Lateef Kayode: 199.5 pounds
Matt Godfrey: 200 pounds
Chris Avalos: 120 pounds
Khabir Suleymanov: 120 pounds
Archie Ray Marquez: 133 pounds
Art Hovhannisyan: 133 pounds
NOTE: WEIGHTS (June 9, 2011) – It’s June so no better time than Friday for Graduation Day for three talented ShoBox: The New Generation alums returning for a Friday night tripleheader LIVE on SHOWTIME® (11 p.m. ET/PT, delayed on the West Coast).
Lateef Kayode (199.5 pounds), Chris Avalos (120 pounds) and Archie Ray Marquez (133 pounds) all hit their contracted weights just a day before they attempt to move one step closer from prospect to contender.
In the main event, the power-punching Freddie Roach-trained Kayode (16-0, 14 KOs) will risk his unbeaten mark against the more experienced Matt “Too Smooth” Godfrey (20-2, 14 KOs) of Providence, R.I., in a 10-round cruiserweight bout at Chumash Resort Casino in Santa Ynez, Calif. Godfrey weighed in at 200 pounds.
Other bouts on a Gary Shaw Productions-promoted event include Avalos (18-1, 15 KOs) of Lancaster, Calif., facing undefeated Khabir “Crazy Russian” Suleymanov (11-0, 5 KOs) of Los Angeles by way of Chelybinsk, Russia, in a 10-round super bantamweight match and Marquez (12-0, 8 KOs), of Albuquerque, N.M., and Armenian-born Art “Lionheart” Hovhannisyan (13-0, 7 KOs), of Glendale, Calif., clash in an eight-round battle of unbeaten lightweights. Like their opponents Avalos and Marquez, Suleymanov and Hovhannisyan weighed in at 120 and 133 pounds, respectively.
The telecast will originate from the Chumash Casino Resort in Santa Ynez, Calif., and will be promoted by Gary Shaw Productions, LLC.
What the fighters had to say on Thursday:
LATEEF KAYODE:
“We didn’t want to take a step back. We have a lot to prove after my last fight. I just wasn’t feeling right. You will see a different fighter on Friday night.
“We’ve been sparring with a lot of southpaws. We’ll be ready for whatever he throws at us. We could have taken another tune-up, but for what? To drop a guy in the second round? We get more out of sparring at Wild Card.
“I’ve been sparring with Chris Arreola and feel great. This is my moment to go from prospect to contender
“We’re in the perfect situation. I hope Godfrey brings it because we need that kind of fight. I think he will. I didn’t see any tape on (Nicholas Iannuzzi) but I have of Godfrey. I have more information on this guy than on any fight I’ve ever had.”
MATT GODFREY:
“I fought for a world title and came up short so in order to get back to that level you have to beat someone who is one step away from that as well. So this is big for me.
“Styles are so much different in Europe. They don’t appreciate boxing. Here you box around a guy for three rounds and the crowd goes crazy. Over there, they’re all straight-up fighters. They don’t appreciate guys just going out and boxing.
“I think Lateef’s team is a little bit crazy because they think they have more than what they have. For me this is perfect. They’ve been on SHOWTIME a couple times, he has a great record and he has a good punch and that makes for good TV and what the fans want to see, but experience wise I’m just light years ahead. It’s going to be great for me to exploit that on this network, a great network.
“They’re going by the result of my last fight but I fought the best guy in the division (Marco Huck). They’re thinking they will be able to duplicate what he was able to do but he’s just not at that level and it’s just not going to happen.
“They’re thinking they are going to capitalize on that loss and that I’m bringing that last fight into this one and they’re dead wrong.
“I’ve hit the mitts with Freddie (Roach) before but that was a long time ago. He’s so busy that I don’t’ think he’d even remember it.
“If I win tomorrow night I might just end up in Europe again.
“I’m not insulted that (Kayode) picked me to fight. It’s a business for him. They have to get a return on their investment. They have to fight the best to get to where they want to be.”
CHRIS AVALOS:
“My loss to Chris Martin is done and over with. It’s a closed chapter. So we can now move on. I learned from it.
“I’m not going to look for the knockout but if it’s there I’ll take it.
“I’ve actually sparred with (Suleymanov) when I was 18. I’ve watched him spar at Wild Card.”
KHABIR SULEYMANOV:
“I’ve seen (Avalos) fight. I know this a fight I can win. He’s a good boxer and a tough kid. But he can’t stay 10 rounds with me.
“We’re not just going to go to the body. We’re going to go everywhere.
“Some people compare me to Vic (Darchinyan). Not so much his style but his aggressiveness and his power.
“I’ll knock him out in around the fourth round. That’s my prediction.”
ARCHIE RAY MARQUEZ:
“The first time I was on ShoBox against (Derrick) Campos I was a little nervous because it was in New Mexico and I just wasn’t aggressive. I showed what I could do against (Juan) Santiago.
“(Art) is a pretty tough guy. From what I hear he’s slow. You’ll see a lot of different looks from me.
“I have no issues injury-wise. I’m only 22 and can see myself knocking on my door and can be a Top 10 contender after this fight.
“I’ve been working most on my defense. I’ve gotten hit on stupid shots and punches I shouldn’t have got hit with.
“I like to change it up. I don’t like to do the same things over and over. Against Santiago I used my angles and put a lot of pressure on him.
“Winning comes first. It’s important to be exciting and I can be.”
ART HOVHANNISYAN:
“I don’t watch tape. I don’t need that. I don’t like it. I will stop him with pressure. I can drive him back and I will come forward. I can box and I can fight. It’s as simple as that.
“After I win I don’t think this should be called an upset.
“I think (Archie Ray) is better than the guys I’ve fought but he doesn’t have that many skills. When he goes up against someone like me who can box and move and punch then it’s going to be a quick night of work.”
Curt Menefee will call the ShoBox action from ringside with Steve Farhood serving as expert analysts. Gordon Hall is the executive producer of ShoBox with Richard Gaughan producing and Rick Phillips directing.
For information on SHOWTIME Sports Programming, including exclusive behind-the-scenes video and photo galleries, complete telecast information and more, please go the new SHOWTIME Sports website at http://www.sho.com/sports.
Frankin “Yah Yah” Lawrence looking for big fight
Indianapolis, Indiana (June 9, 2011)—Frankin “Yah Yah” Lawrence is looking to get into the thick of the Heavyweight championship picture.
If nothing else, he has earned it.
With consecutive stoppage wins over contenders, Lance Whitaker, Jason Estrada and most recently Jason Gavern, Lawrence has more wins over good competition then most of the boxers that make up the top ten in the four major organizations
Lawrence has a record of 15-2-2 with ten knockouts could conceivably be on a fourteen fight unbeaten streak if not for a controversial decision loss to former WBC Heavyweight champion Oliver McCall.
That did not deter Lawrence as on September 11, 2010 he stopped Whitaker (35-6-1) in Seven rounds. He followed that up by battering former Estrada (16-3) over ten rounds to stop the former U.S. Olympian for the first time in his professional career. Even top rated contender Tomasz Adamek can’t say that.
Just this past May 27th, Lawrence battered Jason Gavern to solidify his status as the WBC Caribbean Heavyweight champion as he dropped Gavern twice en route to making Gavern quit on his stool after the seventh round.
‘I am ready for anyone, whether it’s for one of the steppingstone fights against a top ten guy or a championship fight, I am ready, I am the guy who will being the Heavyweight championship back to America “, said Lawrence
“The Heavyweight division needs someone who comes to fight and not only do I do that I will add an influx of personality”
“Franklin has shown that he is a force to be reckoned with in the Heavyweight division”, said Dave Escalet of Fisticuffs Promotions
“What contender’s have had those three consecutive wins? I think Franklin is ready for something big and with the roll that he is on, we believe that he has as much right to not only be ranked high by the organizations but he will beat any of those top contender and earn his shot at the Heavyweight championship”
Roman Morales vs. Jaime Villa tonight
Gary Shaw Productions’ rising prospect Roman Morales moves into the next stage of his budding professional career tonight as he takes on Jaime Villa in his first career scheduled six-round bout at the Chumash Casino Resort in Santa Ynez, California. Their bout takes place on the untelevised portion of Showtime’s Shobox: The New Generation tripleheader.
Morales (3-0, 2 KOs) of San Ardo, California notched his third pro victory just three weeks ago with a first-round knockout over Santiago Alonso at the Morongo Casino Resort & Spa in Cabazon, California.
Morales took the fight with Alonso on very short notice after his fight scheduled for the week before was canceled at the last minute. The canceled fight was to have taken place at the same Chumash Casino where Morales will fight tonight, which is a little over a two hour drive from Morales’ home in San Ardo. Many of Morales’ family and friends who had hoped to see him fight in Santa Ynez could not make the trip down to Cabazon in May, and the whole situation was very disappointing for the young prospect, which affected his showing.
“He had sold 200 tickets, he had his daddy fly in from Texas and he had people from the Colorado amateur camp flying in to see him,” explains Morales’ manager Repo Ric. “They were all at the hotel by the time the fight was officially canceled. So he went into the ring [in May] very depressed and it was a mental situation he went into the ring with and he carried it all the way with him. But every time he swung, he took the kid out. The kid went down twice.”
While it was not his best showing, Morales still did what he was supposed to against Alonso, and that was win. “He worked the body well, exactly like I told him,” recalls his trainer Rodolfo Tapia. “He knocked him out at the end of the first round, so that was good. He was not the type of opponent where we need to be very careful, because he had only one fight and I don’t think he was in his weight class. He was too short, but I told Roman, ‘Think he is a champion and just be careful, because an easy fight can become difficult.’”
Tonight Morales will have some of his supportive fan base on hand as he takes on a veteran from a fighting family in Jaime Villa (8-8-2, 3 KOs) of Midland, Texas, whose most notable fighting brother is former contender Tomas Villa. Though Villa sports a less than threatening record, the vast majority of his losses came against prospects that eventually turned into contenders, and in one case, a world champion, Wilfredo Vazquez Jr. Should Morales outdo his prospect predecessors, it would make the statement that the San Ardo native is on his way to achieving the same success.
Morales weighed in at 125 Thursday, while Villa scaled 126-pounds.
Tickets for the event, promoted by Gary Shaw Productions, are available online at StarTickets.com.