Kelly Swanson
Thanks, everybody for joining us today for the Danny Garcia and Mauricio Herrera international media conference call. We are going to start first with Mauricio, as well as his trainer, Willie Silva, and then Danny Garcia will be joining us. I would now like to introduce Richard Schaefer, Chief Executive Officer of Golden Boy Promotions who will talk about the fight and make the formal introductions.
LAS VEGAS (March 8, 2014) – Boxing superstar and 10-Time World Champion Floyd “Money” Mayweather (45-0, 26 KOs) held court at a jam-packed press conference at MGM Grand today to formally discuss his 147-pound welterweight world title unification bout against the dangerous, hard-hitting Marcos “El Chino” Maidana (34-3, 31 KOs) in the main event of “THE MOMENT” on Saturday, May 3 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena live on SHOWTIME PPV®.
Addressing media members hours before the start of Saturday night’s “TOE TO TOE: Canelo vs. Angulo” event on SHOWTIME PPV, Mayweather touched on a variety of subjects, including Maidana, the upcoming matchup with the Argentine slugger, his future and more. Also speaking were Leonard Ellerbe, CEO of Mayweather Promotions, Richard Schaefer, CEO of Golden Boy Promotions and Stephen Espinoza, Executive Vice President and General Manager, SHOWTIME SPORTS.
WASHINGTON, D.C. (March 7, 2014) – Washington, D.C. is known as a city where history is made. On Saturday, April 19, another historic event will take place in the nation’s capital when IBF Light Heavyweight World Champion Bernard Hopkins faces WBA World Champion Beibut Shumenov in an attempt, at 49-years-old, to become the oldest fighter in boxing history to unify world titles. The DC Armory, the site of several championship boxing matches in the last year, will host the return of the future Hall of Famer to the capital for the SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING® main event (9 p.m. ET/PT delayed on the West Coast).
In the co-main event, popular undefeated WBO Middleweight World Champion Peter “Kid Chocolate” Quillin defends his title for the third time when he meets WBO European titleholder and former interim WBO Junior Middleweight Champion Lukas Konecny.
LAS VEGAS (March 5, 2014) – MGM Grand Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nev. has won the right to host the Saturday, May 3 mega-fight between 10-time and Five-Division World Champion and current WBC Welterweight World Champion Floyd “Money” Mayweather against Argentine power-puncher and WBA Welterweight World Champion Marcos “El Chino” Maidana.
“We are honored to host another one of Floyd Mayweather’s epic championship fights at MGM Grand,” said Richard Sturm, president of Sports and Entertainment for MGM Resorts International. “The MGM Grand Garden Arena has been Floyd’s home for many years and he always thrills the fans inside the Arena and those watching worldwide.”
LAS VEGAS (March 4, 2014) – In addition to the recently announced lightweight battle between Ricardo “Dinamita” Alvarez (23-2-3, 13 KOs), older brother of Canelo and hard-hitting Sergio “Yeyo” Thompson (28-3, 26 KOs), of Cancun, Mexico, the March 8 undercard for “TOE TO TOE: Canelo vs. Angulo” will feature five more can’t-miss bouts for those in attendance at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
In a junior lightweight fight scheduled for 10 rounds, unbeaten Australian star “Wild” Will Tomlinson makes his United States debut against Texas’ Jerry “The Corpus Christi Kid” Belmontes. Plus, two more rising stars from the 130-pound weight class face off when Mexico City’s Francisco “El Bandido” Vargas battles Puerto Rico’s Abner Cotto. 2012 U.S. Olympian Joseph “Jo-Jo” Diaz Jr. takes on Jovany “El Cepillo” Fuentes in an eight-round super bantamweight bout preceded by a six-round junior welterweight bout starring unbeaten Keandre Gibson against Antonio “Tony” Wong. In the opening match on March 8, Australian prospect Steve Lovett faces an opponent to be announced in a six-round light heavyweight contest.
(Photo credit: Esther Lin/Showtime) Philadelphia, PA (Feb. 26, 2014) – Undefeated Unified Super Lightweight World Champion Danny Garcia (27-0, 16 KOs), of Philadelphia, and his father/trainer, Angel Garcia, hosted an open media workout on Wednesday at the DSG Boxing Gym in Philadelphia. Garcia is winding down preparations for his long-awaited debut to his native homeland and his world title defense against Maurcio Herrera (20-3, 7 KOs), of Riverside, Calif., on Saturday, March 15, in the main event on SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING®live on SHOWTIME® (9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT, delayed on the West Coast).
In the SHOWTIME co-feature from Coliseo Ruben Rodriguez in Bayamon, Puerto Rico, unbeaten knockout artist and American heavyweight hopeful, Deontay “Bronze Bomber” Wilder (30-0, 30 KOs), of Tuscaloosa, Ala., faces veteran Malik Scott (36-1-1, 13 KOs) of Philadelphia.
Virgil Hunter – Alfredo is very much up for this fight and into this fight. That’s not to say he wasn’t in any other bouts that he did, but we understand the magnitude of this opportunity and we intend to make the most of it.
I’m very pleased with the camp situation. We’re fortunate to have several of the guys in camp doing mini camps and conditioning, and because of that we’re able to provide Alfredo with a lot of different looks in sparring, which I feel complements the style that he has and he has the opportunity to pick up on various things that the styles offer.
Kelly Swanson
Thanks, everybody for joining us today. We’re very excited to be talking about the fantastic undercard of the Canelo vs. Angulo pay-per-view event, which is taking place Saturday, March 8 in Las Vegas at the MGM Grand Garden Arena and live on Showtime PPV®. Today joining us will be Leo Santa Cruz, Cristian Mijares, Omar Figueroa, Carlos Molina, Jermall Charlo and Eric Gomez, who will be running the call.
Boxing fans across the nation will have a ringside seat when Fathom Events, Golden Boy Promotions and Canelo Promotions bring the highly-anticipated 12-round bout between boxing superstar Canelo Alvarez and the relentless Alfredo “El Perro” Angulo on Saturday, March 8 at 9:00 p.m. ET / 8:00 p.m. CT / 7:00 p.m. MT / 6:00 p.m. PT / 5:00 p.m. AK / 4:00 p.m. HI. “Toe to Toe: Canelo vs. Angulo” will be broadcast live to select theaters nationwideforan action-packed fight from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas that assures redemption for just one of these elite fighters. The fight card also features Two-Division World Champion Leo “Terremoto” Santa Cruz (27-0-1, 15 KO’s) against Former World Champion Cristian “El Diamante” Mijares (49-7-2, 24 KO’s), WBC Lightweight World Champion Omar “Panterita” Figueroa (24-0-1, 17 KO’s) opposite Canelo’s older brother, Lightweight Contender Ricardo “Dinamita” Alvarez (23-2-3, 14 KO’s), as well as IBF Middleweight World Champion “King” Carlos Molina (22-5-2, 6 KO’s)against undefeated Jermall Charlo (17-0, 13 KO’s).
(Photo credit: Ester Lin/Showtime) DANNY “SWIFT” GARCIA, Unified Super Lightweight World Champion
“I am a Puerto Rican. I could have been born on the moon, but I’m still Puerto Rican.
[On fighting in Puerto Rico] “It means a lot to me. Everybody in the stands is going to be Puerto Rican. I’ve never had that before.
“Even though I’m from Philly, that’s not my heritage. It’s important for me to reach out to my fans because I think Puerto Rican boxing needs this right now.