Promoter Art Pelullo/Banner Promotions will present a sensational fight card on March 16, 2007, in the Sports Bar at Rockingham Park, located on Rockingham Park Boulevard in Salem, New Hampshire. The main event and co-featured fight will be televised live on ESPN’s “Friday Night Fights.” The main event will be the rematch of two former IBF featherweight world champions – Valdemir Pereira, 24-1 with 15 knockouts, of Sao Caetano do Sul, Brazil, and Eric Aiken, 16-5 with 12 knockouts, of Washington, D.C. This scheduled 12 rounder will be an IBF elimination bout for the number one ranking and position of mandatory world title challenger..
Their first fight in Boston last May was an exciting battle, and the momentum shifted back and forth. Pereira, making his first defense of the IBF world title, outboxed Aiken and built an early lead on the scorecards, but Aiken rallied to score one knockdown in the fourth round and another in the fifth. Pereira came back and swept the sixth and seventh rounds, but was also penalized one point for low blows in each round. The referee ruled that Pereira punched low again in the eighth round, and he was disqualified at 1:37 of the round. After seven rounds, the fight was scored 66-63 Aiken, 65-65, 65-65.
Jr. middleweight prospect Jason LeHoullier, 20-0 with 8 knockouts, of Portland, Maine, will fight Martinus Clay, 12-13-2 with 4 knockouts, of Wilson, North Carolina, in the co-featured bout scheduled for eight rounds. Lehoullier, a native of Dover, New Hampshire, has an aggressive style and always makes exciting fights. He summed up his take-no-prisoners attitude: “When I get into the ring, I look at my opponent and say to myself, “It’s either me or you. Only one of us is going to leave here a winner, and it’s going to be me.” Clay is a boxer with a deceiving record – he has a number of impressive wins to his credit, and several of his losses were by questionable decisions.
An exciting lineup of five supporting bouts is planned to complete the event. All bouts are subject to change without notice.
Doors open at 6:00 P.M., first fight at 7:30 P.M. (ET)
Ticket prices: $30, $50, $100.
Tickets are available at: Rockingham Park, Stateline Tickets in Salem, N.H., and online at www.ticketweb.com.