STAMFORD, CT (October 27, 2006) – Undefeated middleweight Kelly Pavlik headlines the next edition of VERSUS Fight Night, in conjunction with Top Rank Boxing, on Thursday, November 2 at 9 p.m. ET. Pavlik will take on Lenord Pierre in the 12-round main event in Pavlik’s hometown of Youngstown, Ohio. Pavlik headlined the first-ever Fight Night card in July when he stopped veteran Bronco McKart on a sixth-round TKO.. The bout, originating from the Chevrolet Centre in Youngstown, will be for the WBO, NABO and IBA super middleweight titles. He is the current NABF champion.
As an added bonus, Fight Night viewers will be able to score the bouts from home through the VERSUS website at VERSUS.com. These viewer scores will be posted throughout the telecast.
The undercard will feature an eight-round super welterweight rematch between Houston’s Ahmed “Hollywood” Kaddour (19-2-1, 9 KOs) and Jesus Valverde (21-12-1, 16 KOs) of Mazaltan, Sinora, Mexico. The pair fought to an eight-round draw at the Orleans Hotel & Casino on September 14.
Nicknamed the “Ghost,” Pavlik (28-0, 25 KOs) has risen rapidly through the middleweight ranks and is ranked in the top ten by all of boxing’s governing bodies. He captured the NABF tile last October on a ninth-round TKO against Fulgencio Zuniga. In his last fight, he became the first fighter to stop the veteran McKart.
Pierre (18-2-1, 13 KOs) originally from Haiti but now a resident of Catskill New York, was stopped in his last fight, a 12-round war with Willie Gibbs for the USBA middleweight championship at Foxwoods Resort Casino in June. The slugging Pierre was ahead on two of the judges cards before being knocked down twice in the final round. He is trained by Kevin Rooney.
VERSUS will also showcase two great comeback victories by the legendary Roberto Duran as part of its classic fight series, Fight Night: Top Rank’s Legends of the Ring on Thursday, Nov. 9 at 9 pm. Featured will be Duran’s conquests of Pipino Cuevas and Davey Moore from 1983.
Fight Night is hosted by Wally Matthews, a veteran boxing writer who has covered the sport for two decades, and Bob Papa, who has called boxing for ESPN and currently for NBC. Michael Buffer, the tuxedoed announcer who coined the catchphrase “Let’s get ready to rumble!” serves as the ring announcer.
VERSUS (VERSUS.com) celebrates competition in all its forms. The network is the national cable home of the National Hockey League (NHL) and the Stanley Cup Playoffs as well as best-in-class events like The Tour de France, the America’s Cup, the Dakar Rally, the Professional Bull Riders (PBR), Professional Boxing, the Boston Marathon, AMA Motocross and Davis Cup. Now in more than 70 million homes, the network features the best field sports programming on television and is a destination for sports fans, athletes and sportsmen to find exclusive, competitive events that audiences can’t find elsewhere. The network offers unique, competition-themed original programming and is the exclusive home of Survivor in syndication. VERSUS, a wholly owned company of Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ: CMCSA, CMCSK), is distributed via cable systems and satellite operators throughout the United States.