Puritty injured, Tua to face Okine at Roseland

New York, Oct. 30—Due to an injury to Ross Puritty, Gotham Boxing has signed heavyweight Abraham “The African Assassin” Okine as the replacement face David Tua in the main event this week at the Roseland Ballroom in New York City on Friday night, November 3 on “Marathon Extravaganza” fight card presented by Gotham Boxing and DRL Promotions, it was announced today.

Puritty sustained a severe cut on his forehead last week in final preparations, so was unable to participate in the contest.

The event is sponsored by Everlast Nutrition, makers of nutrition and beverage products under the famous Everlast brand name. Every person in attendance to the November 3rd event will receive a complementary ice cold Everlast Energy Drink courtesy of Everlast Nutrition.

Okine (14-2, 8 KO’s), a native of Accra, Ghana, which has produced the likes of former champions Azumah Nelson and Ike Quartey, now fights out of Pittsburgh, PA. The 6-2 heavyweight had reeled off 14 straight wins without defeat before two recent setbacks to Shannon Briggs and Timo Hoffmann.

Roseland is located at West 52nd Street between Broadway and Eighth Avenue.

Tua, the Samoan slugger from South Aukland, New Zealand, has won three straight since returning to the ring wars after two full years of inactivity, and looks to continue the streak on his quest to return to prominence in the heavyweight division.

Tua has a glittering ring record of 45-3-1, and displayed his powerful knockout punch in 39 of those victories. He has defeated the likes of former champions Hassim Rahman, Michael Moorer, and John Ruiz, and current WBC champion Oleg Maskaev during his career.

A solid undercard featuring top prospects from both New York City and Puerto Rico. The undefeated invaders from the island of Puerto Rico are Jose Nieves (15-0-2, 8 KO’s), and Hector Sanchez (7-0, 2 KO’s). The “Big Apple” cast includes: “Mean” Joe Green (14-0, 8 KO’s), Peter “Kid Chocolate” Quillin (7-0, 6 KO’s), Jorge Teron (12-0-1, 8 KO’s), Cindy Serrano (13-0-1, 7 KO’s), Joel Castillo (1-0-0, 1 KO), John Schneider (1-0, 1 KO) and Darrel Madison (Pro Debut).

Tickets are priced at $200, $150, $100, $75 and $50, and are available at Gotham Boxing by calling 212-755-1944, and Ticketmaster.