Also on the call we have Robert Garcia, who is a former world champion and the Boxing Writers Association of American 2012 Trainer of the Year; and, also, Leonard Ellerbe, Chief Executive Officer of Mayweather Promotions; Stephen Espinoza, Executive Vice President and General Manager of Showtime Sports; and last but not least, and to make the introductions for the call, and to start us off, is Oscar De La Hoya, President of Golden Boy Promotions. Oscar?
The Argentine Maidana (35-3, 31 KOs) is winding down final preparations as he gets set for the biggest fight of his career when he faces undefeated boxing superstar, 10-time world champion and current WBC Welterweight World Champion Floyd “Money” Mayweather in the main event of “THE MOMENT” on Saturday, May 3 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena live on SHOWTIME PPV®.
Kelly Swanson
This week has been jam-packed with information about the April 19 ‘History at the Capitol. Yesterday, we did a conference call with the undercard fighters, and now, we have our main event fighters available today to talk to the press. I’m very excited about it.
Bernard Hopkins, the IBF Light Heavyweight World Champion, certainly a future first ballot Hall of Famer is on the phone; along with Beibut Shumenov, who is the WBA and IBA Light Heavyweight World Champion. I think it’s going to be an amazing unification bout; let’s go ahead and talk a little bit more about the fight and its particulars as well as introduce the fighters. I’d like to introduce Bruce Binkow, the Chief Operating Officer and Chief Marketing Officer of Golden Boy Promotions.
Kelly Swanson
Today we have a great conference call to discuss an unbelievable undercard that will be on the “Hopkins vs. Shumenov” fight card at the D.C. Armory in Washington, D.C. on Saturday, April 19. I’m looking forward to seeing all of these fights. We’re going to start with Lukas and Pete, and then we will move into Shawn and Paulie immediately upon the completion of these two fighters. So, to make the introductions is Bruce Binkow, the Chief Operating Officer and Chief Marketing Officer of Golden Boy Promotions. He is joining us to introduce the fighters and talk a little bit more about the fights.
Kelly Swanson
Thanks, everybody, for joining us we appreciate you being here with us today. Unfortunately, we are going to have to reschedule this call because the fighters have not shown up. April Fools!
We’re joined by a great group of fighters today. They are part of the SHOWTIME PPV undercard for “THE MOMENT: Mayweather vs. Maidana,” Adrien Broner vs Carlos Molina and also J’Leon Love vs. Marco Antonio Periban.
Today’s host of the call is none other than Leonard Ellerbe, Chief Executive Office of Mayweather Promotions. Leonard, I’m going to turn it over to you and just so everybody knows, the translator for Mr. Periban today will be Rolando Arellano.
Kelly Swanson
I’m going to go ahead and call this media conference call today the second moment of “THE MOMENT” for a fight that was announced this week. We have Amir “King” Khan and also Luis Collazo joining us today, along with Richard Schaefer, Chief Executive Officer of Golden Boy Promotions, and Stephen Espinoza, Executive Vice President and General Manager of Showtime. So, very exciting, and I’m going to turn it over to the participants and start with Richard Schaefer, who will make the introductions.
LOS ANGELES (March 26, 2014) – StubHub Center in Carson, Calif., has rapidly become known amongst boxing aficionados as the place to be to see world-class fights and fighters. On Saturday, April 26, that reputation continues to grow as Golden Boy Promotions and SHOWTIME Sports® team up for an all-action tripleheader featuring some of the top fighters in the sport today. In the 12-round main event, Florida power-puncher Keith “One Time” Thurman defends his interim WBA World Welterweight Championship against former World Lightweight titleholder Julio “The Kidd” Diaz.
LAS VEGAS (March 25) – Las Vegas will be the center of the boxing universe Cinco de Mayo weekend and kicking it off will be an action-packed night of fights at The Joint at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino when FOX Sports 1 and FOX Deportes feature a tripleheader that includes two World Championship bouts just one night before “THE MOMENT: Floyd Mayweather vs. Marcos Maidana” takes place at MGM Grand. In the 12-round main event, the WBA Super Welterweight title is on the line when Cuban star Erislandy “The American Dream” Lara defends the belt against Las Vegas’ own former World Champion Ishe “Sugar Shay” Smith.
Plus, rising lightweight star Mickey “The Spirit” Bey Jr. will meet hard-hitting Mexican veteran Alan “Explosivo” Herrera in a 10-round matchup and in the televised opener, Argentina’s Jesus Cuellar squares off with former World Champion Rico Ramos in a 12-round bout for Cuellar’s WBA Interim Featherweight World Title.
An explosive matchup of two world-class fighters is coming to the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on Saturday, May 3, when British superstar and former Unified Super Lightweight World Champion Amir “King” Khan faces Brooklyn native and WBA International Welterweight Champion Luis Collazo in the 12-round welterweight co-main event of “THE MOMENT: Floyd Mayweather vs. Marcos Maidana” on SHOWTIME PPV.
A media conference call featuring both fighters is scheduled for Wednesday, March 26 at
3 p.m. ET/12 p.m. PT. Additional details to follow this announcement.
WASHINGTON, D.C. (March 17, 2014) – Two world championship fights on one night is great for boxing fans. But Golden Boy Promotions and SHOWTIME believe that three is even better. So, on Saturday, April 19, joining the title fights between Bernard “The Alien” Hopkins and Beibut Shumenov and Peter “Kid Chocolate” Quillin and Lukas Konecny there will be a battle for the IBF Welterweight World title between champion Shawn “Showtime” Porter and former two-time and two division word champion and current NABF Welterweight titleholder Paulie “Magic Man” Malignaggi, making this tripleheader at the D.C. Armory in Washington, D.C. a must see.
“I fought hard to get this title. Paulie says he wants it, but is he willing to go through me to get it?” said Porter, who won his crown with an impressive win over Devon Alexander last December. “Fighting Malignaggi is like fighting Alexander. They don’t have the strength or power to keep me away, and I will steamroll Paulie on my way to victory April 19.”