In one of the year’s shockers, Star Boxing’s Long Island knockout artist Joe “The Irish Bomber” Smith Jr. (22-1, 18 KOs) stunned heavily-favored power-puncher Andrzej Fonfara (28-4, 16 KOs) with a first round TKO in the scheduled 10-round light heavyweight main event on Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) on NBC tonight at UIC Pavilion in Chicago.
Rau’shee Warren (14-1, 4 KOs) earn a bantamweight world championship as he defeated Juan Carlos Payano (17-1, 8 KOs) in a rematch of their August 2015 world title bout.
The three-time Olympian Warren became the first member of the 2012 U.S. team to earn a world title when he was awarded the majority decision over the two-time Dominican Olympian Payano.
Hard punching light heavyweight Joe Smith Jr. (22-1, 17 KOs) pulled off a big upset tonight in defeating former world title challenger WBC #2, WBA #3, WBO #4 Andrzej Fonfara (28-4, 16 KOs) in halting him in round one tonight in front of his own fans at the UIC Pavilion in Chicago, Illinois.
Smith timed Fonfara with a right hand and put him down hard. When he got back up, Smith finished him off with a series of hard right hands to that head. The referee stopped it at 2:32 of the round. Fonfara never even had a chance to get warmed up properly. It was over that quickly.
6/18/16, New York- Star Boxing’s Rockin’ Fights took center stage on Friday night (June 17), and WBC Silver International Champion and WBC World #4-ranked Junior Welterweight contender Cletus “The Hebrew Hammer” Seldin (19-0, 16 KO’s Long Island, NY) extended his unbeaten streak with his 19th consecutive victory, a rousing first round TKO over Jesus Selig (19-4-1, 12 KO’s Douglas, Arizona) at The Paramount in Huntington, New York. Seldin attacked with thrilling ferocity from the get go. He knocked the seasoned Selig to the mat the first time he landed flush to his head. Selig rose but the writing was on the wall as Seldin went in for the kill. Cletus then drilled a wobbly Selig in what will be a highlight reel knockout for many years to come. The referee didn’t bother to count. The 10-round Junior Welterweight main event headlined the 24th edition of the popular series promoted by Joe DeGuardia.
Shades of Mike Tyson Vs. Buster Douglas? WBC heavyweight champ Deontay Wilder is a whopping favourite to retain his belt with a win over Chris Arreola when they meet on July 16th. A betting site in Alabama – Wilder’s hometown – list the champ as a 37-1 favourite to beat Arreola. Most odds, found on line, have Wilder as around a 25-1 favourite to win next month.
Amir Khan, last seen losing his big and brave gamble of a 155-pound fight with Mexican star Saul Canelo Alvarez, is not sounding at all like a fighter who is thinking about retirement. Far from it, Khan is searching – or, to use his exact words, chasing – another big fight; a return meeting with WBC welterweight ruler Danny Garcia. Khan is currently the WBC number-one contender and he wants the fight.
Khan was of course stopped by Garcia back in 2012, inside four-rounds. Can Khan do any better in a rematch? If Khan gets his way, we will find out.
Andrzej Fonfara faces an unknown foe Joe Smith Jr., in a 10 rounds light heavyweight bout in the main event on primetime NBC. The co-feature offers up a rematch from a razor-close fight last August between Juan Carlos Payano and Rau’shee Warren. Fonfara vs. Smith Jr. could be good TV bout but Haymon could have matched Fonfara with a more recognizable name. This would have given the event a fighting chance in a wave of critics that always point toward the PBC. The card will take place in Chicago, Illinois, at the UIC Pavilion.
Though there are certainly plenty of critics and cynics who say the fight will either never happen at all or that it is a gross mismatch anyway, Chris Eubank Junior’s promoter Eddie Hearn insists talks are well underway, at an advanced stage even, for his fighter to face unbeaten pound-for-pound star Gennady Golovkin. In fact Hearn, in speaking with Sky Sports News HQ, said we should “not be surprised to see Eubank-Golovkin in September.”
Hearn said Eubank must first take care of, and look good against, Tom Doran in defence of his British middleweight belt on June 25th (on the Joshua-Breazeale card in London) but that it could then be an assault on GGG’s collection of world titles.
JOE SMITH, JR. Tips Scales at 173 lbs., ANDRZEJ FONFARA Weighs in at 174.5 lbs. for PREMIER BOXING CHAMPIONS ON NBC – Star Boxing’s Long Island knockout artist Joe “The Irish Bomber” Smith Jr. (21-1, 17 KOs) weighed in at 173 lbs. for his national television debut against another power-puncher, Andrzej Fonfara (28-3, 16 KOs), who tipped the scales at 174.5 lbs. for tomorrow night’s (Saturday, June 18) 10-round main event on Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) on NBC from UIC Pavilion in Chicago.
Martin Murray says George Groves got his name from losing twice to Carl Froch – and believes he’ll look to shift the blame when he beats him in their clash for the WBA International Super-Middleweight title clash at The O2 on Saturday June 25, live on Sky Sports Box Office.
Murray believes Groves is too focused on being the ‘a-side’ of their battle, rather than focusing on the fight itself, as the Brit rivals look to move into line for a crack at the World title in the second half of the year.