Floyd Mayweather’s Dad: My Son Fought Fair …100%; Monaghan and Rooney looking to impress; Willie Casey wants Quigg or Kennedy fight

Floyd Mayweather’s famous dad is in his son’s corner — telling TMZ, there was nothing underhanded about Floyd’s sucker punch victory on Saturday … adding, “The fight was 100% fair.”

Floyd Mayweather Sr. tells us, “First of all, Ortiz headbutted Floyd and that was obviously intentional. If you re-watch the fight, you can see that right after they apologize to one another, the ref OK’s them to fight.”

“Floyd did the right thing — the number one thing they will tell you in fighting is to ALWAYS protect yourself … The way Floyd ended the fight was 100% fair.”

Tell that to angry mobs everywhere.

MONAGHAN, ROONEY LOOKING TO IMPRESS LEE’S IRISH FAN-BASE OCTOBER, 1ST IN ATLANTIC CITY

New York, NY – (9/19/2011) – On Saturday, October 1st, DiBella Entertainment (DBE) will present “Noche de ‘Marvilla’: Martinez vs. Barker” featuring Middleweight Champion, Sergio Martinez (47-2-2, 26KO’s), defending his WBC Diamond belt and Ring Championship against England’s undefeated European Champion, “Dazzling” Darren Barker (23-0, 14KO’s), at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, NJ. Opening up HBO’s World Championship Boxing® telecast, will be top-rated middleweight contender, “Irish” Andy Lee (26-1, 19KO’s) as he takes on former participant of “The Contender” and the only man to defeat Lee as a pro, Brian Vera (19-5, 12KO’s), in a 10-round middleweight match-up. With a large contingent of Irish fans expected to be on hand to see Lee, promoter Lou DiBella has added fellow Irishmen Seanie Monaghan (8-0, 5KO’s) and Kevin “Kid” Rooney (2-0, 1KO) to the undercard, giving the two undefeated fighters the opportunity to showcase their skills in front of the pro-Irish crowd.

Tickets for the show are priced at $300, $200, $100, and $50, and can be purchased online at Ticketmaster.com, by phone at 1-800-745-3000, at any Ticketmaster retail outlet, or in person at the Boardwalk Hall box office.

“I’ve been a huge fan of Andy ever since the first time I saw him fight. He’s not only one of my favorite fighters, he’s also Irish, which makes me proud,” said Monaghan. “It’s going to be a great atmosphere on October 1st with all the Irish fans in attendance. I expect Andy to win this fight and to one day very soon become the middleweight champion. I just hope that I will be there fighting on his undercard when it happens.”

“Fighting on the undercard of a show that features Andy is a huge opportunity for any Irish fighter,” stated Rooney. “In my previous fights, I was the only Irish fighter on the card, but now, not only is Seanie fighting on the card, but you also have Andy, who, in my eyes, is one of the top three or four middleweights in the world, fighting in the co-feature. I expect a huge turnout come October 1st and seeing all those Irish flags will definitely make for a very exciting atmosphere and give me extra motivation to put on another crowd-pleasing performance.”

Monaghan has drawn large, boisterous crowds in each of his professional fights to date. His fight on October 1st will be his second in Atlantic City as a pro, and also the second time fighting underneath the aforementioned Lee. Monaghan fought on the undercard of Lee’s most recent victory, a 10th-round TKO over Craig McEwan on HBO at Foxwoods this past March, winning a four-round unanimous decision.

For Rooney Jr., the son of famed trainer Kevin Rooney Sr., it will be his first fight under the DBE banner since being hired on as DiBella’s Executive Assistant and Director of Public Relations in August.

“Noche De ‘Maravilla’: Martinez vs. Barker” is being presented by DiBella Entertainment in association with Caesars Atlantic City, and is sponsored by Corona. The fight will be aired live on HBO’s World Championship Boxing®, beginning at 10:00 PM ET/7:00 PM PT.

Tickets are priced at $300, $200, $100, and $50, and can be purchased online at Ticketmaster.com, by phone at 1-800-745-3000, at any Ticketmaster retail outlet, or in person at the Boardwalk Hall box office.

Willie Casey returns with ‘Big Bang’ Eyes Kennedy or Quigg fight

CORK, Ireland (September 19, 2011) – Former European and Prizefighter super bantamweight champion Willie “Big Bang” Casey returned to the ring last Saturday night in Belfast, stopped veteran Daniel Kodjo Sassou in the eighth round of their fight on the Tyson Fury-Nicolai Firtha card in famed King’s Hall.

Casey (12-1, 8 KOs), fighting out of Limerick, has now set his sights on World Boxing Association (“WBA”) Inter-Continental champion Scott Quigg (22-0, 15 KOs) or former United States Boxing Association (“USBA”) titlist Teon Kennedy (17-1-1, 17 KOs). Quigg, an Englishman, is rated No. 3 by the WBA and No. 4 by the International Boxing Federation (“IBF”),while Philadelphia- based Kennedy is ranked No. 8 by the IBF.

“Willie asked me to arrange fight with highly-touted Teon Kennedy or Scott Quigg,”Casey’s manager Gary Hyde said. “I am in the process of contacting their representatives this week and hopefully we can make a fight for Willie against one of these fighters. Willie fought a great fight last Saturday and he’s shown that there’s much more to Willle Casey than a ‘Big Bang.’ I am very happy with Willie’s performance. He works extremely hard and has the necessary desire to reach the top.”

Casey, a southpaw, was coming off of his only loss as a pro, last March to two-time Olympic gold medalist, Guillermo Rigondeaux, in their WBA Interim title fight. Hyde also manages “Rigo” but didn’t start working with Casey until after that fight.

Last Saturday night, Casey surprised his avid Irish fans by boxing off of his back foot, catching Kodjo from the start with effective counter-punches. More controlled than in the past, controlling his normally ultra-aggressive tendencies, Willie controlled the action and punished his French opponent until the referee halted the action in the eighth with Kodjo pinned defenselessly on the ropes.

“I am delighted with my performance and I promise there is more to come,” Casey commented after the fight. “I tried-out some new stuff that I learned from my coach, Paul McCullagh, and I really felt very effective. I always had plenty of power in both hands, but I have adjusted my style now, punching harder than ever. Kodjo was resilient and I knew that I was getting to him, hearing him wince when I delivered some heavy body shots. When the time was right, I moved in to finish him off in true ‘Big Bang’style. “I want to fight Scott Quigg or Teon Kennedy. My manager, Gary Hyde, is working to get one of them as an opponent for my next fight..”

Hyde had two others fighters in action last Saturday night in Belfast, junior welterweight Levan Ghvamichava (5-0, 4 KOs) and junior middleweight Dee Walsh. Ghvamichava, who is from Georgia and living in Belfast, damaged Joe Rea (7-6-1) so much in the first round that he was unable to continue fighting. Walsh won a four-round decision in a match-up of two boxers making their professional debuts.