Los Angeles Matadors Hope New Home Means More of the Same in Hollywood Fight Night Clash with Miami Gallos

(COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.) The Los Angeles Matadors will showcase their new home at the Avalon Hollywood Sunday night as they put their league-best record on the line against the Miami Gallos as the World Series of Boxing (WSB) continues on in its seventh week. Dubbed “Hollywood Fight Night,” this has the potential to be a really exciting fight card with a stacked LA Matadors squad looking to cement their dominance in WSB Americas thus far, while the Gallos will be scrapping to stay in contention and erase the memories of a 5-0 defeat they suffered on Jan. 13 at the hand of the Matadors. The teams are 1-1 against one another having each won their home contests. The Gallos defeated the Matadors by a slim 3-2 margin back on November 23 in each team’s season debut..

All five Matador boxers competing Sunday are ranked in the top-eight of the WSB rankings, a first for WSB Americas and includes the return of two undefeated boxers in Rau’shee Warren (Cincinnati, Ohio) and Eric Fowler (Houston, Texas) from medical suspensions. Warren is ranked No. 7 with his 2-0 record thus far while Fowler is ranked No. 5 with his 2-0 record, both by TKOs. Both Warren and Fowler received head butts during their last bouts and had been inactive since Dec. 12 (Fowler) and Dec. 16 (Warren). Other ranked Matador boxers include Russell Lamour (No. 3/Portland, Maine), Vyacheslav Shabranskij (No. 5/Kiev, Ukraine) and David Imoesiri (No. 8/Long Beach, Calif.).

Miami Gallos fighter John Joe Joyce (St. Michaels Athy, Ireland) didn’t have to wait long before a middleweight rematch with Lamour in hopes of trying to erase the unfriendly WSB welcome he received last time the two met January 13. Lamour wound up winning all five rounds on two of the three judges’ scorecards and eased to a 50-45, 50-45, 49-46 win. Stepping into the ring against Lamour, Joyce had just arrived stateside, meeting up with the Gallos on site in Los Angeles. Joyce, a 2008 Olympian, now has two weeks of training under his belt with Gallos head coach Pat Burns while Lamour continues to showcase why he’s one of the top surprises thus far in the WSB.

It’s been two months since we’ve seen Irishmen Kenny Egan (Clondalkin, Ireland) in the ring against a WSB opponent following a cut he suffered in his opening bout against LA Matador Dorian Anthony. Egan, a 2008 Olympic silver medalist, was to lace the gloves up during the January 13 show but the Matadors were without a light heavyweight at the time. Egan will square off against another talented light heavyweight in Vyacheslav Shabranskij (Kiev, Ukraine) who will fight his first non-Mexico City Guerrero opponent in Egan.

Warren, a two-time Olympian, will take on Luis Miguel Diaz (Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic) in the bantamweight division. At 0-2, Diaz is still looking for his first win in the WSB. Fowler will face off against Leonid Malkov (Kiev, Ukraine), who is 1-1 and coming off a TKO of his own against Elian Dimitrov of the Memphis Force.

Two-time Olympian Rau’shee Warren (pictured right) will put his flashy right hook back on display Sunday night as the Matadors get set to take on the Miami Gallos in Hollywood Fight Night. MANDATORY PHOTO CREDIT: Tom Hogan // Hoganphotos

In the heavyweight battle, Imoesiri will tangle with Craig Lewis (Detroit, Mich.), hoping to go to 3-1 on the year. Lewis, meanwhile, has struggled to date against WSB foes having dropped his first two bouts. Donovan Dennis (Davenport, Iowa) of the Miami Gallos, who is 2-0, was originally scheduled to fight on the card but had to withdraw due to illness.

Through six weeks of the season, the Matadors stand atop the Americas standings with a 5-1 overall record having won 23 of their first 30 bouts. The World Series of Boxing (WSB) began its seventh week Thursday night as the Mexico City Guerreros edged the Memphis Force, 3-2, and climbed above .500 with a 4-3 record. The Force dropped to 1-6 on the year.

Despite the Matadors’ dominance in the ring to date, Pat Burns, head coach of the Miami Gallos, remains confident in his team.

“We know we’re going into the lion’s den as Los Angeles has a very tough team,” said Burns, the 1996 U.S. Olympic Team Coach. “When we went there a couple weeks ago our boxers were very competitive and I believe that we won a couple of the fights that didn’t go our way. Los Angeles has a very strong squad, but our guys are getting better every day and this next match won’t be like the last one.”

WBA super middleweight titlist Andre Ward will head to the announcer’s table this Sunday where he’ll join Alan Massengale at ringside to provide expert commentary on the World Series of Boxing matchup between the two teams. Ward will have the pleasure of commentating on the bout involving his former Olympic teammate Rau’shee Warren.

About World Series of Boxing Americas

The World Series of Boxing is a global sports league created by the International Amateur Boxing Association (AIBA) to reunite the broader boxing world and its grassroots foundation, provide a bridge between Olympic boxing and professional boxing, and grow the sport’s fan base in the United States and throughout the world.