Woodland Hills, California (February 14, 2011) – Art of Boxing Promotions in association with Bash Boxing and Lights Out Promotions have added another USBA title bout to the third installment of WARNER CENTER WAR on Friday, March 4, 2011. In the co-main event, Otis Griffin (23-6-2, 9 KOs), ranked #7 by the IBF, puts his USBA light-heavyweight title on the line against Yusaf Mack (28-3-2, 17 KOs), who is ranked #8 in. This is a world title elimination bout with the winner becoming the mandatory challenger to IBF light-heavyweight champion, Tavoris Cloud..
Griffin, from Sacramento, California, is a former NABO champion and the winner of Oscar De La Hoya’s reality show, “The Next Great Champ”. Griffin comes into this bout riding a four fight winning streak, which includes an eight round knockout against former world champion Byron Mitchell, to win the USBA light-heavyweight title.
Mack, from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is a former USBA, NABF, and NABO champion. Winning five of his last six fights, he’s earned a #8 world ranking in the IBF, and a shot at Giffin for the #1 mandatory position to fight for the world title.
The 12 round main event for the vacant USBA lightweight championship features Ray Beltran Jr. (23-4, 15 KOs) vs. Carlos Vinan (10-8-2, 2 KOs).
Tickets to WARNER CENTER WAR 3 can be purchased online by going to www.warnercenterwar.com or by calling (626) 388-8888. WARNER CENTER WAR 3 takes place on Friday, March 4, 2011 at the Grand Ballroom of the Warner Center Marriott in Woodland Hills, California. Doors Open at 7:00 pm, First Bout is at 7:30 pm.
JUAN CARLOS BURGOS VS. FRANKIE ARCHULETA HEADLINES FIGHT CARD ON FEB. 25 AT MILLION DOLLAR ELM CASINO IN TULSA, OKLAHOMA; TELEVISED LIVE ON ESPN
Promoters Art Pelullo/Banner Promotions, Golden Gloves Promotions, Thompson Boxing Promotions and Tony Holden Productions and will present a sensational fight card on Friday, February 25, 2011, at the Million Dollar Elm Casino in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The main event and other selected fights will be televised live on ESPN at 9:00 P.M. Eastern, 6:00 P.M. Pacific.
In the main event – scheduled for 10 rounds – featherweight contender Juan Carlos “Mini” Burgos, 25-1 with 18 knockouts, of Tijuana, Baja California, will battle Frankie Archuleta, 27-7-1 with 14 knockouts, of Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Burgos, now 23 years old, is ranked No. 4 by the World Boxing Council at 126 pounds. In his last fight on November 26 in Nagoya, Japan, he challenged Hozumi Hasegawa for the vacant WBC featherweight world title. Hasegawa, a former WBC bantamweight world champion with 10 successful title defenses, is considered by many to be one of Japan’s best fighters of the last decade. It was a tremendous battle, one of the most exciting fights of the year – Burgos rallied in the last four rounds and finished the fight strongly, but came up short in the scoring and lost by 12 round decision.
Archuleta, 35 years old, is a 14-year professional veteran. A former WBC Latin American and North American Boxing Association featherweight champion, he has won two fights in a row.
In the co-featured bout – scheduled for 10 rounds in the super middleweight division – rising prospect Maxim Vlasov, 19-0 with 10 knockcouts, of Samara, Russia, will take on Isaac “Golden Boy” Chilemba, 15-1-1 with 8 knockouts, of Johannesburg, South Africa.
All bouts subject to change without notice.
Ticket prices: $35; must be 18 years old and older.
Tickets available at:
Osage Million Dollar Elm Casino Box Office located in the Tulsa Casino at 951 W. 36th Street; the Box Office is open Monday through Saturday, 9:00 am to 11 pm; closed Sunday. (All times Central Time)
By telephone at 918.699.7667.
From the Osage Million Dollar Elm Casino website: http://www.milliondollarelm.com/event-center.
Doors open at: 6:00 pm
VAUGHN JACKSON, MIKE JONES’ TRAINER, OVERCAME THE LOSS OF A YOUNG SON ON THE PATH TO LEADING OTHERS
Philadelphia, PA–Overcoming the loss of his 10-year-old son 12 years ago, Vaughn Jackson, Mike Jones’ trainer, has turned tragedy into inspiration with the help of family, faith and boxing.
Jackson is winding down his training with Jones, who meets Jesus Soto-Karass (a rematch of their Nov. 13 fight, which Jones won by majority decision) on Feb. 19 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas and on HBO’s Boxing After Dark.
“It was a devastating loss, the worst feeling a parent can ever have, “said the 41-year-old Jackson, whose first child, Vaughn Welcome Jackson, sustained a fatal vocal cord injury while playing by himself in his room in December, 1998.
“At age 8, he wanted to box, so I took him to Joe Frazier’s gym. We trained together and he built up a 16-0 amateur record,” said a reflective Jackson, who boxed briefly as a teenager but couldn’t dedicate himself to the sport because of the reality of having to work.
“I took a year or so off from going to the gym, but I started to go to church regularly during that time. In 2000, I started to go back to the gym. I thought my son would have wanted me to do and that’s what turned my life around.
“I then started to take another son, who was 9 (Jackson has five children), to the Joe Hand gym on a regular basis and by the time he was 11, he was No. 2 in the country. At that time, I started training three local amateur fighters (Rashiem Jefferson, Saaed Hawkins, Mike Colston). Jefferson and Hawkins made it to the semifinals of the 2004 Olympic Trials.
“I met Mike (Jones) after the trials from a mutual acquaintance, a female boxer, who recommended me as an-up-and-coming trainer. Mike was looking for a new trainer at that time before he turned pro. We knew of each other and when he came to visit me at the gym we hit it off.
“Mike had a lot of natural ability and I liked his style. I wanted to enhance his strengths and work on correcting his faults without taking away from his strengths.”
“My life has really turned around in the last 12 years with the help of my faith and family and being involved in boxing, my passion. But there is not a day that goes by that I don’t think of my son Vaughn. He’s my guardian angel who gives me spiritual lifts to this day. And I know he’ll be there on February 19.”
JACKSON ON THE JONES vs. SOTO-KARASS REMATCH
“We want to quiet all of the critics that have doubts in Mike since his first fight with Soto-Karass. Don’t judge a fighter from one off-night. Mike overcame a lot of adversity in that fight and still won. We want to win more clearly this time.”
“Mike made a mistake and he didn’t stick to his game plan. He shot his load in the second round but he believed, as I do, that he did enough to win the fight.”
“We know that Soto-Karass will come out like a raging bull in this fight. I want Mike to gradually break down Soto-Karass and slow him down so that Mike, the matador, will gore the bull and finish him off.”