NEW YORK (May 12, 2015) — Undefeated World Boxing Association (WBA) featherweight world champion NICHOLAS “Axe Man” WALTERS of Jamaica, and the boxing gem of Puerto Rico, undefeated No. 3 world-rated lightweight contender FELIX “El Diamante” VERDEJO will headline, in separate bouts, a world championship card in New York during Puerto Rican Day Parade weekend. With 34 knockout victories between them, fireworks are all but assured for this event which will take place Saturday, June 13, in The Theater at Madison Square Garden. Both will be facing undefeated opponents. Walters, who is in the third year of his championship reign, will defend his world title against Top-10 contender MIGUEL “The Scorpion” MARRIAGA of Colombia. Verdejo, in his live HBO debut, will make the first defense of his newly-won World Boxing Organization (WBO) Latino lightweight title against IVAN “Bam Bam” NAJERA, of San Antonio, TX. Both fights will be televised live on HBO Boxing After Dark®, beginning at 10:00 p.m. ET/PT.
Nicholas Walters
2014/2015 Reviews & Previews: Nicholas Walters, Guilliermo Rigondeaux, Leo Santa Cruz, Vasyl Lomachenko, Sergey Kovalev, Adonis Stevenson, & Jean Pascal
(Note: In the fourth installment of a week long breakdown, boxing scribe Vivek “Vito” Wallace analyzes where today’s top fighters stand, and whether or not 2015 could be the year many of them fall. This week long analysis will cover over 30 top fighters from around the world)
GUILLERMO RIGONDEAUX
For the best boxer of this era to rise from the Cuban ranks, 2014 was far from eventful. After a stunning 2013 that saw him defeat both Donaire and Agbeko, 2014 saw him destroy an unknown fighter in China, and forcibly scrape himself off the canvas twice against an unknown fighter in Japan. Definitely not the level of competition you’d like to see from a fighter none as “boring”.
Boxing’s Best of 2014
In what turned out to be a somewhat lackluster year for the sport, there were some bright spots for boxing fans in 2014. The validation of stars like Sergey Kovalev, Terence Crawford and Nicholas Walters. The rejuvenation of Miguel Cotto and Manny Pacquiao. The continued rise of Gennady “GGG” Golovkin. This writer decided to share some of his favorites from the past twelve months below (check out the videos to see more). Let’s take a look at the pugilistic best of the year that was.
Montero’s “Rising Star”: Nicholas Walters
The “Axe Man” is one boxer who truly lives up to this nickname. He kicked off his year by chopping down former titlist Vic Darchinyan in Macau, then chopped down former pound for pound star Nonito Donaire in Los Angeles. The bilingual bomber can also box, as he showed a top-notch jab in his dismantling of Donaire. Fighting in a loaded featherweight division, the Jamaican native built most of his career in Panama and is fluent in Spanish. A consummate professional with a humble attitude and plenty of charisma, the sky is the limit for Nicholas Walters.
Nicholas Walters stops Donaire in six
http://youtu.be/xutTOL52I0U
In the “Mexican Style” co-feature, Nonito Donaire squared off against Jamaica’s Nicholas Walters before a packed house at the StubHub Center. Both men put their WBA featherweight titles on the line. If you’re asking yourself “how can both fighters have titles from the same sanctioning body in the same weight class?” – well that’s because the WBA is atrocious. None the less, this was a terrific bout between two of the best featherweights in the world, and they didn’t disappoint.
GGG puts Rubio down for the count; Donaire flashes briefly then flickers out at hands of Walters
The StubHub Center, Carson City, CA kept adding seating, and the fans gobbled them up. Fans wanted to see Nonito “The Filipino Flash” Donaire 33-2-0 (21 KO) squash Nicholas Walters 23-0-0 (21 KO) a rising star from Montego Bay, Jamaica, who learned his trade in Panama. They also eagerly wanted to witness Gennady GGG Golovkin get his 18th straight knockout. The build up for a Mexican Style battle was nothing more than a promotional tactic. Not many gave Rubio much of a chance. They were right.
First, what happened to the Flash. He put it best when he said, “He (Walters) beat the [expletive] out of me.” All you had to do was look at his face for convincing evidence. Both eyes were cut and swollen, and the rest of his face was also marked up. Walters was relatively unmarked, and was only in danger once in the second round when Donaire caught him with his vaunted left hook. It happened at the end of the round, and Walters wobbled back to his corner.
Donaire: I’m not ready to give up my spot to Walters
WBA Super World featherweight champion Nonito Donaire (33-2, 21 KOs) says he’s not ready to give up his spot to the little known 28-year-old Nicholas Walters (24-0, 20 KOs) in their fight later on tonight on HBO Championship Boxing from the StubHub Center in Carson, California.
The 31-year-old Donaire thinks he’s still got enough in the tank to get past the likes of Walters. However, Donaire has not looked good in his last several bouts, and there are some boxing fans who think that he played injured in his last fight against Simpiwe Vetyeka in order to win a world title in 5 rounds instead of going the full distance.
Rubio fails to make weight for Golovkin fight
Marco Antonio Rubio (59-6-1, 51 KOs) failed to make weight today at the weigh-in for his big fight on Saturday night against WBA middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin (30-0, 27 KOs). Rubio tried to get down to the 160 pound limit, but he reached a sticking point at 161.8 pounds and he couldn’t get any lower than that.
Rubio stripped down in a vain attempt to make the weight, but it was clear he wasn’t going to be able to make the weight. By not making weight, Rubio will lose $100,000 of his $450,000 purse for the fight. This obviously was poor planning on Rubio’s part because the warning signs were there a month ago when Rubio weighed in at 174.5 pounds. In contrast, Golovkin weighed just 165 pounds at the time.
Donaire and Walters workout quotes
http://youtu.be/OqJp6n8ezB8
World Boxing Association (WBA) featherweight champions NONITO “The Filipino Flash” DONAIRE and NICHOLAS “The Axe Man” WALTERS collide This Saturday! in a WBA featherweight title unification showdown at a sold-out StubHub! Center in Carson, Calif.