04.10 - SHOWTIME boxing will celebrate its own "Socktoberfest" in October by televising four fight cards in three weeks.
Kicking off the month-long "festival of fisticuffs" will be the network's final "ShoBox: The New Generation" telecast of the year on Saturday, Oct. 5, at 5 p.m. ET/PT prior to a two month hiatus. Later that same evening at 10:15 p.m. ET/PT, SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING (SCB) returns with a welterweight and heavyweight attraction. One week later on Oct. 12 at 10 p.m. ET/PT, SCB travels to the Golden State for a world championship doubleheader. Finally, SCB culminates "Socktoberfest" with a three-fight telecast from Houston.
On Oct. 5, "ShoBox" will complete its first season on SHOWTIME by showcasing a heavyweight championship rematch and a super middleweight special attraction from the USF SUN DOME in Tampa, Fla., at 5 p.m. ET/PT. In the main event, heavyweight Saul Montana will rematch against China Smith in a 12-round bout. In the 10-round co-feature, 2000 Dominican Olympian Jerson Ravelo will put his undefeated record on the line when he takes on once-beaten super middleweight George Walton. HCG Five Star Promotions will promote the fight card, which represents the 27th in a series of "ShoBox" telecasts. The afternoon series debuted July 21, 2001.
In the second match on Oct. 5 at 10:15 p.m. ET/PT, undefeated welterweight contender and 2000 Uzbekistan Olympic Gold Medalist Mohamad Abdulaev will make his second Showtime appearance along with former teammate, Ruslan Chagaev, in separate bouts. In the 10-round welterweight main event from COBO Center in Detroit, Mich., Abdulaev will take on International Boxing Association (IBA) Americas Junior Welterweight Champion Juan Antonio Lopez, while Chagaev will battle WBF Americas Heavyweight Champion Rob "All American Prizefighter" Calloway in the 10-round heavyweight co-feature. Millennium Events will serve as the fight card's promoter.
On Oct. 12, at 10 p.m. ET/PT, World Boxing Organization (WBO) Welterweight Champion Antonio Margarito will defend his title for the first time when he faces WBO No. 3 contender Danny "Dynamite" Perez in a rematch. In the co-feature from The Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim in Anaheim, Calif., Eric "Little Hands Of Steel" Morel will make the fourth defense of his World Boxing Association (WBA) flyweight title when he takes on WBA No. 1 contender Kaowichit Denkaosaen. Top Rank, Inc. will promote the fight card.
The SHOWTIME "Socktoberfest" concludes on Oct. 19 as World Boxing Association (WBA) Junior Welterweight Champion Diosbelys "El Kid Santiago" Hurtado makes his first title defense when he meets International Boxing Association (IBA) 140-Pound Champion "Vicious" Vivian Harris. In the other televised bouts from The Pavilion at Reliant Park in Houston, Texas, top featherweight prospect and 2000 Olympic silver medallist, Rocky Juarez, and his stable mate, lightweight Juan Diaz, put their unbeaten streaks on the line against former World Boxing Council (WBC) super bantamweight titleholder Hector Acero-Sanchez and Roy Delgado, respectively. SHOWTIME will air the three fights, promoted by Main Events, in association with Sugar Ray Leonard Boxing, in their entirety at 10:00 p.m. ET/PT. The telecast also will feature highlights of Francisco "Panchito" Bojado's return to the ring against an opponent to be determined.
SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING's Steve Albert and former world champion Bobby Czyz will call the action from ringside. For SHOBOX, Nick Charles will call the action from ringside, with Steve Farhood serving as expert analyst. The executive producer of the SHOWTIME telecasts is Jay Larkin.
