Boxing

Corrales & Sugar Shay Headline Season Premiere of "ShoBox"

10.04 - Former IBF jr. lightweight champion DIEGO CORRALES and undefeated welterweight prospect ISHE (pronounced EE-SHAY) SMITH will headline the season premiere of "ShoBox: The New Generation," Thursday, April 24, on SHOWTIME, beginning at 11 P.M. EDT/PDT. The card, promoted by Gary Shaw Productions, LLC, will emanate from the Grand Casino Gulfport, in Gulfport, MS.

Corrales, 35-1 (29 KOs), from Sacramento, CA, ended a two-year hiatus from the ring with a fifth-round knockout of Mike Davis, January 25. Corrales will be fighting for the third time in four months when he takes on his first top-10 contender, Antonio Cermeno, 41-4 (27 KOs), from Venezuela, in a 10-round lightweight bout. Cermeno is a former WBA super bantamweight and WBA featherweight champion.

Smith, 10-0 (6 KOs), from Las Vegas, NV, one of the most promising prospects in the welterweight division, will make his television debut in a 10-round welterweight bout against former world title challenger Sam Garr, 33-6 (29 KOs), from Stone Mountain, GA.

The six-foot Corrales made the most of his mandatory challenge against undefeated IBF jr. lightweight champion Robert Garcia, dethroning the champion via a seventh-round TKO in their slugfest, October 23, 1999. Corrales successfully defended his title three times during the next 12 months, with third round knockouts of world champions Angel Manfredy and Derrick Gainer and a 12-round decision over John Brown. After vacating the title in anticipation of moving up in weight, Corrales returned to the 130 pound division to challenge WBC super featherweight champion Floyd Mayweather, January 20, 2001. The rigors of making a weight at which he was no longer comfortable left Corrales drained for the fight and he lost by TKO in the 10th round.

Ironically, Corrales has signed with manager James Prince, who also manages Mayweather.

"He has looked tremendous in all his fights this year," said his promoter Gary Shaw. "Weight is no longer an issue. He weighed 136 in January and 133 in February. Diego's team is in full agreement that the best course is to keep him busy so that we can fast-track him to a world title fight. I envision Diego adding world championship titles in the lightweight, junior welterweight, welterweight divisions before he retires. He is that good."

Cermeno, currently world-rated No. 5 by the WBA, captured his first world title on his first try, winning a unanimous decision over Wilfredo Vazquez in 1995 for the WBA super bantamweight title. Cermeno's two-year reign included seven successful title defenses, before he vacated to move up to the featherweight division. He was successful in conquering that division too, winning the WBA featherweight title in 1998 via a unanimous decision over Genaro Rios. After a successful title defense, he lost the title to Freddie Norwood in 1999. But that setback was only temporary. Cermeno regained the WBA super bantamweight title again later that same year, defeating Yober Ortega, via a majority decision. He has since moved up to the lightweight division, winning five of his last six bouts, including the WBA Fedelatin super featherweight title last May.

Smith, known by the nickname "Sugar Shay," came into national prominence last September when Fernando Vargas, while training for his fight with Oscar De La Hoya, talked more about Smith, his chief sparring partner, than he did about his new, chiseled physique.

"Vargas was a one-man public relations campaign for Smith," noted Royce Feour, in his October 12, 2002 Las Vegas Review-Journal column.

Vargas related the following on Smith to Kevin Iole, also from the Las Vegas Review-Journal, just two days before his fight against De La Hoya: "This guy, Ishe Smith, is definitely as fast as him (De La Hoya) and probably faster," Vargas said. "He's going to be a great fighter, and he gave me such great work. He has all those moves that (trainer Floyd) Mayweather is trying to teach (De La Hoya), but it's all natural for him. Oscar has worked with Mayweather for two fights and is trying to learn these moves which I know, too. But Ishe Smith has all that naturally, and he gave me such good work that I gave him a damn good bonus."

Smith had an outstanding amateur career, which included a victory over reigning WBO jr. welterweight champion DeMarcus Corley. Smith made it to the semi-finals of the 1996 Olympic trials, losing a very close decision to future world champion Zab Judah.

"I have a lot of respect for Fernanado Vargas and his opinion," said Shaw. "I know him very well. Hell, I used to promote him. When I heard him heaping the accolades on Ishe, I knew this young man had to be someone special. That is a major reason I signed him. I have great hopes for Ishe. Like the great welterweight world champions before him who had the nickname ‘Sugar' – Robinson, Leonard and Mosley – I think Ishe has the potential and the talent to sweeten up the division too."

Garr, who turned professional in 1992, went the distance against world champion James Page in their WBA welterweight title fight in 1999. Garr has won seven of his last 10 bouts since his unsuccessful title bid, including the WBC Continental Americas super welterweight title last June, and a successful defense of that title in August. In terms of experience and ability, Garr will provide Smith with his toughest professional fight to date.

Doors open at 6:30 PM, with the first bout scheduled for 7:30 PM. Tickets, priced at $19.95 and $14.95 are on sale now and can be purchased at the box office or through TicketMaster.

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