Gavin Rees will defend his European lightweight title against Anthony Mezaache in Paris on Friday March 23, live on Sky Sports.
The Welshman won the vacant belt in June against Andy Murray in Cardiff and the 31 year-old heads to the northwest of the French capital at the Gymnase Georges Racine in Clichy la Garenne, Hauts-de-Seine to retain the belt in his first pro fight outside the UK.
Rees’ first defence ended in a draw after Derry Mathews sustained a broken nose after a clash of heads in the fourth round of their fight in Newport in October. The Newbridge fighter is looking to get back into World title contention after holding the World Boxing Association (WBA) light welterweight title in 2007-08 but will face a stern task in Mezaache’s hometown.
The Frenchman is seeking to hold the European belt for the second time having recovered brilliantly from a first round knock down to take it from Jon Thaxton in February 2009 in Norwich and defending it once before relinquishing. The 33 year-old claimed the vacant WBA Inter-Continental and IBF International belts in April in the same venue and followed that with another win there in December, his 21st pro victory from 30 contests.
“Gavin has been in the gym on and off since the Mathews fight,” said Rees’ trainer Gary Lockett. “The Gavin Rees of old is long gone, he’s grown up a lot and he knows that being out of the gym when you haven’t got a fight is not my way. So he’s been training hard and he looks in fantastic shape – I wish the fight was this week really as he looks superb. But we will be very ready for March 23 and it’s going to be a great occasion to fight in France.
“Gavin is a different animal today. In the last six months I’ve been able to get across to him what I want him to do and that’s the main challenge when you are a new fighter-trainer team, and Gavin is reaping the benefits now that the communication is perfect. Gavin has slowed himself down and he’s working at the pace I want him to. We’ve been doing a lot of sparring with a lad called Chris Goodwin from Chester and he’s been coming down and doing eight and ten rounds of terrific sparring at a time, and all of this was when Gavin was still not sure 100 per cent sure of when he’s going to fight – so his conditioning is fantastic and we’ll just be fine tuning things in the next month.
“Anthony is a tough and stubborn guy. I saw Thaxton flatten him in Norwich in the opening round of their clash and he was really wobbled but he got himself back up, dug in and won convincingly on foreign soil which takes guts, so we’re expecting a really difficult fight and we’re preparing for just that.”
Ticket information on the fight will be available soon.
William Miranda Works Full Time while Training for Allentown Fight this Saturday!
ALLENTOWN, PA (February 21, 2012) – Even while preparing for his tenth professional boxing match, heavyweight William Miranda of Allentown, PA continues to log hours at Hammer Training and Fitness in Allentown, spending hours helping clients achieve their fitness goals as the gym’s head boxing trainer.
“Everyone else is working hard and then you’re like ‘Oh wait, what about me?’,” said Miranda, the 4-4-1 heavyweight who faces Riley Brooks (1-3-1) of Baltimore, MD in the six-round main event of King’s Promotions “Heavyweight Explosion” this Saturday at the Rodeway Inn in Allentown.
Miranda, 33, is excited to be fighting for the second consecutive time in his hometown, but admits there are a lot of added pressures that go along with the honor. Miranda, who is one of the most popular fighters in the state, brings a large contingent of vocal fan support and will have by far the biggest crowd on site.
But in addition to training for the fight, spending hours in the gym and hitting the street running, Miranda is also running around town dropping off tickets and promoting the fight everywhere he goes. It’s a job within itself.
“It’s just been a lot of running around, trying to sell tickets on Facebook and just stopping to tell everybody about the fight,” said Miranda. “Last night I had to tell my girlfriend I had to hand out some postcards for the fights, was out until 2 AM promoting the show.
“Ultimately I do feel a little pressure fighting in my hometown, but most of the people coming are my friends and they’re there to root me on. They want to see victory, so I have to take them on my shoulders and say ‘Come on. let’s do it.'”
But once he gets to the ring, Miranda plans to show the real reason why so many flock to the venues whenever he fights.
“I’m only 5’9″, so you’re not going to see me run around and pop jobs, boring everybody to sleep. I have to be aggressive and take risks, so I’m always in exciting fights,” said Miranda. “My opponent has a similar style so I’m expecting a head-on collision.”
In the six-round co-featured bout, junior middleweight Keenan Collins (13-7-2, 9 KO) of Reading, PA will face Julio Cesar Lanza (7-17-6, 1 KO) of Managua, Nicaragua. Collins, a native of York, PA, is looking to get back on track after a competitive decision loss to world-ranked Philadelphian Gabriel Rosado.
Also on the card, undefeated welterweight Grayson Blake (4-0, 1 KO) of State College, PA will meet Corey Preston (1-7) from North Carolina in a four-round bout. The 29-year-old Blake was a former national amateur standout and was a member of the Pennsylvania State University boxing team.
In other action, heavyweight Eric Newell (3-1,1 KO) of Bethlehem, PA will face debuting Randy Easton, plus junior lightweight Frank Santos De Alba (1-0-1, 1 KO) of Reading, PA meets Corey White (1-3, 1 KO) from Ohio in a four-round bout.
Rounding out the card is a four-round junior welterweight clash between pro debut Joshua Reyes of Reading, PA against Osahon Omo-Osagie (0-1-1).
Tickets are priced at $65 (VIP), $50 (Ringside) and $35 (General Admission), and can be purchased at the Rodeway Inn (610-398-1629), King’s Boxing (610-587-5950) at Lehigh Valley Isshin Ryu Karate (484-554-8804) or online at eventbrite.com. Doors open at 6PM and first fight is at 7PM. For more information, visit www.kingsboxing.com
The Rodeway Inn is located at 1151 Bulldog Drive, Allentown, PA.
FERRANTE – SHEIKA CARD SET FOR THIS FRIDAY NIGHT AT HARRAHS IN CHESTER
CHESTER, PA (February 21, 2012)—This Friday Night, Tony “Boom Boom” Ferrante will take part in the most important bout of his career when he takes on former four time world title challenger Omar Sheika in a ten round bout for the BAM championship.
The bout plus a terrific five bout undercard is promoted by Joey Eye Boxing Promotions. This will be the sixth boxing show promoted by Joey Eye Boxing just over 12 months at Harrahs in Chester.
Ferrante of Philadelphia has a record of 12-2 with seven knockouts and is one of the most popular fighters in Philadelphia. Ferrante won his first nine professional bouts before dropping back to back bouts to Chuck Mussachio (15-1-2) and Ronson Frank (17-0).
Ferrante has responded with three consecutive victories, with two of those coming at Harrahs in Chester.
Ferrante is coming off a first round stoppage over Joe Park last August 12th at Harrahs in Chester.
Sheika of Paterson, New Jersey has been a mainstay at the top of the Super Middleweight and Light Heavyweight divisions for sixteen years. He won his first fourteen bouts and went on to beat former world champions Simon Brown and Glen Johnson.
Sheika challenged Joe Calzaghe, Eric Lucas; Jeff Lacy and Markus Beyer for world Super Middleweight supremacy but each time came up just a little bit short.
Sheika, 31-11 with twenty-one is coming off a majority decision victory over based Light heavyweight Charles Hayward on January 21st.
Two six round fights will headline the undercard.
Undefeated Naim Nelson of Philadelphia will take on the battle tested Linwood Hurd in a Jr. Welterweight bout.
Nelson, twenty-one years old has a record of 4-0 and holds victories over undefeated Korey Slone (1-0) and in his last bout he scored a four round unanimous decision over Pedro Andres on January 21st.
Hurd has a record of 3-2-4 with one knockout. The twenty-seven year old has fought and had success with solid competition. Hurd has wins over then undefeated Bryheim Douglas (2-0-2) and scored his first knockout in his last bout over Marcus Smith and has draws with then undefeated Ryan Belasco (2-0) and tough Julio DeJesus (4-2).
In a second six round Heavyweight bout, popular Radnor Police Officer Jamie Campbell takes on Lonnie Kornegay.
Campbell, thirty-eight has a record of 3-2 with two knockouts.
The Ridley Park, PA native lives just minutes from Harrahs in Chester and should have a big cheering section rooting him on.
Campbell has two big wins over Dan Mullarkey and will be looking to redeem himself after coming off a four round unanimous decision defeat to last minute replacement William Miranda last March 18th at Harrahs in Chester.
Kornegay is a thirty-three year old native of Baltimore will bring in a record of 1-5-2.
The irony of the fight is that Kornegay’s lone win is over Miranda (Miranda got even in the rematch).
The rest of the card will consists of three four round bouts.
Teneal Goyco (4-3, 2 KO’s) will take on Maurice Amaro (1-5) in a bout between two Philadelphia based Light Heavyweight bout.
Son of former world title challenger Tyrone Crawley Jr. will take on Hamid Robinson in a battle of pro debuting Welterweights from Philadelphia.
Danny Mills of Glen Mills, PA will take on Mike Haynes of Wilmington, DE in a fight between two pro debuting Welterweights.
Tickets are now on sale for $100 (VIP); $65 (Ringside) and $45 (General Admission) and can be purchased at the Harrahs Chester Gift Shop; By calling Joey Eye (267-304-9399); David Feldman (610-291-0806); 800-480-8020 or on www.webtix.net