28.09.04 – Dominic Pesoli’s 8 Count Productions along with Bob Arum’s Top Rank Incorporated and Miller Lite presents LATIN SHOWDOWN, Chicagoland’s biggest live professional boxing card of 2004 at Hawthorne Race Course on Friday, October 15th as part of Telefutura’s SOLO BOXEO Friday Night Boxing Series.
Headlining the live, internationally televised action packed card is the return to Chicago of Mexican legend, former world champion, Cesar Bazan, 43-6-1 (20KO’s) of Mexico City, Mexico in a ten round welterweight battle against tough veteran Francisco Campos, 17-1-1 (9KO’s) of Cartago, Costa Rica. Bazan made his first appearance in Chicago this past February in a fight shortened by his opponent’s continual low blows resulting in a second round disqualification for Bazan in front of a packed DePaul Athletic Center of 3,500 local fight fans.
The co-main event features the televised debut of Illinois State Middleweight Champion, “Macho” Miguel Hernandez, 13-1 (8KO’s). Preparing daily for the big event. “Macho” spoke of the upcoming bout, “this bout is dedicated to my grandparents, they’re unable to make it to my fights, so this is their first opportunity for them to see one of my boxing matches. I also have friends and family all over the country and this is a terrific chance for them to see one of my fights.
Speaking of his training Hernandez said “I prepare for each fight at the maximum level, if at some point I lose, they’ll have beaten me at my best, I’m not going to cheat myself. When asked about his huge loyal following, Miguel said “it means so much to me, every fight, there’s more and more people chanting my name and I really feed off that. I feel like I have to not let them down and not let myself down.”
This huge card marks the third straight month 8 Count Productions has held an event at Hawthorne Race Track on the South Side of Chicago and Dominic Pesoli spoke about Chicago’s South Side and Hawthorne, “we’ve down two shows on the South Side and had very large crowds both times. Our loyal following was coming to DePaul and now we’re adding a huge following that we’ve always had on the South Side. The race course had big shows in the mid 90’s, even Roy Jones conqueror Glen Johnson fought there along with fan favorite Fres Oquendo. 8 Count fans are loyal and very smart about boxing and we’ve found that if we put on quality shows, which we’ve been doing a good job of, then they’ll come to our shows all over the city. This card is the biggest we’ve done this year and the second floor ballroom is being used at Hawthorne to accommodate the big crowd.”
Speaking of working with Bob Arum’s Top Rank Incorporated, Pesoli added, “We’ve done numerous shows with Top Rank and its always a pleasure working with their team. They’ve done a great job with the Telefutura series and their bigger shows such as the De La Hoya/Hopkins event and its million PPV buys speaks for itself.
The full bout card is a follows:
Cesar Bazan vs. Francisco Campos, ten rounds–welterweights
Miguel Hernandez vs. TBA, 8 rounds–middleweights
David Estrada vs. Michael Walker, 6 rounds–middleweights
Luciano Perez vs. Joseph Pujoe, 6 rounds–welterweights
Hector Alejandro, Jr. vs TBA, 6 rounds–junior welterweights
Frankie Tafoya vs. Omar Reyes, 4 rounds–featherweights
Ivan Rodriguez vs TBA, 4 rounds–bantamweights
Don George vs. TBA, 4 rounds–middleweights
Rita Figueroa vs TBA, 4 rounds–super lightweights.
The Hawthorne Race Course is located at 35th and Laramie, just minutes from both the Stevenson and Eisenhower expressways. Doors for this internationally televised event open at 6pm, with the first bell at7pm. Tickets, starting at $25 are available now by calling 312-226-5800. For this event, the very spacious second floor ballroom at the Hawthorne Race Course will be used to allow for the expected large audience.