Former Welterweight Champion Zab Judah Ringside
The Ring Magazine’s No. 8 ranked Lightweight “Hammerin’” Hank Lundy (22-1-1, 11 KOs) will meet Ray Beltran (25-6, 17 KOs) July 27 in the 10-round main event on ESPN’s Friday Night Fights presented by Corona Extra. Friday’s show will air at 10 p.m. ET on ESPN2 HD, ESPN Deportes, and ESPN3 from Atlantic City, N.J. The card is presented by CES Promotions.
Former Welterweight Champion Zab Judah, filling in for Teddy Atlas, will be ringside with Joe Tessitore for ESPN2 HD and ESPN3 at The Resorts Casino describing the action, while studio host Bernardo Osuna will present all the latest boxing news and highlights. Alex Pombo and Delvin Rodriguez will call the fights for ESPN Deportes’ Viernes de Combates (Friday Night Fights) with Leopoldo Gonzalez and Pablo Viruega in the studio.
The ESPN2 HD and ESPN3 telecasts will include segments with Atlas, and ESPN boxing analyst/former editor-in-chief of The Ring Magazine Nigel Collins, discussing the state of U.S. Olympic boxing.
Main Event:
Philadelphia’s Lundy has won his last four fights, including a March 10-round unanimous decision over Dannie Williams on ESPN’s Friday Night Fights.
After that fight, ESPN.com boxing writer Dan Rafael wrote: “Lundy and Williams talked a lot of trash heading into this intriguing Friday Night Fights main event – perhaps the best on paper so far this season – and it was Lundy who backed up his words. He has been a staple on Friday Night Fights in recent years and turned in one of his best performances. Lundy controlled the less-experienced Williams with a snappy jab and often followed it with a right hand. He did it over and over and it resulted in the clear victory in what was an entertaining fight.”
Mexico’s Beltran is trained by International Boxing Hall of Fame 2012 inductee Freddie Roach and 1992 U.S. Olympian Pepe Reilly.
“I think Hank Lundy is a real good fighter,” Beltran said. “I think it’s going to be the biggest fight of my career. I’ve seen him, he gets knocked down, the guy comes back to win. He’s a true fighter. I believe I have to win by knockout if I’m going to win. For a guy like me, there’s no decision.”
Co-Feature:
Friday’s co-feature will pit Super Middleweights Farah “Quiet Storm” Ennis (19-1, 12 KOs) of Philadelphia against Richard “T.P.” Pierson (11-2, 8 KOs) of New Jersey. Ennis is coming off a 10-round unanimous decision win over Dion Savage, while Pierson won his last fight by a fourth-round TKO over Charles Hayward.
Follow ESPN’s Friday Night Fights on Twitter @ESPNFNF or like it on Facebook. Follow ESPN Deportes’ Viernes de Combates on Twitter @ESPNBoxeo
Boxing Official Draw to take place on Friday 27 July at 14:00
London, Great Britain, 25 July 2012 – The International Boxing Association (AIBA) would like to inform all media that the Official Draw of the London 2012 Olympic Games will take place on Friday 27 July at 14:00, in the Spectators Zone of the Boxing Venue, at ExCeL London.
The Ceremony will be followed by a press conference at 16:00 with AIBA President, Dr Ching-Kuo Wu, Technical Delegate, Mr Franco Falcinelli and Deputy Technical Delegate, Mr Pat Fiacco, in the Media Conference Room (level 3) at the ExCeL London.
Conducted manually, the Official Draw will distribute the 250 Men Boxers into ten weight categories and 36 Women Boxers into three weight categories.
WORLD BOXING COUNCIL NEWS
July 25, 2012 – Mexico City.
From the office of WBC President Dr. José Sulaimán:
The following is one of the weekly “Hook to the Liver” columns by WBC President Dr. José Sulaimán that are published in El Universal every Sunday. From July 22, translated from Spanish:
HOOK TO THE LIVER
By José Sulaimán
Nelson Mandela and Human Equality
Nelson Mandela became 94 years old a few days ago. He was a good amateur boxer during his college years and became one of the greatest personalities in history by his life’s devotion of human equality.
This brought to my mind those yesteryears of 1947 when I started my studies in the United States. Those were not the times of easy air flights, and they were very expensive for a kid like me. I used to take the popular old Greyhounds from Laredo, Texas, all the way to Massachusetts, where I was in college, and where my father’s family lived and still live today. I felt in those times a deep sorrow to see that all people of the black race were sent to the back of the bus. There were separate toilets for black men and white men at the Greyhound stations all across the U.S. Several times I went into the black men’s toilets, as I couldn’t figure where should I go, and I did it with pride. On one occasion, all of the passengers got together to forcefully demand that the bus driver bring to the front seats an old black lady who was very sick, and we did it, even after his strong position that it was against the law. I was so happy to see the Kennedy years when a rebellion started in the southern states changed all that. All of that, and the tax pardon for Joe Louis issued by President John Kennedy, made him my supreme hero.
Years went by and in 1975, when I was elected president of the WBC for the first time, I heard with passion and emotion the name of Nelson Mandela and his life story by my unforgettable Colonel Hamouda, Dr. Joseph Fofe and Ame Taieb Houichi. My first decision and action was seeking the vote for the expulsion of South African boxing from the WBC, which was still very small, with little attention from the world. We started a strong campaign to stop the famous past champions who were invited to South Africa. Muhammad Ali, Larry Holmes, Sugar Ray Robinson, and others followed our request to not go. Floyd Patterson was the exception. He did not understand nor did he pay any attention to what apartheid was. He visited the land where black people were treated with the despicable and nauseating practice of apartheid. The WBC became the first sports institution to go all the way in the struggle against apartheid, for which we got a recognition from the United Nations in New York, which I keep as my most beloved award of my life.
Mandela was freed after 28 years in jail for his life struggle to bring equality to his land, but with conditions. He declined his conditional freedom and remained in jail until the time that the South African government erased all conditions. He jumped from there to be the first black president in that country. The white government had to accept the majority voting of the people and gave way to a hero, who struggled all his life against apartheid. He proved it by being a president for whom human equality was his law and never took revenge from those who kept him 28 years in jail, for no reason but his peaceful objection to apartheid. The WBC received a letter of gratitude and respect from President Mandela himself for the unwavering 19-year struggle of the WBC in support of our hero Nelson Mandela. That letter is kept in my heart as one of the greatest recognitions of my passing through life.
The recognition of the WBC by the UN in New York was one of the most sensitive ceremonies of my life. It was delivered to us by the Secretary General of the UN, Perez de Cuellar, and General Joseph Garba, the UN Secretary of Security. Many superstars of boxing were there: Muhammad Ali, Carlos Monzon, Sugar Ray Robinson, Sugar Ray Leonard, Roberto Duran, Larry Holmes, Gerry
Cooney, Alexis Argüello, Ken Norton, and many, many more great champions, as well as Don King, Jarvis Astaire, and Micky Duff. At that moment we awarded Nelson Mandela with the human equality award, when he was still in jail.
From my hero Mandela I learned many things, especially the special humility of a hero that made him bigger. I learned not to take vengeance on your detractors, but to the contrary. Mandela was as simple as a kid, as he showed by putting his arm on my shoulder when I was walking him to his car. I learned to live with impeccable dignity and never to give it up. I was also impressed by his strong defense of his principles, integrity, justice and respect for all – to be a leader by etching and convincing, and never by using the hatchet. I had learned since my childhood that all human beings are equal, since my little town of 800 people town, Jaumave, in the mountains of Tamaulipas, as well as from the people of my hometown Ciudad Victoria, all in the state of Tamaulipas, now under the attack of the times, and also from my beloved country of Mexico, where I have never seen or felt discrimination.
Long live Nelson Mandela, my hero.
Thank you for reading my thoughts.
Lundy faces Beltran on Friday
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (July 25, 2012) – Two days away from another huge, nationally-televised fight, “Hammerin’” Hank Lundy is as relaxed as ever, feeling no pressure whatsoever as he prepares to defend his title and world No. 1 ranking Friday, July 27th, 2012 against Raymundo Beltran at Resorts Hotel Casino.
“I’m feeling excellent,” said Lundy, the reigning North American Boxing Federation (NABF) lightweight champion and top-ranked lightweight in the World Boxing Council (WBC).
“I know what I have to go in there and do. I know what my job is. I’ve just got to go out there and be ‘Hammerin’’ Hank. I appreciate Beltran giving me this opportunity, but I’ve got to handle my business at the end of the day.”
Friday’s show, promoted by Jimmy Burchfield’s Classic Entertainment & Sports and appropriately named “Title Wave,” features the 10-round main event between Lundy (22-1-1, 11 KOs) and Beltran (25-6, 17 KOs) in addition to a 10-round super middleweight co-feature between fellow Philadelphia native Farah Ennis (19-1, 12 KOs) and New Jersey’s Richard Patterson (11-2, 8 KOs). Beginning at 10 p.m. (EST), the show will air on ESPN2, ESPN3 and ESPN Deportes as part of ESPN’s Friday Night Fights.
After reaching the No. 1 spot in the WBC, Lundy could’ve held out for a shot at the world title, currently held by Antonio DeMarco, but instead chose to return to ESPN for the seventh time since 2010 and face the dangerous Beltran, a hard-hitting Mexican and former sparring partner for Manny Pacquiao who’s looking to rewrite the script on his own tumultuous career.
Standing toe-to-toe with Beltran is a risk, one that most fighters in Lundy’s shoes wouldn’t take, but so, too, was facing unknown challenger Dannie Williams in March, a fight Lundy won handedly despite getting knocked down in the first round.
As he prepares for Friday’s fight, Lundy is also keeping a close eye on the rest of the 135-pound division, particularly DeMarco, who will defend his title against John Molina in September, with, perhaps, the winner facing Lundy next. Molina is still the only fighter who’s beaten Lundy, so, deep down, Lundy is rooting for Molina in hopes of facing him a in a rematch for the world title.
Lundy also has another potential challenger on his radar, former World Boxing Organization (WBO) super featherweight champion Adrien Broner, who was forced to vacate his title prior to last weekend’s fight against Vicente Escobedo because he failed to make weight. The undefeated Broner won the fight regardless, and afterward promised more world titles in his future as he plans to move up to 135 pounds, irking the outspoken Lundy, who called Broner “unprofessional” for failing to make weight.
“I run this weight class,” Lundy said. “If you think you can just move up and jump over me, it ain’t happening. Don’t run. You could’ve mentioned my name on HBO. Instead, you took the easy way out. Just go on and keep fighting who you’re fighting. If he fought half the competition I’ve faced, he’d be dead in his tracks.
“Until I unify these titles, I rule this division, and I’m going to be here for a long time.”
Tickets for “Title Wave” are on sale now at $40, $65, $75 and $125 and can be purchased by calling CES at 401.724.2253/2254, online at www.cesboxing.com and www.ticketmaster.com, or at the Resorts Casino Hotel Box Office.
The undercard also features a six-round light middleweight bout between Thomas Lamanna (8-0, 5 KOs) of Millville, N.J., and William Brown (5-3) of Akron, Ohio, in addition to a four-round welterweight bout between Anthony Young (4-0, 2 KOs) of Atlantic City and Richie Andrews (3-1-3, 1 KO) of Stuarts Draft, Va. Josh Mercado (5-1, 2 KOs) of Cape May, N.J., will battle Korey Sloane (2-4-1) of Philadelphia in a four-round bout and Atlantic City’s Antowyan Aikens (5-0, 1 KO) will face Jimmy Ellis (3-5-1, 2 KOs) in a four-round super middleweight bout.
Also on the undercard, Kenneth Moody (2-3-2, 1 KO) of Virginia Beach, Va., will face Ismael Garcia (3-0) of Millville, N.J., in a four-round middleweight bout and super middleweight Isaiah Seldon of Somers Point, N.J., will face Steven Tyner (3-5-2, 2 KOs) of Akron in a four-round bout. All fights and fighters subject to change. Bantamweight Miguel Cartagena (5-0, 3 KOs) of Philadelphia will put his unbeaten record on the line against Jose Rivera in a six-round bout.