HBO Sports presents a doubleheader of furious ring action when WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING: JUAN MANUEL MARQUEZ VS. JUAN DIAZ AND CHRIS JOHN VS. ROCKY JUAREZ is presented live SATURDAY, FEB. 28 (10:00 p.m. ET/7:00 p.m. PT) from the Toyota Center in Houston, exclusively on HBO. The WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING team of Jim Lampley, Max Kellerman and Emanuel Steward will be ringside for the event, which will be presented in HDTV and in Spanish on HBO Latino..
Other HBO playdate: March 1 (8:00 a.m.)
The highly anticipated main event pits former featherweight and super featherweight champ Juan Manuel Marquez (49-4-1, 36 KOs) from Mexico City, Mexico against former lightweight champ Juan Diaz (34-1, 17 KOs) in a scheduled 12-round blockbuster lightweight title contest. Competing for only the second time as a lightweight, Marquez looks to make a statement in his new division by taking on Diaz in his hometown for the belts vacated when Nate Campbell was unable to make weight for his Feb. 14 defense. The popular and engaging former unified lightweight champion, Diaz seeks to reestablish himself in the division and regain championship status.
The evening opens with undefeated featherweight title-holder Chris John (42-0-1, 22 KOs), from Jakarta, Indonesia, battling Houston’s Rocky Juarez (28-4, 20 KOs) in a scheduled 12-round bout. John has fought his entire career in Indonesia, Japan and Australia, and now puts his title on the line in his American debut. Top-rated challenger Juarez was last seen scoring an 11th-round victory over Jorge Barios on HBO in September.
All WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING events are broadcast in HDTV. HBO viewers must have access to the HBO HDTV channel to watch HBO programming in high definition.
The executive producer of WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING is Rick Bernstein; producer, Jon Crystal; director, Marc Payton.
® WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING is a registered service mark of Home Box Office, Inc.
Johnson vs Judah On Friday
Light heavyweight standouts Glen Johnson and Daniel Judah have unfinished business with each other after their disputed draw in 2003. On Friday, February 27th, they finally get their chance to get it on again at the Hard Rock Live in Hollywood, Florida, and tickets are now on sale for what promises to be an explosive rematch.
The countdown begins this Wednesday with the final press conference, and on Thursday, the fighters weigh in for this most anticepated rematch.
Each of these events is open to the public.
1 PM – Wdnesday, February 25 :: Press Conference at Paradise Live Theater
(Located next to Hard Rock Live in Seminole Paradise at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino.)
5 PM – Thursday, February 26 :: Weigh In at Hard Rock Live – 4th Floor VIP Room
Priced at $152, $102, $52, and $22, tickets may be purchased at the Hard Rock Live Box Office or TicketMaster.com for Johnson vs Judah II, a night of world-class professional boxing presented by Seminole Warriors Boxing.
Veto wins with impressive TKO over Hambardzumyan
21 February 2009 – In a four-round super-featherweight contest in Baden Baden, Germany, Gabor Veto from Hungary took on tough opponent Artur ‘King‘ Hambardzumyan from Armenia for his professional debut fight.
Veto, who turned pro, came in off a very successful amateur-career having fought in many EABA-tournaments and international championships as a member of Hungarian national team in several countries clocking up more than 60 amateur fights.
In an action-packed first round, Veto asserted his power while Hambardzumyan showed that he was not just going to roll over but instead, was a live opponent. Veto showed ring savvy in mixing in hard body shots with power punches to the head of Hambardzumyan to win the first round.
Round two saw Hambardzumyan come out strongly, but it only proved an opportunity for Veto to show off his power punching skills, first by knocking Hambardzumyan down to the canvas, and then after a brief timeout by the referee to give a standing eight- count to the Armenian.
That was the beginning of the end for Hambardzumyan and it looked as if there was no more wind in his sails. Hambardzumyan was battered about the ring by the relentless Veto, then after a hard right hook to the body, the referee called an end to the fight, making Veto the victor by TKO at 1:38 of round 2.
Gabor Veto will be back in the ring on the undercard of the Vitali Klitschko vs Juan Carlos Gomez fight in Stuttgart, Germany on March 2.