Gauthier-Molitor on November 5th; Nielsen-Daku on Saturday

Montreal, Wednesday, August 31st – Much like Lucian Bute, Sebastien Gauthier (21-2-0, 13 KO) will also be facing the biggest test of his career on November 5th at the Pepsi Colisee in Quebec City. The InterBox protégée will step into the ring against former two-time IBF World Champion Steve “The Canadian Kid” Molitor (33-2-0, 12 KO) in a very interesting all-Canadian match-up.

This bout will be presented on the undercard of the Lucian Bute (29-0-0 24 KO) vs. Glen « Road Warrior » Johnson (51-15-2, 35 KO) Main-Event bout where Bute will be defending his International Boxing Federation (IBF) World title defense for a 9th consecutive time.

Sebastien Gauthier won his last four bouts, and is very happy to have this incredible opportunity to put his boxing career in overdrive. “Molitor has accomplished a lot in boxing, has a good name in the world of boxing and has achieved the highest of the highs in twice becoming World champion. This is a big test for me and it could not come at a better time in my career. I am both excited and motivated for this fight. Plus, I can count on the support of all boxing fans in attendance at the Pepsi Colisee. I can`t wait for November 5th!” states Gauthier, who has already begun training for the fight.

Steve Molitor, from Sarnia, Ontario intends to put his last defeat behind him. The “Canadian Kid” was scheduled to box on the Bute vs. Magee InterBox card last March but was forced to travel to South Africa due to a technicality to defend his title, where he lost a decision to Takalani Ndlovu. “I thank InterBox, my promoter Top Rank and my manager Cameron Dunkin for giving me the chance to fight on a major card. I am still bitter about losing my title, but this bitterness is motivating me more than ever to keep the course and once again become a World champion. I respect Sebastien. He is a talented boxer with good power so I have to be very prepared against him. Unfortunately for Sebastien, it won`t be against me that he makes a name for himself in boxing.”

InterBox President Mr. Jean Bedard is proud to have added this fight that he is co-promoting with Top Rank on the November 5th card. “Our objective is to offer significant challenges to our boxers with the goal of presenting the best show possible to our loyal fans. The Gauthier-Molitor bout is a perfect example of our plan. I am confident both fighters will offer a great fight to the Pepsi Colisee crowd as well as those watching the fight across the globe. Finally, this fight will offer good visibility to the City of Quebec from the rest of Canada.”

Tickets on sale September 17th. Tickets for the November 5th Bute vs, Johnson InterBox Gala go on sale on Saturday, September 17th.

Tickets will be available at the Pepsi Colisee box office, at the Billetech network by dialing 418-691-7211 –or- toll free at 1-800-900-SHOW –or- by visiting www.billetech.com –or- at the Club de Boxe Champion (514-376-0980). Members of Club Cage (Cage-aux-Sport Infoletter) and the Quebec Remparts Hockey Club will benefit from an exclusive pre-sale as of Monday, September 12th.

Event Broadcast

InterBox’s November 5th Gala will be broadcast on Showtime Championship Boxing (Bute vs. Johnson only) throughout the United States. In Canada, the entire Gala will be available on Pay-Per-View (Canal Indigo, Bell TV and SHAW). The entire card will also be available at all Cage-aux-Sports restaurant/bar locations throughout Quebec as well as at select commercial establishments. An International broadcast will be available as well.

Sky Sports To Air Highlights From TRAD TKO Boxers Charity affair this Thursday

The second annual TRAD TKO Boxing Gym Boxers and Celebrity Charity Football Tournament, in aid of the Indee Rose Trust, which took place at Concord Rangers FC in Canvey Island on Sunday 14th August, proved to be a massive success, having raised in excess of £18,000 on the day, with a further £3,000 being pledged on-line for the worthy cause that supports children that have been diagnosed with brain or spinal tumors.

More than a hundred star boxers, including WBO World Light Heavyweight Champion Nathan Cleverly, WBO Inter-Continental Lightweight Champion Kevin Mitchell, WBA International Super Bantamweight Champion Rendall Munroe, former WBU World Lightweight Champion Graham Earl, former WBU World Light Heavyweight Champion Tony Oakey, former WBA World Featherweight Champion Barry McGuigan, former British Super Middleweight Champion Paul Smith and his brother, British & Commonwealth Featherweight Champion, Stephen plus many, many more.

In addition to the boxers there were many celebrities, from the world of TV, Film and Music, that also turned out to play or support their teams, as well as sign autographs and be photographed with some of the thousands of fans that made the trek to Canvey from all over the country.

Sky Sports Ed Robinson, along with camera crew, also made the trip to Canvey to cover the event for Sky’s Ringside show and highlights from the event will be on this Thursday’s Ringside show, which goes on air at 6pm on Sky Sports 1 and repeated at 9pm on Sky Sports 3 and again at Midnight on Sky Sports 1.

After eight hours of nonstop football, featuring teams from all around the country, it was two of TRAD TKO’s that made the final. But before we get to the final each of the teams deserve a a mention and big hand for their magnificent efforts.

Last year’s Champions – Paul Smith’s Pick Pockets – got off to a poor start, losing to the TRAD TKO 1 team by a 2-1 margin. They did get to win their second match of the day, against the Boxing-Ireland.com team, by 3 goals to nil, and their third, against Ben Day’s Ringtone Gym team by a whooping 5-0 margin. Unlucky for Paul and brother Steven in the next round they come up against TRAD TKO supremo Johnny Eames’ All Star team – that not only featured boxers Nathan Cleverly, Rendall Munroe, Billy Joe Saunders, George Hillyard but also a couple of pro footballers – and had their hopes of lifting the trophy for a second year dashed by an exquisite, match winning, Nathan Cleverly goal. Then to make matters worse the Millbank team from Southampton held them to a 1-1 draw to prevent them even making the third and fourth place play-off.

Former World Champ Graham Earl bought his House of Champions team down from Luton. Graham had been so confident he’d lift the trophy this year that he was trying to lay bets with everyone. It was lucky for him most ignored the offer as his first class squad failed to make the final, but they did make the third and fourth place play off, where they lost to the the third TRAD TKO team.

Joe Gallagher bought down a team of stars from his gym, unfortunately for him he only had an eight man squad, as Paul and Steven Smith had their own team. Joe did his best to fire up his team but they fell to both Alan Smith’s Sarf London team and Russell Dopson’s Indee Rose by a 2-1 deficit in the first two matches. In their third match they managed to hold the Boxing News team to a 0-0 draw but got well and truly thrashed 5-0 by TRAD TKO Clapton Rangers. In their final game they drafted in Paul and Steven Smith to bolster their hard worked team.

Last year’s ‘Wooden Spoon’ recipient Boxing News Rangers, having not just lost every game but also failing to score a single goal in the 2010 tournament, drafted in Barry McGuigan and Ben Doughty to ensure they did not to finish last this year. This clever move paid off in their very first match, where they beat Indee Rose by one goal to nil. Mind you in their very next match they got beat 3-0 by TRAD TKO Clapton Rangers.

Boxing-Ireland.com’s star player, Matthew Macklin, had to cancel due to another engagement the night before. However the boys that made the trip over from the Emerald Isles played their hearts out. They beat Ringtone 1-0 in their first match but got thrashed 3-0 by the back on form Paul Smith’s Pick Pockets in their second. Southampton Millbank took them down 1-0 in the third. They more than made up for the two losses when they beat the TRAD TKO 1 team 3-1 in the fourth, but got turned over by the TRAD TKO All Stars 1-0 in their final game.

Alan Smith fielded the only female player in his Sarf London squad and boy could that girl play. She was good but the real star of the team was Bradley Skeet who played his heart out and even scored. Sarf London won their first game 2-1 against Joe Gallagher’s All Stars but things went down hill from there, losing 1 – 0 to Graham Earl’s House of Champions, 5-0 to TRAD TKO Clapton Rangers, 5-1 to Indee Rose.

Southampton’s Millbank squad, which had a large contingent of non-boxing sports personalities, proved to be a pain in Johnny Eames’ butt early on, by holding his TRAD TKO All Stars to a 0-0 draw in the first game of the tournament. So imagine Johnny’s joy when his TRAD TKO 1 team beat them 2-1 in the second match. Mind you they also did Johnny a big favour by beating Boxing-Ireland 1-0, Ringtone 4-0 and holding Paul Smith’s Pick Pockets to a 1-1 draw.

Ben Day and Scott Borthwick’s Ringtone Gym team suffered right from the start, not only did they only have an eight man squad but their main striker, the aforementioned Ben Day, suffered a pulled hamstring in the very first game – mind you that didn’t stop him playing! After the league element of the tournament was done Ringtone suffered even more, becoming this year’s ‘Wooden Spoon’ recipient having lost 1-0 to Boxing-Ireland, 2-0 to TRAD TKO All Stars, 5-0 to Paul Smith’s Pick Pockets, 4-0 to Millbank and 3-0 to TRAD TKO 1.

Indee Rose’s dad Russell Dopson put together his own team for this year’s tournament, and bought along the noisiest legion of fans to support them! What a bunch they cheered every move by the Indee Rose team, however that was not enough as they went down 1-0 to the Boxing News mob in the first match. You can imagine the cheers when they beat Gallagher’s All Stars 2-1 in the second. The fans were still cheering even when they lost 3-1 to Graham Earl’s House of Champions. They turned the noise level to maximum in the fourth match as the Indee Rose team went on the rampage to beat Sarf London 5-1. With a possible place in the third and fourth play-off beckoning if they got a win over TRAD TKO Clapton Rangers, but they didn’t they got beat 3-0.

TRAD TKO Supremo put together three teams, the All Stars, a who’s who of boxing superstars, TKO 1, which featured boxers from the famous Canning Town gym, and Clapton Rangers which featured a mix of former footballers and celebrities. The strength and depth of the three teams really paid dividends as the All Stars and Clapton Rangers made the final and TKO 1 beat Graham Earl’s House of Champions 1-0 to secure third place.

Unlike the league section the third and fourth play-off and the final were played eleven a side and on a full size pitch. As the result of the third and fourth place play off has already been mentioned, we’ll move on straight to the final.

Johnny was over the moon that two of his team faced each other in the final, especially after losing to Paul Smith’s Pick Pockets last year.

Clapton Rangers pushed forward for most of the first half, the former footballers experience definitely coming into play as they controlled the game with crisp passing moves. Nathan Cleverly and his play making partner Billy Joe Saunders did their best to set up the odd counter attack, but were thwarted by the stronger defenses of the Clapton back three.

The All Stars defenders worked their socks off against the ever forward pushing Clapton juggernaut. Saying that the All Stars mounted a late attack, with George Hillyard starting the move with a cracking pass to Rendall Munroe who fthen flicked it into the path of a forward charging Billy Joe Saunders, who slotted a precision pass to Nathan Cleverly. With three defenders closing him down fast Nathan let rip with a vicious shot that look set to smash into the back of the Clapton net, if not for some excellent goal keeping.

After fourty minutes of non-stop action the score remained 0-0, it was that competitive, so it went to a penalty shoot out, which Clapton Rangers won by a 4-2 margin.

So there you have it, another cracking day that raised some much need funds for the Indee Rose Trust.

Highlights from the event will be on this Thursday’s Ringside show, which goes on air at 6pm on Sky Sports 1 and repeated at 9pm on Sky Sports 3 and again at Midnight on Sky Sports 1.

Nielsen vs. Daku, Nielsen vs. Rogozins on Saturday

Micki Nielsen, the younger, yet bigger brother of middleweight sensation Patrick Nielsen (10-0, 6 KOs) will make his professional boxing debut at Saturday´s TV2 Fight Night in Herning. Fighting in the cruiserweight division, Valerijs Rogozins from Latvia is between the 18-year-old and a winning start to his career. Last month, Micki joined his brother in Berlin where they are trained by Karsten Rower and Thorsten Schmitz. “I really look forward to making my pro debut,” Micki said. “I love boxing and I can´t wait to be in the ring. The training was very hard and very exhausting. I was used to train just once a day so working out twice was a big change but I really enjoyed it. I am ready.”

Patrick Nielsen, who faces Farouk Daku on Saturday, is excited to have his brother with him. “This is big for us,” he stated. “It was great to have him around in Berlin and train together. Micki is wild like a beast and he has no fear. I am sure he will be very successful.”

Meanwhile, promoter Nisse Sauerland has warned Micki not to neglect his school duties. “We have made it very clear that we expect him to finish school before he gets a professional contract,” Sauerland said. “There is clearly a lot of boxing talent in the Nielsen family but no matter how talented you are, there are no guarantees that everything will go according to plan in the ring. It will probably not, because there are a lot of obstacles on the way to the top, so finishing school is very important.”

Sauerland said International Boxing Federation (IBF) Intercontinental Middleweight Champion Dominik Britsch (25-0, 9 KOs) was a shining example. “Dominik came to us when he was still in school. He made a very successful professional debut and then we gave him some time off to finish his ‘Abitur’. He would go running early in the morning, then go to school, then learn and do some training in the evening. He finished school and has fully focused on boxing ever since. Right now he is 25-0 and a potential world title contender. I am confident that Micki´s development will be similar.”