When crowd-pleasing bantamweight prospect Chris Avalos, 18-1 (15 KO’s), steps into the squared circle Friday evening at Chumash Resort Casino in Santa Ynez, California, and live on ShoBox: The New Generation at 11 p.m. ET/PT (delayed on the West Coast) on SHOWTIME, against Khabir Suleymanov, he understands the importance of being on his A game.
Last August, Avalos dropped a hotly contested split decision to Christopher Martin on ShoBox, and is returning to the series for the first time since his lone defeat.
Following the setback against Martin, he’s since racked up two consecutive wins by knockout while making adjustments along the way. More importantly, Avalos recognizes what’s expected from him and the necessity of putting on a good show.
“I know a lot of people are expecting me to come back strong,” said the Lancaster, California, native. “I need to go out there and give (Suleymanov) hell.”
Dubbed “The Crazy Russian”, Suleymanov has a reputation for coming to fight and being relentless inside the ring. At 11-0 with 5 knockouts, Suleymanov most recently stopped 16-2-1 Javier Gallo and has what it takes to present Avalos with a serious challenge.
“I’ve seen Suleymanov spar before and he’s a good fighter,” Avalos said of the Los Angeles-based Russian. “He’s a dirty fighter. He’s a good inside fighter but (takes) a ton of uppercuts, so I plan to mix it up in there. I’ll box a little, brawl a little and confuse him.”
The Avalos-Suleymanov bout is scheduled for ten rounds and is part of a special triple header that also includes a 10-round main event between top cruiserweight contenders Lateef “Power” Kayode (16-0, 14 KOs) and Matt “Too Smooth” Godfrey (20-2, 14 KOs) and Archie Ray Marquez (12-0, 8 KOs), of Albuquerque, N.M., and Armenian-born Art “Lionheart” Hovanessian (13-0, 7 KOs), of Glendale, Calif., clashing in an eight-round battle of unbeaten lightweights.
Showdown in the Valley is proudly presented by Gary Shaw Productions.
Tickets to Showdown in the Valley are priced at $35, $45, $55, $70 and $85 and are available by visiting the Chumash Casino Resort’s Club Chumash, logging on to www.chumashcasino.com or by calling StarTicketsPlus at 1-800-585-3737.
On fight night, first bout starts at 5:30 p.m. All bouts subject to change.
For more information on Gary Shaw Productions, visit www.garyshawproductions.com.
QUIROGA, LEIJA, JOHNSON, AYALA, SR. & SOUZA TO BE INDUCTED INTO SAN ANTONIO BOXING HALL OF FAME
SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS — Few cities can claim as rich a boxing history as San Antonio, Texas. Since the 1930’s, San Antonio has been a hotbed for both amateur and professional boxing. Through the years, many boxers, trainers, promoters, administrators, media and fans have had a lasting impact on the local and world Boxing scene.
On Friday, July 1st at the Freeman Coliseum, five of the City’s greatest ambassadors to the sport will be inducted into the newly formed San Antonio Boxing Hall of Fame.
San Antonio’s three World Champions — Robert Quiroga, Jesse James Leija and John Michael Johnson, will join trainers Tony Ayala, Sr. and Joe Souza as the first inductees. All will be honored center-ring in a ceremony that will take place just prior to the start of the ESPN Friday Night Fights event on July 1st, at the Freeman Coliseum.
The six-bout live Fight Card, being promoted by Bob Arum’s Top Rank, Inc, will feature World ranked welterweight, Mark Melligan (21-2, 14 KO’s, Philippines) taking on highly regarded Freddy Hernandez (29-2, 20 KO’s) in a ten-round welterweight main event.
Undefeated Mickey Bey (16-0, 8 KO’s, Cleveland, OH) is scheduled for the semi-main event bout – eight rounds in the welterweight division against an opponent to be named. San Antonio boxers Ivan Najera (1-0, Lightweight) and Abraham Esquivel (3-1, Lightweight) are slated for four round bouts on the card as well. Opponents for Bey, Najera and Esquivel, as well as the remainder of the card, is to be announced.
Tickets for the event are priced at just $10, $20 and $50 and go on sale next Wednesday, June 15th at all Ticketmaster outlets and the AT&T Center Box Office. With a promotional VOUCHER, which will be available on the Internet for downloading (starting June 15th) at www.attcenter.com, fans receive FREE GENERAL ADMISSION or can UPGRADE for half-price to Reserved Seating. Free General Admission seating will be limited to first come basis.
Maurice Harris victim of rabbit punching
NEW YORK (June 9, 2011) – Boxing 360 has made a request to the International Boxing Federation for a review of the May 27th International Boxing Federation (IBF) Heavyweight Box-Off between its fighter, Maurice “Sugar Moe” Harris, and Tony “The Tiger” Thompson,” which was shown live on ESPN Friday Night Fights from Reno Events Center in Nevada.
Harris (24-15-2, 10 KOs), rated No. 6 by the IBF at that time Harris was stopped in the third round by No. 7 Thompson (36-2, 24 KOs), who moved up to No. 2 in the rankings and now gets a shot at top rated “Fast” Eddie Chambers (36-2, 18 KOs) with the winner becoming the IBF mandatory title challenger.
A review of Thompson-Harris revealed that Harris was the victim of more than 20 illegal rabbit punches in the second and third rounds. After the fight Harris complained about his equilibrium was off, along with his arms and legs being heavy and tired, after he was floored in the second round by a Thompson right-hook that landed behind Maurice’s head. Thompson belted Harris behind the head on numerous occasions but referee Vic Drakulich failed to issue a single warning.
“We believe the referee did a very poor job and Maurice never had a fair fighting chance because of all the rabbit punches,” Boxing 360 Founder/CEO Mario Yagobi explained. “My job is to protect our fighters. We just want the IBF, boxing media and fans to look at what happened and then draw their own conclusions. There’s a reason Maurice fought the way he did and that was the direct result of the referee not doing his job.”
Here is a link to the second and third rounds: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyjXi5_mmYg&feature=related
Other members of Boxing 360’s stable include USBA heavyweight champion Maurice “Sugar Moe” Harris, WBC #3 super bantamweight Leon “Hurry Up” Moore, former IBF super middleweight champion Alejandro “Naco” Berrio, WBC Caribbean & NY State super middleweight champion Lennox “2 Sharpe” Allen, NY State champion welterweight Danny Sostre, Dominican lightweight champion Eudy “AK47” Bernardo, KO king Tyrone Brunson, Nick “Hands of Gold” Casal, Amanda “The Real Deal” Serrano, middleweight prospect DonYil Livingston, Joshua “The Juice” Harris, Emad Ali, Mike Mollo, “King” David Estrada and Angel “Toro” Hernandez.
Go to www.Boxing360.com for more information about Harris, Boxing 360 or any of its other fighters.