Former Cruiserweight Champion and 1996 Olympic Gold Medalist Vassiliy “The Tiger” Jirov (37-3-1, 31 KOs) is returning to boxing with the intention of regaining his cruiserweight world championship. The popular former champion moved to Phoenix after the 1996 Olympics and has remained a resident since. Currently training in downtown Phoenix at both Central Gym and Joe Diaz Gym, Jirov has not fought in his adopted home town since his spectacular 12 round IBF Cruiserweight Title Defense against Jorge Castro in February of 2002 to a sold out crowd at the very same theatre..
A fan favorite worldwide for his relentless come-forward attack and intense body punching ability, Jirov first made history when he defeated the American team captain Antonio Tarver to win the Olympic light heavyweight gold medal in Atlanta in 1996. He also received the prestigious Val Barker Cup for being the best fighter of the games.
After a few years of stop-and-go activities Jirov has now reunited with his original manager Ivaylo Gotzev and they decided to make his triumphant return to the ring happen right here in his hometown . Jirov has an undefeated record of 32-0 and 27 knockouts while under Ivaylo’s management. Jirov will make every effort to keep his unbeaten record in tack under Ivaylo.
The plan, according to Gotzev, is to take some tune-up fights before making an attempt to regain his cruiserweight title. “There is no doubt in my mind that Vassiliy will be unified cruiserweight champion of the world.”
Tickets for “the event” are on sale now and may be purchased by calling the celebrity theatre at 602-267-1600 or by visiting www.celebritytheatre.com . Group Tickets, VIP packages and hospitality packages are available by calling 1 623-332-4876.
For more information and constant updates on the fight please visit us at www.neworldpromotions.com
Christy Martin vs. Dakota Stone Co-Headline Sept. 2 in Syracuse
Jimmy Burchfield’s Classic Entertainment and Sports, Inc. (CES) continues its expansion outside of New England, presenting “Fight Night At The Fair,” in association with the New York State Fair and International Boxing Hall of Fame (IHOF), Wednesday night, Sept. 2 at the Mohegan Sun Grandstand in Syracuse, N.Y.
Women’s boxing trailblazer, Christy “Coalminer’s Daughter” Martin (48-5-3, 31 KOs), takes on multiple world-title challenger Dakota Stone (9-7-5, 1 KO) in the 10-round co-main event for the vacant WBC Female Junior Middleweight Championship.
“The last time we had boxing here was at the Coliseum,” State Fair director Dan O’Hara noted. “Now, it’s at the State Fair and we’re excited about it. We’ve made it very affordable. We hope everyone will enjoy this unique event.”
“This is the 50th anniversary of the Boxing Hall of Fame, and a lot of progress has been made,” added Ed Brophy, Executive Director of the International Boxing Hall of Fame. “This is another great event to celebrate. We’re giving fans a great opportunity to see top-level boxing at a fair price. I’ve never seen a show of this quality at this price. When I was young my father took me to a boxing show, so I encourage all the fathers in central New York to take their sons – and their entire families – to this event.”
Martin, who is on a mission to notch her 50th win before retiring, will train at the IBHOF in nearby Canastota from 3:00 PM/ET to 4 PM/ET daily, August 24-31, to prepare for her fight against Stone. Admission to the IBHOF will be waived during her training sessions.
“Like the old adage says,” Martin remarked, “be careful what you wish for. I’ve been after Ed (Brophy) for years to do a Hall of Fame card and now I’m like, ‘Look what I’ve gotten myself into.’ Don’t think I won’t come here in shape and ready to fight. I perform my best under pressure. All I can say is thank you to Jimmy Burchfield and Ed Brophy. We’ll be ready to put on a great show for you.”
The other co-feature is an 8-round Special Heavyweight Attraction featuring 2004 U.S. Olympian Jason “Big Six” Estrada (15-2, 3 KOs) against upset specialist Zuri Lawrence (24-14-4). Estrada, representing Providence, is one of the most decorated U.S. amateurs of al-time, as well as a talented pro heavyweight prospect. Lawrence, fighting out of Wappinger Falls (NY), is coming of an upset win earlier this month against 43-1 Albert Sosnowski. Lawrence has defeated world title challenger Jameel McCline, 2-time Italian Olympian Paolo Vidoz and Darroll Wilson, fought to a draw versus world title challenger Ray Austin, and tested the likes of Hasim Rahman, Sultan Ibragimov, Calvin Brock, and Dominick Gunn.
Also fighting on the Sept. 2 card is super middleweight James McGirt Jr. (20-2-1, 9 KOs), trained by his father, 2-time world champion James “Buddy” McGirt, against Anthony Pietrantonio in an 8-round bout.
“We (CES) have an event here on September 2nd, an event in Providence on September 4th and event in Plymouth on September 11th. This event will start the explosion. A $15 ticket, that’s amazing! I’m hoping we have this grandstand packed and we put on a great show. There are a lot of promoters who pretend to be promoters. When we go somewhere we intend to make that venue happy and we intend to be back here next year. We hope this surrounding area takes advantage of this special price.
“If you haven’t been to a boxing event, wait until you see what you’re in for and wait until you see the enthusiasm of our fighters. I’ve got some surprises for the fair. We’ve got celebrities such as ‘Irish’ Micky Ward, 5-time world champion Vinny Paz and your undefeated New York champion, ‘Baby’ Joe Mesi. That alone is enough to make things happen.
“This young lady (Christy Martin) has not only done a lot for female boxing, but boxing in general. It’s a treat to see here in the ring. She has been in so many big fights throughout her career. Imagine, now she is going to be at your New York State Fair. She has fought in front of thousands of people. We need to fill this arena up and show her what this area is all about. We’ve filled up some of the undercard with fighters from around this area to give local gyms an opportunity to be on the card and cherish the night.”
Fighting on the undercard in 4-round bouts are female featherweight Jackie Trivolino (0-1-1) of Plattsburgh (NY) vs. Priscilla Trompowsky (1-2) of Toronto by way of Brazil; Syracuse junior welterweight Damian Rinaldi (0-1) vs. Utica’s Manny Cotrich (1-4, 1 KO); and pro-debuting Philadelphia heavyweight Joey Dawejao vs. TBA.
Tickets for “Fight Night At The Fair” are priced at only $15.00 and $20.00 – including free admission to the N.Y. State Fair and IBHOF – and available to purchase by calling TicketMaster (1.800.745.3000 or 1.86.745.3000). For additional information call 401.724.2253/2254 or go online at www.cesboxing.com. The first bout is scheduled to start at 7:00 PM/ET.
Wednesday 30th September ‘09 Is Judgement Day For London’s Boxing Bankers
No, I’m not predicting yet another crisis within the banking and financial services industry, well I hope I’m not. This particular Judgement Day, which will be held at the recently opened Cable Club London on the 30th September ‘09, is in fact a rather interesting, or should that be intriguing, White Collar Boxing event being organised by Rooney’s Boxing Gym.
What makes ‘Judgement Day’ different from other White Collar Boxing shows isn’t that this event is a truly international affair, having already attracted weekend warriors from Brazil, Israel and Australia sign up to take part, or that it has an all female bout on the card or even that Great Britain’s most successful Olympic coach ever, Terry Edwards MBE, is training some of those taking part, any of which, under normal circumstances, would be a headline attraction. The main reason ‘Judgement Day’ will go down in the annuls of history is that it will be the very first White Collar event to feature a Mixed Martial Arts White Collar bout.
Gianluca (Rio) Di Caro, publicist for Rooney’s Boxing Gym, spoke about the upcoming ‘Judgement Day’ event and what prompted the decision to include Mixed Martial Arts, “We are all very excited to be showcasing ‘Judgement Day’ White Collar event at the superb Cable Club, on the 30th September, as it is without doubt one of the finest venues in London. We envisage this to be just the first of many events we will be holding at this first class facility.
What can I say. We expected to have a good response from those wishing to participate in this event as White Collar Boxing has become so popular. However, even we were surprised that we received so many requests from people all around the world. We could have made the event just from those, but have decided to limit the international element for this event though, to just Tal (Israel), Plinio (Brazil) and Nathan (Australia), as we are planning to hold a UK versus The Rest Of The World White Collar Boxing event in the very near future.
It’s already a well known fact that Rooney’s Boxing Gym is a firm supporter of Womens Boxing. So as you can imagine we are particularly pleased to be featuring an all female bout as part of the Judgement Day event.
On the subject of Women’s Boxing, we applaud the IOC for their recent decision to include Women’s Boxing at the 2012 Olympics right here in London. With Womens Boxing starting to really take off in the UK we feel that the British Womens Boxing Squad are likely to add to the Team GB medal cache.
Talking of the Olympics. We are exceptionally proud that Great Britain’s most successful Olympic boxing coach, Terry Edwards MBE, is on board and will be heading up all future White Collar Boxing coaching here at Rooney’s Boxing Gym. We are expecting that the quality of the boxing at ‘Judgement Day’ will be of a very high standard as Terry has already been working with some of those taking part on the 30th September.
We are all rather excited to be the first to include Mixed Martial Arts in a WCB event. I have to say though it wasn’t originally our intention but his all came about after the BanDogs MMA organisation started training out of Rooney’s Boxing Gym. Word started to get around the City that we were doing Mixed Martial Arts training. Not long after, when the posters went up in the gym for Judgement Day, some of the City boys that were training at the gym asked if we would include Mixed Martial Arts at the event. We sat and thought about it, and after the BanDogs boys said the K1 class could safely be done in a boxing ring, we decided to include one, maybe two exhibition bouts in the show.
‘Judgement Day’ will not only be one seriously great all action show but will also be the standard that all future White Collar Boxing events will be judged.”
White Collar Boxing originated in New York in 1988, when attorney Dr. Richard Novak and Dr. David Lawrence, who held a Phd. in English, took part in the very first White Collar Boxing bout. After the contest the two Gentlemen went to dinner to celebrate the birth of a new sport.
White Collar Boxing was introduced to Great Britain some fifteen years later, in 2003, by the very same promoter of the historic ‘Judgement Day’ event, since then White Collar Boxing has been the fastest growing corporate contact sport in the world.
Judgement Day, at the Cable Club, on the 30th September will consist of eight 3 x 2 minute round Male White Collar Boxing bouts, one 3 x 2 minute round Female White Collar Boxing and either one or two 3 x 2 minute round K1 Mixed Martial Arts.
Judgement Day will be held at the Cable Club, Bermondsey Street Tunnel, London SE1 3JW on Wednesday 30th September 2009. Doors open at 7.00pm.
Tickets are priced £30.00 (unreserved) and £50.00 (V.I.P.) and are available from Rooney’s Boxing Gym, 895/896 Holyrood Street, London SE1 2EL or call 020 7403 6113