Winky Wright helping Dawson get ready for Hopkins bout on October 15

Beloved former world champion and one-time Bernard Hopkins opponent, Ronald “Winky” Wright is in camp in the Pocono Mountains in Pennsylvania, serving as a training advisor to former light heavyweight champion “Bad” Chad Dawson, as Dawson prepares to face the current World Boxing Council (WBC) and Ring Magazine Light Heavyweight World Champion Hopkins on Saturday, October 15, at the STAPLES Center in Los Angeles, California.

Dawson vs. Hopkins, an evening of elite professional boxing entitled “Believe it or Not”, will be presented by Golden Boy Promotions and Gary Shaw Productions and sponsored by Cerveza Tecate, AT&T and Ripley’s Believe It or Not. It will be produced and distributed live by HBO Pay-Per-View® beginning at 9:00 p.m. ET/ 6:00 p.m. PT.

Dawson had been training with the legendary Emanuel Steward for his last fight, a victory over Adrian Diaconu, but geography forced an ending to their partnership and a reunion with former trainer John Scully.

“It wasn’t an ugly separation by any means,” explains Dawson’s promoter, Gary Shaw. “I have a world of respect for Emanuel and I know he’s top-notch, but we couldn’t get them to travel to one another, so there was no other choice but to move on. Chad’s training camp is in Pennsylvania. He didn’t want to train in Detroit again for this fight. But with all of his commitments and responsibilities, it wasn’t feasible for Emanuel to stay in the Poconos that long. So they’ve parted ways amicably and John Scully is back in, with Winky Wright providing his expert eye.”

So is Wright planning on retiring and becoming boxing’s newest high-profile trainer?

“No way,” he laughs. “I’m still a fighter. I don’t feel like being a trainer. I don’t know how to tell somebody to train. I can tell you what you’re doing wrong and stuff like that, but as far as telling them when to get up and run; I’m not really into that. I’m here to just fine-tune little things that John and I feel he needs to work on. John is the coach and we are working together very well.”

Wright, who will not be in Dawson’s corner on fight night, says he likes his friend’s chances in this fight. “Bernard is sneaky and crafty, but I think that Chad has a style that can beat him. He’s tall and quick, with a good defense and hand speed. He can move, but he’s not scared to get in there and fight. Bernard wants to try and take you out of your fight. Chad doesn’t need to do that. He needs to do what we’re showing him and make Hopkins fight our fight. We can win this.”

Dawson says the one/two training punch of Scully as head coach and Wright as an advisor is exactly what he needs at this time. “Everything is going great. I couldn’t ask for anything better. I’m in a great position right now. Not only to fight with Bernard, but to work with John Scully who is very underrated as a trainer and Winky who I think beat Hopkins when they fought and is still a great fighter to this day. I’m very excited. I have great sparring partners and it’s going great.”

According to Dawson, the reunion with Scully will bring about a renaissance in his career. “Scully knows how to go to get me in shape. With him in my corner, you will see a return of the Chad Dawson from 2007/2008 in this fight. I am the best light heavyweight in the world and I’m going to prove it.”

Scully says even though it came as a surprise, he’s overjoyed to be back to guiding Dawson.

“I was very happy, of course, to be asked to come back to training Chad. I’ve always said that training him was one of the most positive experiences of my career and I always felt we had a very good working relationship.”

He adds that Wright’s presence in camp is very welcome and the two are working together in harmony.

“Winky is here to lend support to a friend in the boxing game in Chad. As a former champion and a great southpaw, Winky’s knowledge obviously speaks for itself, plus he’s been in the ring with Bernard and knows all the little tricks Bernard will try. He has a special insight into the boxing game, and into this fight in particular, that can’t be overlooked. He’s a very good guy, very respectful, doesn’t step on anyone’s toes. He speaks up if he sees something that needs to be spoken about. Everyone here in camp with us plays a vital role. It’s a team effort and everyone here is working towards that one common goal.”

According to Scully, Dawson is showing his hunger to get his title back. “He’s looking perfect in camp so far. He’s a champion at heart and knows what needs to be done to get ready for a fight like this and he’s doing it.

In addition to this championship main event showdown, the televised pay-per-view undercard will also feature Antonio DeMarco vs. Jorge Linares in a 12-round fight for the vacant WBC Lightweight World Title and Kendall Holt vs. Danny Garcia in 12-round bout for the vacant NABO Junior Welterweight Title which will also be an eliminator for the number one rating by the WBC and the number two rating by the IBF.

Tickets for Hopkins vs. Dawson, priced at $300, $150, $75 and $25, are on sale now and are available for purchase online at www.staplescenter.com, www.ticketmaster.com or via Ticketmaster charge-by-phone lines at (800)745-3000.

The Hopkins vs. Dawson pay-per-view telecast, which begins at 9:00 p.m. ET / 6:00 p.m. PT, will be produced and distributed by HBO Pay-Per-View® and will be available to more than 92 million pay-per-view homes. The telecast will be available in HD-TV for those viewers who can receive HD. HBO Pay-Per-View®, a division of Home Box Office, Inc., is the leading supplier of event programming to the pay-per-view industry. For Hopkins vs. Dawson fight week updates, log on to www.hbo.com.

Best national boxers in race to represent country in World Series of Boxing

Mumbai, September 13, 2011: Transstadia Boxing India Pvt Ltd, the parent company of the Mumbai Franchisee for World Series of Boxing (WSB) is starting pre-selection of its team for different categories on September 17 and 18 at Mumbai.

The franchisee has received a tremendous response during registrations with best of the names in Indian Boxing including, Jeetender Kumar & Diwaker Prasad – Olympians, Santosh Harijan – Asian Games Silver medallist, Balvir Singh and Vipin Kumar – both Junior World Champions, Santosh Harizan and Chotelal Yadav – Junior Asian Gold medalists and a number of Internationals and National Champions.

The entries are flooding in from across the nation for which the pre-selection has become inevitable, says the TransStadia management for the Boxing. Boxers who are participating in Baku will automatically be eligible for direct participation for the franchise.

Mr. Udit Sheth, Managing Director, TransStadia, says, “WSB is a premier boxing event globally and is considered a platform for the creation of fantastic Olympic talent. We are excited to have the best boxers participate and will leave no stone unturned to ensure that India is well represented. We want a winning team and I’m sure we’ll get it.

Selection Committee members include Mr. Kishen Narsi, AIBA Executive Committee Member, Mr. Rajesh Bhandari, VP –IABF, Capt. Gopal Dewang, Manoj Pingle and Asian Gold Medalist, Dingko Singh whilst the Observers include Shri. Asit banerjee VP – IABF, Shri. Khoibi Salam VP- IABF, Brig. P.K.M. Raja, Secretary General – IABF, and Jay Kowli and the Trans Stadia Management Team will include Mr. Udit Sheth, MD & CEO- Trans Stadia, Mr. Nitin Beri, VP- TransStadia and Lenny D’Gama, Manager Boxing.

The excitement from the National Camp conducted at Patiala is also visible as many of the boxers from the Camp have shown keen interest in joining the franchisee. The Indian franchisee will pick the best of the boxers in the 5 weight categories as per the format of WSB i.e., Bantam (50-54 kgs), Light (57-61 kgs), Middle (68-73 kgs), Heavy (80-85 kgs) and Super Heavy (+91 kgs).

The WSB league consists of 12 teams around the world, divided into 2 groups of 6 teams each. The Indian franchisee is slated in Group A which features Dolce & Gabbana Milano Thunder of Italy, Pohang Poseidons of Korea, Los Angeles Matadors of USA, Dynamo Moscow of Russia and Astana Arlans of Kazakasthan. The WSB League starts from second week of November, 2011, with each team having 5 ‘home’ and 5 away matches followed by the quarters, semis, finals and Individual Championships. Interestingly, the Boxers who are participating in Baku will be eligible for direct participation for the franchise.

Whilst Mumbai boxing fans are eagerly waiting for the pre selections, Mr. Jay Kowli, President of Maharastra Boxing Association, says “I am extremely happy that Mumbai will host the inaugural WSB and as promised MBA extends all our support to the Team India with the best facilities and technical excellence to shortlist Boxers for talent pool. It would be a high action weekend as the best of Indian Boxers will come down secure their berths and so it would be a treat to boxing fans in Mumbai to see the stars in action in Mumbai.”

Brigadier PK Murlidharan Raja, Secretary General, Indian Amateur Boxing Federation (IABF), on the upcoming pre-selection said, “The pre-selection trial by TransStadia for AIBA World Series Boxing is a positive step in the right direction. There is tremendous excitement in the Boxing Circles and the top Indian Boxers are preparing themselves to fight for glory and find favour with the selectors and get their nod to represent Team India. IABF wishes TransStadia and Team India good luck and is confident of a successful debut for them in the WSB this season”.

It may be recalled that TransStadia was the latest owner of the global World Series Boxing India team. The company has signed an exclusive ten-year deal in Astana Kazakhstan with World Series of Boxing, a property owned by AIBA, the apex body of the sport worldwide. Transstadia’s Boxing team will operate out of Mumbai in cooperation with World Series Boxing & Indian Boxing Federation under AIBA guidelines & best practices using TransStadia’s knowledge of sports infrastructure and content development. TransStadia will oversee, host and manage all commercial rights of this sport in India. AIBA and Indian Boxing Federation will partner TransStadia on the technical side of the sport.

Mr. Sheth, says, “TransStadia’s plan in India is to nurture talent, create sustainable infrastructure, bring smart technologies and contribute towards creating a robust sports eco-system.”