HENDERSON, Nevada (April 24, 2008) – Double-barreled International Female Boxers Association (IFBA) world championship action heads East on Thursday, June 12 for a show airing on Fox Sports Net’s Best Damn Championship Fight Night Period from Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut..
IFBA World junior featherweight champion Lisa “Bad News” Brown (14-3-3, 4 KOs) defends her title belt against Alicia “Slick” Ashley (14-7-1, 1 KO) in the 10-round main event. IFBA World flyweight champion Elena “Baby Doll” Reid (19-4-5, 5 KOs) puts her crown on the line versus Anastasia Toktaulova 12-8, 2 KOs) in the 10-round co-feature.
“The IFBA brings fans the best in women’s professional boxing and we’re delighted to bring our IFBA Championship Boxing series East to beautiful Mohegan Sun,” IFBA president Judy Kulis said. “Many of the world’s top women fighters are on this card and all of the matches promise to be very competitive and exciting. We’re especially happy to have Melinda Cooper’s much-anticipated comeback on this show.”
Three-time world champion Brown, a native of Trinidad and Tobago, now fights out of Toronto, Canada. She captured the coveted IFBA crown 13-months ago with a 10-round decision against Jackie Chavez and successfully defended it February 7 via a 10-round decision versus Jeri “Fists of Fury” Stizes.
Ashley, born in Jamaica and living in Westbury, New York, is a 3-time world champion in three different divisions. Her most notable wins have been against previously unbeaten Alesia Graf, Reid, Bonnie Canino and Leona Brown.
Las Vegas-based Reid, born in Phoenix, captured her IFBA flyweight title by 10-round decision last July against Shin-Hee Choi. “Baby Doll” also fought a 10-round draw three years ago with the great Regina Halmich in Germany.
Toktaulova comes from Moscow, where she was the European super flyweight and bantamweight champion, as well as Russian super flyweight title-holder.
Las Vegas’ unbeaten star Melinda Cooper (18-0, 10 KOs) returns on the undercard after nearly 1-1/2 years of inactivity to take on knockout specialist Donna “Nature Girl” Biggers (19-7-1, 16 KOs) in a special six-round junior featherweight bout. Cooper has had difficulty finding opponents, which accounts for her recent inactivity and only two fights in almost three years, while South Carolina-based Biggers, conversely, has fought some of the iron including Layla McCarter, Jelena Mrdjenovich, and Mia St. John.
Stizes (14-7-1, 6 KOs), of Springfield, Missouri, is matched in a six-round bout on the June 12th card against Ela “Bam Bam” Nunez (6-3, 2 KOs), fighting out of Jamestown, New York. Another six-round bout will soon be announced.
Go to www.ifba.com for more information. The undercard will start a 7 PM/ET, followed by the first of three scheduled televised bouts beginning at 8 PM/ET.
IFBA
Since its inception in 1997, the IFBA has sanctioned more than 100 women’s title bouts and was the first to sanction all-women’s cards on cable and broadcast television, including ESPN2, USA Network, Pay-Per-View, Fox Sports International and on SBS, MBC and MBC-ESPN in Korea. With the help of various State Boxing Commissions, the IFBA established many of the rules used in the sport today. The IFBA is sanctioning four championship bouts June 13, featuring a showdown between Holly “The Preacher’s Daughter” Holm and Mary Jo Sanders for the vacant IFBA World junior middleweight title and pound-for-pound supremacy, live on pay-per-view television from Albuquerque. For more information, visit www.IFBA.com.
FSN
FSN is the nation’s leading provider of local sports. FSN’s 16 owned-and-operated regional networks and its affiliated networks reach more than 70 million homes across the U.S. FSN serves as the TV home to nearly two-thirds of all MLB, NHL and NBA teams based in the United States. FSN also produces close to 5,000 live local events each year, including more than 1400 in high definition. In addition to its thousands of home team games and a wide variety of locally produced sports programs, FSN televises national sports events and programs, including Pac-10 and ACC basketball and Pac-10 and Big 12 football.