London (22 June 2011) With just over 4 weeks to go till the biggest domestic clash of 2011, British and Commonwealth Heavyweight champion Dereck “Del Boy” Chisora has told Hennessy Sports that he is looking forward to defending his titles against challenger Tyson Fury live on Channel 5. “I was worried that it might not be shown at all but it will be great to be on terrestrial TV. The more boxing that is on TV and the more channels involved can only help the sport.”
The 12 round championship fight will take place on Saturday 23rd July at the Wembley Arena.
The Finchley based fighter, who is unbeaten in all of his 14 professional bouts will be heading to mainland Spain to continue his training camp ahead of the fight. “Training going great, I’ve trained for Klitschko twice now so was already in great shape when this fight was arranged. My training preparations are spot on and bang on schedule for 23rd July. Now I’m off to Marbella, where the sea air and climate suits me and being away from home keeps me focused.”
While Fury is promising to put Chisora firmly in his place next month and strip the titles away from the champion along with his zero on his record, Chisora believes that he has the arsenal to beat his opponent. “I really don’t see anything in Fury that concerns me too greatly. I see this as a similar fight to Gary Mason versus Jess Harding, another similar Heavyweight who stood bolt upright and got punished for it.”
“Tyson Fury’s comments and attitude are quite funny, his wit is just not sharp enough to get under my skin but he keeps wasting his energy trying to. He is so desperate for fame it is taking him away from reality, it’s laughable, and he would do anything or say anything to get a headline and when it matters most, in the ring, he just hasn’t delivered.”
“People ask what have I got that Fury hasn’t? Well the list is endless but most importantly, two championship belts.” Added Chisora
British Light Welterweight champion Ashley “Treasured” Theophane will be defending his British title on the undercard and hot prospects Kid Galahad of Sheffield and Tyson’s cousin, Phill Fury of Lancaster will also be in action.
Fury vs. Chisora will be shown live on Channel 5 on Saturday 23rd July 2011
For Channel 5 information, please contact Lesley Land at the Channel 5 Press Office on 0207 436 3633 or lesley.land@outside-org.co.uk
Sports fans in North America will also be able to watch the “The Big Brawl,” as the event will be distributed in the United States by Integrated Sports Media for live viewing at 3 PM/ET – 12 PM/PT on both cable and satellite pay-per-view via iN Demand, DIRECTV, and Avail-TVN, for a suggested retail price of only $24.95 and in Canada on the Super Channel network.
Tickets are on sale for the “Big Brawl” from the Wembley Arena 24hr box office.
Wembley Arena, 24hr Box Office, 0844 815 0815, www.wembleyarena.co.uk
Prices:
*Ringside Gold Seating £350.00
**Ringside Silver Seating £300.00
**Ringside Bronze Seating £250.00
Outer Ringside Seating £150.00
Premium Tiered Seating £50.00
Tiered Seating £40.00
**Upgrade Ticket £45.00
**Please note. All Gold, Silver and Bronze ringside seats and upgrade ticket purchased have exclusive access to the restaurant bar and includes an all inclusive drinks package. Included in the drinks package are House wine, bottled and draught beer and soft drinks. The bar will be open from 5.30pm – 11.30pm.
WBC News: Alvarez, Klitschko, Chavez Jr., More!
WORLD BOXING COUNCIL NEWS
June 22, 2011 – Mexico City. From the office of WBC President Dr. José Sulaimán:
The following is one of the weekly “Hook to the Body” columns by WBC President Dr. José Sulaimán that are published in El Universal every Sunday. From June 19, translated from Spanish:
HOOK TO THE BODY
By José Sulaimán: The multitude attending the induction ceremonies at the International Boxing Hall of Fame was so numerous, as perhaps never before. Just imagine: Julio César Chávez, Mike Tyson and “Rocky” Sylvester Stallone – at the same time – plus the great Russian Kosta Tzsyu, the manager Ignacio Beristain, and the referee Joe Cortez.
After the end of the induction, I stayed by myself after everybody had left and kept thinking with sadness of all that extraordinary history – of victories and accomplishments that filled their eras with emotion and idolatry by millions of fans, an era that has gone and will never return. I also felt deep pride for having been a humble part of those brilliant times as the three of them, Chávez, Tyson, and Tzsyu were proud WBC champions who had also a personal relation and many anecdotes through the years.
I thought at those moments of loneliness, that the ceremony represented to me what life is: to be and later not to be; multitude and emptiness; the limelights on the ring during the nights of glory, and the obscurity of an empty arena; the dedication, sacrifices and efforts to reach the peak, and then to live a life remembering past deeds.
This is the reason for me to congratulate the International Boxing Hall of Fame and its CEO, Ed Brophy, for leading the opening of the doors of immortality to those who stood at the top of the world of boxing for their deeds and glory in our beloved sport.
I continued a very long trip from L.A. for the Zbik-Chavez fight to Canastota for the Hall of Fame, to the NABF convention in Atlantic City, and from there to Brockton, Massachusetts, where the only heavyweight who retired as world champion without never losing a fight, Rocky Marciano, was born, and where the WBC will have a statue placed in a posthumous honor. Rocky lived rough time for the abnormal treating of some press – what a surprise – and they even called him the “tuerto” King in the country of the blind due to the alleged low-quality of the division at the time. But with his punching power and the style of a charging bull, he quieted all of his detractors to stay undefeated forever. This is the traditional way of boxing: when you are succeeding, there is much jealousy, bitterness and envy, the traditional detractors! It made me remember the hatred of some Mexican fans against José Medel, as he always defeated el “Toluco” López, a king in the rings and in the mexican bars.
Rocky Marciano signed to fight what remained of the great Joe Louis, who was the boxing hero of my father and the first boxer that I ever knew about when I, as a child, heard on the radio, with all its static, his fight against Max Schmeling and in his old age, my dear friend. I went with my uncle Mike to see the Marciano-Louis fight and left the arena with tears and a certain rancor for the beating that Rocky gave to Joe. It was published at the time that after the fight, Rocky went to Joe’s dressing room in tears to hug his biggest hero since his childhood. Joe Louis had the record of most title fights ever in boxing until the time that the Mexican Julio Cesar Chavez broke it with 37 world championship bouts!! Rocky was to become the heavyweight champion of the world and the only one to retire undefeated, with a 49-0 record.
The Mayor of the city, Linda Balzotti, Larry Siskind, the chairman of the Rocky Marciano Committee, and an important number of officers and executives, as well as many boxing lovers greeted me in a very nice and hospitable manner in Brockton, Massachusetts. That raised my boxing spirit. We were to have a reunion to discuss the sculpture that the WBC was donating to the city of Brockton with the company of the WBC’s Jill Diamond, Mike George, Don Majeski and other friends. I heard with emotion the many anecdotes told on the microphone by different old timers, on different actions by Marciano, including the times of his being a baseball player or even meeting him down the street, that filled the totally full dinner place with nostalgia and admiration of their past hero who died in an airplane crash while still very young. I left Brockton feeling that all of its citizens still had in their hearts the hero that would continue leading the city to progress in the future.
During my flight back to Mexico via Guadalajara, for the first title defense of Canelo Alvarez against Ryan Rhodes, my mind seemed to have me flying from the past to the present – of the glories of the K.O. King Mike Tyson, of the greatest Mexican boxer of all time, Julio Cesar Chávez, as well as the greatest Russian boxer in history and the hero Rocky Marciano, whose ceremonies I had just attended, to the new kings of boxing of today, like Manny Pacquiao, Floyd Mayweather, Sergio Martínez, and Vitali Klitschko, and the new Mexican heroes J.C. Chavez Jr. and Saul Alvarez, to mention a few, who are today going into the ring trying to reach the glories of the heroes of the past while substituting and filling the idolatry of those boxing idols who have just retired, or are close to it today.
Everything in my mind was the relation of the ceremony of induction into the International Boxing Hall of Fame and the Rocky Marciano sculpture, because both ceremonies represent the glorious past of boxing, and the present times, after seeing J.C. Chávez courageously win the World Boxing Council (WBC) middleweight world championship in a close fight – the first Mexican born to do it – and my traveling to Guadalajara to see the other Mexican hope, Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, make his first defense of the WBC super welterweight world title on a night where he showed the excellency of his boxing, speed and power, that we had not seen before.
It also came to my mind my recognition, admiration, and respect for the thousands, probably millions, of human beings that struggle every day of their lives to leave a distinguished mark of their passing through life, who I modestly join as a simple person who came to life during the 20th and 21st centuries, with the same efforts of the boxing heroes mentioned in this article.
Thanks for reading my thoughts.
ANTONIO TARVER PREPARES FOR WAR WITH DANNY GREEN
Danny Green vs. Antonio Tarver – July 20 – Sydney Entertainment Centre – Sydney, Australia
“I know he’ll be trying to knock me out something that’s never been done before – and vice versa. I’m going to try to knock him out too, so I think with our personalities, it’s like two locomotives heading on one course. We’re looking to collide.”………..Antonio Tarver
“He has such amazing defense and excellent power in both hands and he’s going to utilize them more while standing his ground from now on. What that means is even more excitement for the fans, and more punishing nights for his opponents.”……..Gary Shaw Productions
LOS ANGELES, June 22 – The countdown begins. With just a month remaining, Antonio “The Magic Man” Tarver is putting in long hours at the gym in Florida before his July 20 International Boxing Organization (IBO) World Cruiserweight Championship showdown with Aussie hero Danny Green at the Entertainment Centre in Sydney, Australia.
Tickets are on sale now at Ticketmaster www.ticketmaster.com.au (+1300883622) and are priced at $1000 for VIP Ringside, $750 Platinum Ringside, $500 Gold Ringside, $350 Silver Ringside,
$250 Bronze Ringside, $175 VIP, $135 Platinum, $95 Gold, $75 Silver and $55 Bronze.
“He’s a good fighter,” said Tarver said of Green. “He’s won multiple titles in different weight classes and he’s a very tough guy and he has a lot of power. I know he’ll be trying to knock me out – something that’s never been done before – and vice versa. I’m going to try to knock him out too, so I think with our personalities, it’s like two locomotives heading on one course. We’re looking to collide, and that’s the type of fight that people are going to see.”
Digging deep to score big wins is nothing new for longtime light heavyweight champion Tarver, who has issued defeats to Roy Jones Jr., Glen Johnson, Eric Harding, and Clinton Woods over the course of his stellar 14-year career.
But he admits that at 42, he has had to adjust his style.
“I know in the past I’ve been an elusive boxer/puncher, counterpuncher, but I’m 42 years old, so right now I feel like this: I’m too old to be running. I don’t have time to be running around the ring and
all that. I’m going to stand my ground; I’m going to punch with him. I know I’m an accurate sharpshooter. I’m looking to break him down to the body, hurt him to the body and really bust him up.”
Tarver says he knows he’s going against the odds in several ways in this fight, but is more than ready for the task.
“I’m going to trust my defense, and if I get hit on the whiskers I’m going to trust my chin,” he continues. “I’ve got to open him up. I’m not going to be playing around. I mean, I’m going to his backyard and that puts me in a situation where, to me, it’s like I’ve got to do more. So, I’m coming to fight. Danny Green: Look out, Antonio Tarver is coming for your IBO World Championship, and he’s ready
to show the world that age is nothing but a number.”
Tarver’s promoter, Gary Shaw of Gary Shaw Productions, says this fight will be the opening of a new chapter in Tarver’s boxing story.
“Antonio had a hall-of-fame career as a counterpuncher,” he explains, “his reflexes and his speed were too much for even other world champions to deal with. But like all the great ones, he’s making adjustments as he gets older. He has such amazing defense and excellent power in both hands and he’s going to utilize them more while standing his ground from now on. What that means is even more excitement for the fans, and more punishing nights for his opponents.”
Tarver admits he’s looking to make an example out of Green.
“I’m commentating for Showtime and I have my own record label, but boxing is my passion. I still love the sport and I feel that on any given night, I can still beat the best cruiserweights in the world, so that’s what I’m going to prove, and Danny Green is in my way.”