Big hearted bantamweight Matthew Edmonds has been added to the mouth-watering Wigan, England bill this Friday, March 6, headlined by Jamie Moore’s long awaited European light middleweight title opportunity against Italy’s former world champion Michele Piccirillo at Robin Park Arena. 25 year old Edmonds, 9-2 (2), has been on a tear since losing a valiant Commonwealth title clash against the far more experienced Jason Booth in December, 2007..
The Newport battler has proved his meddle by walking through three durable fighters from Ghana along with a dominating victory over the iron-chinned “Tasmanian Devil”, Romanian hard man Gheorghe Ghiompirica last October.
But for Edmonds to continue his promising career trajectory, he’ll have to overcome durable 19 year old Georgian Kakhaber Avetisian, 10-8-1 (1), at Robin Park Arena on Friday, which will not be an east task.
Despite still being a teenager, the seasoned Avetisian has competitively shared the ring with current European flyweight champion Bernard Inom, current Commonwealth super flyweight champ Don Broadhurst and former European Union bantamweight titlist Eugen Sorin Tanasie.
Edmonds has vowed to bring home a British title back to his faithful fans in Wales but without a good win over the Georgian Avetisian, who has nothing to lose on this English vacation, he might not even get the opportunity to fight for the coveted Lonsdale Belt.
Frank Maloney Promotions in association with VIP Promotions presents Jamie Moore vs. Michele Piccirillo for the Light Middleweight Championship of Europe with full supporting undercard including Irish sensation and 2008 Olympic Bronze Medallist Darren Sutherland at Robin Park Arena in Wigan, England on Friday, March 6, 2009.
Tickets, priced at £90 for VIP Ringside, £80 for Ringside and £35 General Admission are available by logging onto www.frankmaloney.com or by calling the Box Office at 0871 226 1508.
Sky Sports will televise the action live on SS2 starting at 10PM.
Peters expresses disappointment at Egan withdrawal
Promoter Brian Peters has expressed his disappointment at Kenny Egan’s withdrawal from the Hunky Dorys World Title Fight Night at The O2, Dublin on Saturday, March 21st. The 2008 Beijing Silver medallist had been set for a rematch of his Olympic final on the undercard of Bernard Dunne’s World title bid but he withdrew yesterday admitting that he would not be ready for the fight.
Speaking following Egan’s pullout Peters said, “Clearly Kenny is going through a difficult time right now in his life and he needs all the help and support he can get at the moment because his health and well being is obviously paramount.
“It’s unfortunate because Xiaoping Zhang had accepted the fight and Kenny’s coach Gerry Fleming and the Irish Amateur Boxing Association were instrumental in working with the President of the Chinese Boxing Federation Chang Jianping to secure the fight for The O2 on March 21st.”
A 6 man delegation from China including Xiaoping Zhang and the Chinese head coach had been all set to arrive in Dublin early on the week of the fight but Peters believes that Egan ultimately made the right decision for himself.
“A lot of hard work had gone into securing the Olympic final rematch from all parties,” revealed Peters. “We had finalised all the details late last week and Kenny was due to announce the bout on a planned appearance on Tubridy Tonight last Saturday. Clearly Kenny has issues that he needs to address before getting back in the ring and he felt that the March 21st date was simply too soon.
“It’s disappointing for everyone involved including Xiaoping Zhang who was really looking forward to coming to Dublin. However I’m sure it’s even more disappointing for Kenny to have to withdraw but in this case his health and well being must come before everything else.”
Martin Rogan’s Epic Victory To Be Replayed On BBC Northern Ireland
Martin Rogan’s sensational win over Matt Skelton to capture the Commonwealth Heavyweight Title will be replayed on Wednesday, March 4, on BBC 1 Northern Ireland. Jim Neilly will describe the best of the action from a contest considered one of the best heavyweight bouts in more than a decade as part of a specially extended “Season Ticket” documentary – The Breen Team – about the gym where Rogan learned his trade.
The programme starts at 10:45pm on BBC 1 Northern Ireland
The heavy-handed Belfast star hit the headlines with his amazing upset victory at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham where he stopped Skelton in the eleventh round of a brutal and exciting fight.
Now fans who missed the action can see what Promoter Frank Warren has described as the best heavyweight fight he had seen in 15 years.
The 37-year-old’s fairytale story from Belfast cabbie to champion has captured the hearts of the public. Although unbeaten, Rogan shot to prominence by winning the inaugural Prizefighter tournament last year and then really hit the big-time when he beat Olympic Champion Audley Harrison to set up his showdown against Skelton.
Rogan, who is now looking towards a glorious homecoming fight for the vacant European title in May, said, “It was absolutley tremedous to be involved in a fight like that and I’m so happy that it will be show again by BBC Northern Ireland for even more people to enjoy. Skelton was a very hard man, the best I have been in with, but I said to myself there was no way I was going to lose this fight and I wanted to bring the title back home with me. It’s probably going to be more painful watching the fight the second time round!”