2008 Olympic alternate “Irish” Danny O’Connor’s latest fight vs. Montreal, Canada’s Sebastien Hamel is now available via an on demand PPV on www.NESportsTV.com. The bout was recorded this past Saturday at The Roxy in Boston. O’Connor, a native of Framingham, MA, is immensely skilled and especially popular in his hometown. In his six fights leading into the Hamel bout, he’s undefeated with two knockouts. He’s previously been featured on ESPN’s Friday Night Fights..
Hamel, a rugged boxing veteran, represents O’Connor’s most experienced opponent to date as he carries a record of 10-19, with 1 KO heading into the fight. Hamel’s last nine consecutive fights were scheduled six rounders. However, this will be O’Connor’s first six round bout.
NESportsTV.com is a brand new sports video on demand website that features some exceptional boxing content. Also available are heavyweight fights between Providence’s Phil “Killa” Miller and Attleboro’s Steve Jaegar and Worcester’s Rashad Minor and Hickory, North Carolina’s Lewis Cotuna.
Coming soon: watch former world title challenger Elvin Ayala take on the very tough Eddie Caminero in a super middleweight .
SAN JOSE NATIVE, RICARDO CORTES TO FIGHT AT AMERICAN METAL & IRON FIGHT NIGHT AT THE TANK: THE NEXT CHAPTER
AM&I Fight Night at the Tank Returns to HP Pavilion at San Jose on Thursday, July 16
San Jose, CA– American Metal & Iron Fight Night at the Tank: The Next Chapter returns to HP Pavilion at San Jose on Thursday, July 16 featuring a special 8-round bout highlighting San Jose native Ricardo Cortes (22-3-1, 15 KO’s).
Cortes makes his return to HP Pavilion for the first time since November 2007 when he knocked out Joshua Onyango (14-17-1, 11 KO’s). Always a Fight Night at the Tank favorite, Cortes has knocked out 10 of his 13 opponents at HP Pavilion dating back to 2002. Cortes will be fighting Oakland native, James Buggs (8-9-3). This will be Buggs’ first time fighting at the Tank.
The undercard for July 16 will include Clint Coronel (0-0-1), Juan Tepoz (1-1), Maurice Slade (0-2), Claudia Gutierrez (Debut), Fernando Barajas (4-2). Each of these fighters will be competing in four-round bouts and will be included in the “You Be The Judge” competition.
SPECIAL GUEST LARRY MERCHANT TO ATTEND AMERICAN METAL & IRON FIGHT NIGHT AT THE TANK
Well known boxing analyst, Larry Merchant, will be in attendance at AM&I Fight Night at the Tank weigh-in on Wednesday, July 15 at 6 p.m. and at the event on Thursday, July 16 at 7:30 pm. Merchant will be on-site at HP Pavilion and is available for interviews as well as fan autographs and interaction. For additional information about the weigh-in, scroll down.
Larry Merchant serves as special analyst for HBO Sports’ presentations of “World Championship of the world’s top boxing events on television.
Merchant, a former sports columnist with the Philadelphia Daily News and the New York Post, and a general columnist with the Los Angeles Herald Examiner, joined HBO Sports in 1978 as an expert analyst. Well-regarded for his no-hype style and his dramatic overviews of the fight scene, Merchant has covered a majority of the top boxing events of recent decades, including Sugar Ray Leonard vs. Thomas Hearns, Alexis Arguello vs. Aaron Pryor, Michael Spinks vs. Larry Holmes, Marvin Hagler vs. Sugar Ray Leonard, Mike Tyson vs. Michael Spinks, Oscar De La Hoya vs. Felix Trinidad, De La Hoya vs. Floyd Mayweather, Jermain Taylor vs. Bernard Hopkins and De La Hoya vs. Manny Pacquiao.
In May 1985, Merchant received the prestigious Sam Taub Memorial Award for Excellence in Boxing Broadcast Journalism, presented by the Boxing Writers Association of America, for his commentary and analysis on HBO’s “World Championship Boxing” presentations. He is the author of three books—”The National Football Lottery,” “Ringside Seat at the Circus” and “…Everyday You Take Another”—and wrote the scripts for a number of HBO Sports specials, including “The Not-So-Great Moments in Sports” and “Son of the Not-So-Great Moments in Sports.” He also served as writer for the Emmy-Award-winning HBO documentary series “Legendary Nights.”
In June of 2007, the BWAA honored him with the James J. Walker Award for long Boxing” and “HBO Pay-Per-View,” and has covered many and meritorious service. In June of 2009, Merchant joins a distinguished class of new inductees into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in upstate, New York.
TKO BOXING PROMOTIONS SIGNS SUPER MIDDLEWEIGHT DENNIS HASSON
LAS VEGAS , NV (July 3, 2009) Chet Koerner’s TKO BOXING Promotions has announced the signing of outstanding super middleweight prospect Dennis “THE ASSASSIN” Hasson.
The 26 year old Hasson, fighting out of Philadelphia , has compiled a record of 8-0-0 with two knockouts since turning professional fifteen months ago after an outstanding amateur career. Most recently he won a unanimous decision over Johnny Hayes on April 4th in Philadelphia .
Said Koerner, “Dennis is exactly the type of fighter we’re looking for at TKO BOXING. He’s dedicated and serious about becoming a world champion and we look forward to working with him towards that goal. He’s gotten better in each of his fights and we look forward to announcing his first fight under the TKO BOXING banner shortly.”
Added Chris Middendorf, CEO and matchmaker for TKO BOXING, “TKO has made Pennsylvania one of its home bases across the country. Having done shows in York and Johnstown, featuring home town heroes Carney Bowman and Andres Taylor, respectively, we felt that it was important to begin doing shows in one of the truly great fight towns, Philadelphia .”
“Dennis is a very popular young prospect there and we will definitely begin promoting shows there in the next six months. We already promote Anthony “The Messenger” Thompson, also from Philly, and we are looking at several other young prospects from the area, so we are well on our way to assembling a group of quality Philly fighters.”
“In the next few months we will find the right location and soon be presenting our “HOMETOWN HEROES TO WORLD CHAMPIONS” series to one of the best groups of fight fans anywhere. Having done shows in Philadelphia before, I am very excited about TKO going to Philly.”.
Born and raised in North Philadelphia, Hasson grew up across the street from the house used in the movie Rocky 1. He started boxing as an amateur in 1996, just as his eventual amateur coach David Reid was winning the gold medal at the Olympics in Atlanta .
Dennis parlayed his amateur success into a full scholarship on the Northern Michigan United States Olympic Training Center Boxing Team, under the direction of Al Mitchell, becoming one of the very few awarded such an honor while still finishing high school.
While at Northern Michigan, Hasson was a teammate of Jermain Taylor, Sechew Powell and Zahir Raheem and was ranked #2 in the United States in his weight class. He finished his amateur career with a record of 85-16.
Formed in early 2008, Chet Koerner’s Las Vegas based TKO BOXING Promotions, originator of the “HOMETOWN HEROES TO WORLD CHAMPIONS” national boxing series, stable includes; heavyweight Lenroy Thomas, cruiserweight Andres Taylor, super middleweight Joey Gilbert and Fedor Chudinov, middleweights Peter Manfredo Jr., Elvin Ayala, Albert Onolunose, James Countryman and Dmitry Chudinov, junior middleweights Bastie Samir and Anthony Thompson, welterweights Juan Buendia and Raul Tovar, junior welterweights Francisco Contreras and Hastings Bwayla, lightweights Rolando Reyes and Terence Crawford, featherweights Matt Remillard, Carney Bowman, Delvin Plascencia, Rafael Lora and Maxwell Awaku, super bantamweights Rafael Valenzuela and Carlos Reyes.
Further information on TKO Boxing Promotions can be viewed at their newly remodeled website, www.tkoboxingpromotions.com