Eventually I found a gym near London Bridge, the owner signed me but after all his promises I was mainly left to train on my own and the only fight he could get me was on his own show, which I comfortably won.

One good thing came from my time there though, I got to set up the first Boxing Classes specifically for Women, which became very successful and I still run them today at three London gyms, three sessions here at the TRAD TKO, two a the Tokei gym in Southwark and a single class at the Ringtone Gym in Euston.

The biggest boost, to both my career and classes, came after I moved to the TKO, Johnny (Eames) not only took me seriously but also encouraged me to develop a Female Boxing squad, both recruiting boxers as well as developing them through my classes.

I now have a core of around ten girls, with six competition ready, two of them, Kim and Elli, will be fighting on Friday on Chrissy’s White Collar show.

They’re both very dedicated, and already showing the signs that they are ready for a higher level of competition, but I’m happy for them to start out with a White Collar fight as this will get them used to fighting in front of an audience without the pressures that come from competing in the amateurs.

Saying that both KIm and Elli, as well as Jo, are ready for the amateurs. In fact after this show I will encourage them all to join the newly affiliated TRAD TKO Amateur Boxing Club.

Whilst the amateur head coach will become their official trainer I will be very much involved in their development as well as assist in their training.

Hopefully once other gyms see that we have a female squad they will follow suit, as the only way Women’s boxing will progress is if more gyms take TRAD TKO’s lead and actively provide Boxing training for Women.”

One of Marianne’s boxers that will be fighting at the Bad Boy Promotions event is Eloise ‘Elli’ Shepherd, who like Marianne found that it was virtually impossible to be taken seriously when she first decided to take up boxing.

“Yeah this will be my first fight and I can’t wait.

The thing about boxing is that when you first start out it’s quite hard as a woman to find someone that will take you seriously and train you to a good standard.

That’s the nice thing about Marianne, she’s been through it herself so knows what it’s like. She doesn’t have any expectations and actually takes the time to teach you to box, which is really good.

I was at an amateur gym before going to Marianne’s classes at the TRAD TKO Gym, but I was just left to get on with it, you know they would just leave me on my own to get on with it.

A couple of the guys there did spend some time with me but there was such a turnover with trainers than there was no consistency. They didn’t take me seriously as I wasn’t at a competitive level, none of them took me seriously, that’s why I am so pleased to have found Marianne’s class.

After my previous experience I was very surprised at the level of attention Marianne gives us. She teaches us all aspects, defensive boxing as well as offensive boxing, which is quite important if you don’t want to get your face smashed in. “

Elli then turned her attention to her opponent oand the fight, “It’s quite funny that the girl I will be fighting also trains here. We get on and everything but I don’t know how much of that is ‘oh I wonder what she’s doing’

There’s a big height difference, she’s a lot taller, which is good for me as it gives me access to the sternum, as well as perfect for me for uppercuts and that.

I’ve got a few family and friends coming to watch. My dad’s coming, he’ll probably get rowdy when I fight.

I’m getting a lot of support, my boyfriend’s been doing pads with me, and helps out and stuff. It’s just my mum that’s a bit cautious about it, she’s not coming as she’s a bit nervous for me, she says “I don’t want to see you get hit’.

Now just got my final preparations and then I’m ready to fight. I can’t wait, I’m really looking forward to it.”

Elli Shepherd’s opponent on Friday will be Legal assistant Elli Tatton-Brown, who decided to give boxing a try after watching a friend box on Chrissy’s previous event.

“This will be my first fight and I am really looking forward to it.

There’s a great atmosphere here at the gym, we all get on really well and help each other, us girls stick together even though some of us are fighting each other. I’ll be fighting the other Elli here, so it’s me, big Ell, against little Ell.

Training’s been great, exhausting, some long hours, it’s good and pays off though.

I’ll have a lot of friends, family and people from work coming to cheer me on so I want to put on a good fight for them.”

Veterinarian Kimberley Anley, Marianne’s other boxer taking part in the Bad Boy show on Friday, also didn’t face the problem of being taken seriously on her desire to box, as her introduction to the sport was through Marianne’s classes at the TRAD TKO gym.

As such Kim, who Marianne has described as a natural, and someone that will progress easily through the amateurs, kept fully focused on her upcoming bout against former Team GB High Jump star Ayamba Akim when she spoke.

“I’m really looking forward to my fight against Ayamba, I can’t wait.

There a bit of gym rivalry going on, Marianne trains me and Ayamba is being trained by one of the guy coaches here, which adds to things.

I’m definitely going to make Marianne proud. I know I’ve got the best trainer, Marianne spends far more time with us and training has been brilliant.

The more I do the fitter and faster I am, yeah I’m loving it, I’m spending more time here at the gym than I do at home at the moment.

I can’t wait for Friday, I’m going to win, definitely.”

With such an upsurge in those taking part, thanks mainly to the efforts of people like Chrissy Morton and Marianne Marston, Women’s Boxing looks like it’s here to stay, which can only be good for the sport.

♔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.

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Bellator CEO Confirms Next Women’s Tournament at 125; Names Some Fighters

Immediately after the post-fight presser for Bellator 63 in Uncasville, Connecticut, Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney confirmed that the promotion’s next women’s tournament would be held in the 125 pound division and that several of the ladies competing have already been decided on.

“I think that’s where the next one is going to be,” “Jessica Aguilar is looking to fight at 125. We already spoke to [Megumi Fujii] and she wants to do it…. Lisa Ellis-Ward is another one we’ll have to see about. If you look at her performance in her last fight with Jessica Aguilar, she looked really good in a loss against one of the better women out there.”

Among the women Rebney mentioned were being considered for the tournament was young up and comer Jessica Eye, who will face Aisling Daly at Bellator 66 at the end of the month. Presumably, the winner of that bout will be among the women to enter the bracket.

While the weight division for the tournament is confirmed and the major players are already being lined up, exactly when the next big women’s tournament will take place is still up in the air. There are currently several factors at play that influence the timing of the single-elimination tourney, not the least of which being the impending changeover from Bellator’s current broadcasting home at MTV-2 to other VIACOM owned channel Spike TV.

Read more about the women of 125 pounds and a potential Spike debut after the jump.

Bellator’s first season on Spike, scheduled for early 2013, was among the possible dates Rebney cited for the 125 pound female tournament debut. However, as attractive a first impression as such a debut would be, especially with the recent overall boost women’s MMA has gotten in the public image, the date itself is far from confirmed.

“[The tournament] is coming, it’s just a matter of where it will find itself,” said Rebney.

The state of the current and only female Bellator title holder, Zoila Gurgel, may also be a contributing factor to the timing of the tournament. A series of unfortunate events, culminating in a serious knee injury she sustained in October, has kept Gurgel inactive since her first and only fight for the organization after claiming the belt. The mere mention of Gurgel’s layup was enough to prompt a mournful sigh from the Bellator CEO. While Rebney did not discuss the champion sitting on the shelf any further, it has been Bellator practice in the past to know the state of its title holders before starting the next tournament bracket in that division.

A local undercard athlete by the name of Munah Holland made her first appearance as a Bellator 125 pound fighter that same night, scoring a brutal comeback knockout in the second round against Marianna Kheyfets. While a tournament spot would typically be reserved for more well-known ladies such as Ellis-Ward, Fujii, and Aguilar, with some space still open Holland has not yet been eliminated as a possibility.

Canadian Sensation Tony Luis Returns April 7!

Unbeaten junior welterweight phenom Tony “The Lightning” Luis makes his highly anticipated return to the squared circle when he battles Hungarian veteran Ferenec Szabo Saturday, April 7 at the Claude-Robillard Center in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

Luis, the current WBC Continental Americas Junior Welterweight champion, is a perfect 13-0 as a professional with 5 wins by way of knockout. In his most recent bout in October 2011, Luis demolished Alejandro Barrera in 1 round to capture the aforementioned WBC Continental title. The 24 year old, who is one of Canada’s brightest young stars, recently trekked to Cuba for an intense training camp with the island’s top prospects.

“Cuba was a great experience for me,” said Luis, a Cornwall, Ontario native who stopped three of his last five foes. “I was amazed by how talented their amateurs are. Those guys are better than a lot of seasoned pros without question. Going there and getting great work in the gym will definitely have me ready for Szabo, who I know has fought some very good fighters.”

The Luis-Szabo showdown serves as the 8 round co-feature on a card promoted by Ali Nestor Charles’ UGC Boxing Promotions.

Ocasio-Sosa Rematch Headlines Power Productions’ “Philly Barn Burner III”!

Greg Robinson’s Power Productions returns to the National Guard Armory Friday, April 20 with an action-packed card loaded with local talent.

Headlining “Philly Barn Burner III” is the highly-anticipated rematch between popular Philadelphia based lightweight Angel Ocasio and Camden, NJ’s Jason Sosa. In their first meeting on January 13, Ocasio, 6-0-1 (1 KO), and Sosa, 4-1-2 (1 KO), fought a crowd-pleasing bout that ultimately ended in a draw.

“I’ve been training hard for over a month getting ready for this fight and we still have (a month until fight night),” said Ocasio, who is one of the biggest ticket sellers in the City of Brotherly Love. “I’m not going to leave it up to the judges to declare me the winner!”

Sosa, who doesn’t share the same sentiments as Ocasio, has his own outlook on the rematch.

“He got lucky in our last fight. I got a cut early in that fight and I was concerned the fight might be stopped, so I took it easy. But this time luck can’t save him. I’m excited to be fighting for a title so early in my career and I’m going to take advantage of the opportunity. I know without a doubt that I’m better than him and I’m going to be looking for the knockout quick and early.”

Ocasio-Sosa is scheduled for eight rounds and in addition to bragging rights, the winner claims the vacant USBC championship.

In the co-feature, bantamweight prospect Miguel Cartagena of Philadelphia puts his perfect 4-0 record on the line when he battles rugged New York based Mexican Jose “Chilli” Rivera in a six rounder. Cartagena, who stopped three of his four opponents, won the 2009 National Golden Gloves tournament and is considered one of the east coast’s brightest young talents. Rivera, 3-5-2, has never been knocked out, going the distance with hard-hitting foes Jonathan Gonzalez and Qa’id Muhammad, while battling former amateur standout Raul Lopez to a draw.

In separate bouts, Tim Witherspoon Jr. and Isiah Seldon, both sons of former heavyweight titlists, will look to impress what expects to be a sold out crowd. Joining Witherspoon Jr. and Seldon on the talent-laden undercard are heavyweight sensation Joey Dawejko, Brian Donahue, Georgiy Guralnik and Saud “Kid Grady” Clark.

“This is going to be a phenomenal show from top to bottom,” stated Robinson. “We have some of the top young talent in Philly on this card and the Ocasio-Sosa rematch all under one roof. April 20 will definitely be a great night for the fans!”

Fight Night of Champions

Everybody come out and show there love and support for all the fighters. This isnt a sport that anyone can do. It takes alot of hard work and dedication to make it in this sport. Champions East is putting on another Fight Night of Champions for the world to see local talent and talent from alot of other states and countries. Come out and support.

HEAVYWEIGHT JOHN LENNOX LOOKS TO SPRING FORWARD TOWARDS BIG FIGHT‏

Already with two wins in 2012, Heavyweight John Lennox is closing in on his first title and he has big plans to makes moves in the coming months.

Lennox of Carteret, New Jersey sports a record of 10-1 with five knockouts is coming off a first round stoppage over Miles Kelly on February 17^th, will travel to St. Maarten, Netherlands on April 7^th to take on thirty-four fight veteran Mike Middleton for the vacant UBC International Title.

This will kick off a very active spring and summer for Lennox as the former gridiron standout will inducted into the Carteret High School of Fame in June.

“He is ready for this fight”, said Lennox manager Rich Masini

“He has been sparring with former world champion Bert Cooper. We know that these fights now will be for all the marbles as this will be his first eight round fight”

“Middleton is a very experienced opponent and we consider this a big step and these are the fights that will prove the doubters wrong”

A win over Middleton will pave the way for what will be a special night for Lennox as Masini is planning a big homecoming for the popular heavyweight.

“We want to win this belt and we are planning a step fight on the first weekend of June, which will be outdoors at the 5,000 seat football stadium and we believe we can pack the place with a title fight”

After that Masini hopes to have Lennox on a fight card at The Meadowlands Race Track in July.

Lennox, who turned pro at 199 pounds, has been building his body for the past five years is now maturing into a full fledged heavyweight.

“We expect him to be fighting at 230-232 pounds on April 7^th at that shows the hard work he has put in and I want him to reap the rewards on that work so much that I consider John to as close to a son to me”

“We know where John is and we truly believe in him. We are on a quest to win as many belts as we can and after a few fights, not only will John be ready for ten round fights but we will be ready to fight anyone”

“We have just added Joe Alvarano to the team. He quickly has been an integral part in John’s career”

Alvarano, whose son Joe Jr. will be taking part in a special amateur fight at the Carteret High School card, has been in professional sports for many years as he comes from the Horse Racing industry where he owned champion horses such as Artisic Fella.

The Newly formed Entertainment and Promotional company that Masini and Alvarano will be aligned with will be a huge asset in moving Masini’s growing stable of fighters such as John Lennox, Welterweight Anthony “Juice” Young, Super Middleweight Joel De La Paz and Cruiserweight Jaywon Woods with the goal to mix boxing and Harness Racing together.

Micky Ward - Dickie Eklund UK Tour Promo Video Released

Nina C’s Touch Glove Promotions today released the promotional video for the upcoming May Bank Holiday weekend mini UK tour by the real life subjects of the box office hit movie ‘The Fighter’, ‘Irish’ Micky Ward and his half brother Dickie Eklund.

Micky, who was played by Mark Wahlberg in the movie, has stated that he is relishing returning to the UK, the first time being when he challenged, and beat, Liverpool’s Shea ‘The Shamrock Express’ Neary, at Olympia in Kensington in March 2000, to capture the World Boxing Union Light Welterweight title.

Whilst without doubt a magnificent victory, especially so when you
consider Neary had successfully defended his title five times since
beating Darryl Tyson to lift the title in October 1996, Micky is better
known as one of the protagonists, the other the late Arturo Gatti, in the
greatest trilogy of fights of all time.

Incidentally Mark Wahlberg, accompanied by Micky and Dickie, stated at the
Spike TV Guys Choice Awards last year “We left out the Arturo Gatti
fights for a reason... because that’s for ‘Fighter 2.” Hopefully this
means the sequel should be hitting the silver screen in the very near
future.

That aside, back to Micky and Dickie’s upcoming visit, whilst here in the
UK the boys will be undertaking three ‘Audience With’ appearances, the
first takes place at the Hilton Metropole in London, on Saturday the 5th
May, then the pair will make the short trip to the Crown Plaza in Maldon,
Essex for their second appearance on Sunday 6th May and then finally the
boys will be at the Priestfield Suite in Gillingham, Kent on Monday 7th
May.

In addition Micky and Dickie will also be visiting the famous TRAD TKO
Boxing Gym deep in the heart of London’s East End, Brentwood ABC in Essex
and O’Neill’s Gym in Margate Kent, where they will meet local
underprivileged kids, who will have the opportunity to work out with the
legends and, hopefully, generate some fundraising for the OneLife UK

charitable organisation.

OMAR SHEIKA TO BATTLE YUSAF MACK FOR USBA LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE ON FRIDAY APRIL 27TH AT RESORTS IN ATLANTIC CITY‏

OMAR SHEIKA TO BATTLE YUSAF MACK FOR USBA LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE ON FRIDAY APRIL 27^TH AT RESORTS IN ATLANTIC CITY

ATLANTIC CITY’S BIGGEST BOXING WEEKEND KICKS OFF WITH IMPORTANT TITLE CLASH

On Friday night April 27^th, The biggest boxing weekend in Atlantic City kicks off with an important USBA Title clash when Omar Sheika takes on Yusaf Mack.

The show is promoted by Nedal Abuhumoud’s Nedal’s Promotions and Andre Kut’s KEA Boxing.

Sheika of Paterson, New Jersey has been a mainstay at the top of the Super Middleweight and Light Heavyweight divisions for sixteen years. He won his first fourteen bouts and went on to beat former world champions Simon Brown and Glen Johnson.

The thirty-five year old Sheika challenged Joe Calzaghe, Eric Lucas; Jeff Lacy and Markus Beyer for world Super Middleweight supremacy but each time came up just a little bit short.

Sheika, 33-11 with twenty-one knockouts is coming off an action packed ten round unanimous decision over Tony Ferrante on February 24^thin Chester, PA

Mack of Philadelphia has a record of 29-4-2 with seventeen knockouts and his been at the top of the Super Middleweight and Light heavyweight rankings for the better part of the last half decade.

The thirty-two year old Mack was undefeated in his first twenty-four bouts (22-0-2) which included wins over Donnell Wiggins, Shannon Miller (for the USBA Super Middleweight title), Richard Grant (title defense) and Christian Cruz (title defense) as well as a draw with former world title challenger Randy Griffin.

Mack also has big wins over Jose Juan Vasquez (16-1-1); Daniel Judah (22-2-3) and Chris Henry (23-1). He won the USBA Light Heavyweight crown with a split decision over Otis Griffin

Mack has only lost to top fighters in former world champions Alejandro Berrio & Glen Johnson as well as former world title challenger Librado Andrade.

In his last bout, Mack put up a terrific effort before being stopped by IBF Light Heavyweight champion Tavoris Cloud.

An exciting undercard with some of the best prospects on the east coast has been assembled and appearing in separate featured bouts will be:

Undefeated Super Middleweight Derrick Webster (12-0, 7 KO’s) of Glassboro, NJ in an eight round co-feature

Przemyslaw Opalach (9-1, 8 KO’s) of Poland in eight round Middleweight bout

Juan Rodriguez Jr. (8-0, 3 KO’s) of Union City, NJ in a six round Welterweight bout

Thomas “Cornflake” LaManna (7-0, 5 KO’s) of Millville, NJ in a six round Welterweight bout

Alando Swain (5-1, 1 KO) of Trenton, NJ in a four round Middleweight bout

Tyrone Luckey (4-1-1 4 KO’s) of Middletown, NJ in a four round Lightweight bout

Their Opponents plus more bouts will be announced shortly.

Christina Hammer, World Middleweight Title Defense In Brno on April 5th‏

Christina Hammer, World Middleweight Title Defense In Brno on April 5th

21 years old, and considered the number-one female middleweight in the
world, Christina Hammer is making her third defense of the World Boxing
Federation World title on Thursday April 5 at the Vodova Arena in Brno,
Czech Republic.

Hammer, 11-0 (7), is taking on South African challenger Julie “Queen”
Tshabalala, 4-1-1 (1), on a show promoted by SES Boxing that also features
a championship fight between local hero Lukas Konecny and Frenchman Salim
Larbi.

Born in Novodolinka, Kazakhstan, the nationalized German has become
something of a Globetrotting champion, winning the WBF World title in
Slovenia in February 2011 and defending it in the Czech Republic three
months later before returning to Germany for her second defense last
October. Now she will go back to the Czech Republic for the Tshabalala
encounter.

Julie Tshabalala from Johannesburg is the reigning South African
Middleweight Champion. Making her professional debut in August 2008, she
captured the national title almost exactly a year later with a ten-round
unanimous decision over Bomkazi Klaas. She defended the title the
following year in a rematch with Klaas, and again last summer with a
stoppage over Lilian Molala.

While Hammer has five more professional bouts than Tshabalala, and been in
four title fights compared to the South Africans three, the champion will
do herself a favor by not underestimating her challenger who is known for
her fighting spirit and determination. The Christina Hammer vs. Julie
Tshabalala WBF Women’s World Middleweight title fight will be streamed

live and exclusively to the world via www.bild.de from 8 PM local time.

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Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Tuesday, April 3, 2012