World Boxing Council Welterweight World Champion Andre Berto Featured in ESPN the Magazine
(MIAMI, FLA.) – Undefeated Welterweight World Champion Andre Berto (Winter Haven, Fla.) (23-0, 19 Kos) is featured in the January 12 issue of ESPN the Magazine. The six-page article highlights Berto’s road from an accomplished amateur to his second title defense on January 17, 2009.
Entitled “1,506 Days with Andre Berto”, the story follows the WBC Welterweight World Champion through several important dates, ranging from his professional debut to the purchase of his first house and concludes with his upcoming bout with Luis Collazo. Providing background into several areas of his life, including his tenure at a local jewelry store and relationship with longtime trainer, Tony Morgan, the six-page spread provides insight to the bumpy road to a world title. The feature is highlighted on the cover with the headline, “1,506 Days With Boxing’s Next Great Thing.
Author Tim Struby selected Berto four years ago after receiving advice from numerous trainers, promoters and boxing executives, and his pick paid off in the form of a welterweight world title and undefeated professional record. “All we needed were two things – the right guy and a thousand lucky breaks,” Struby writes in the article. “We think of him as our storytelling lottery ticket.”
The 2004 Olympian will face his toughest test to date in his second title defense on January 17, 2009 in Biloxi, Miss. Berto will take on former World Champion Luis Collazo (Brooklyn, N.Y.) (29-3, 14 KOs) at the Beau Rivage Resort & Casino with the fight headlining HBO’s first Boxing After Dark event of 2009.
Collazo held the WBA Welterweight title in 2005, recording victories over Jose Antonio Rivera and Miguel Antonio Gonzalez before losing the belt to Ricky Hatton via a close, controversial decision. The 25-year-old Berto is currently in training camp in Miami, preparing for the welterweight clash, which will kick off his fifth year as a professional.
Launched in 1998, ESPN the Magazine is read worldwide with a circulation rate base of over two million readers.
Andre Berto is the World Boxing Council Welterweight World Champion and maintains a perfect 23-0 record as a professional. An accomplished amateur with numerous national titles, Berto represented Haiti in the 2004 Olympic Games. A Haitian-American, Berto comes from a fighting family. His father, Dieusuel competed as an Ultimate Fighter before a devastating car crash ended his career and brother Edson and sister Revelina are professional MMA fighters.
ANDRZEJ FONFARA RETURNS IN CICERO ON FRIDAY, JANUARY 23RD
Chicago based super middleweight prospect Andrzej “THE POLISH PRINCE” Fonfara will return to the ring on Friday, January 23rd at Cicero Stadium, it was announced today by Dominic Pesoli, President of 8 Count Productions.
Fonfara, 10-2-0 (3KO’s), will square off in a six round bout at “NEW YEAR’S REVOLUTION” against Fort Smith, Arkansas native Terrence “THE TRUTH” Wilson , 5-4-0 (3KO’s).
Advance tickets for “NEW YEAR’S REVOLUTION”, starting at $30, can be obtained in advance by calling the 8 Count Productions office at 312-226-5800. Cicero Stadium is located at 1909 S. Laramie in Cicero . Doors on the evening of the event will open at 7pm with the first bell at 8pm.
Fonfara returns to the ring after a six month absence following a second round stoppage at the hands of Derrick Findley on July 11th at Chicago ’s Aragon Ballroom which was broadcast on ESPN2’s Friday Night Fights.
“Andrzej knows he made some mistakes and he’s anxious to get back in the ring and put on a great performance. He’s only 21 and we feel that he should be able to bounce back strongly from the defeat” said Pesoli. “ Wilson is a tough, strong kid from Arkansas but Andrzej knows how important it is to get back in the win column and has been training diligently for this fight.”
A favorite amongst the huge Chicago Polish population, Fonfara, a native of Warsaw , had won six in a row prior to the bout with Findley.
Headlining “NEW YEAR’S REVOLUTION” is a six round junior welterweight bout between Chicago fan favorite Ivan Popoca, 8-0-1 (7KO’s) and the equally heavy handed Daniel Garcia, 9-5-1 (7KO’s) of Houston , TX .
Also seeing action will be 20 year super bantamweight sensation Eric Estrada, 6-0-0 (2KO’S) who will see action in a six round bout.
Rounding out the card in separate four round bouts are junior welterweight newcomer Ryan Smedick, 2-0 (1KO) and featherweight William Hernandez who will be making his professional debut.
“NEW YEAR’S REVOLUTION” is presented along with Miller Lite, TCF Bank, Jack Daniels and EL Jimador Tequila.
TCF is a Wayzata, Minnesota-based national financial holding company with $16.4 billion in total assets. The company has 453 banking offices in Minnesota , Illinois , Michigan , Colorado , Wisconsin , Indiana and Arizona , providing retail and commercial banking services, and investments and insurance products. TCF also conducts leasing and equipment finance business in all 50 states.
8 Count Productions was started by Dominic Pesoli in 1998 and has consistently presented the highest quality professional boxing events in Chicagoland. In 2003, Pesoli along with former featherweight contender Mike Garcia opened JABB Boxing Gym, a 6,000 square foot venue dedicated to the finest Chicagoland boxers of all talent levels.
To view the seating chart and poster for this event or for more information on 8 Count Productions and JABB Boxing Gym, please visit www.8countproductions.com and www.jabbboxing.com
NAKASH, CHAMBERS & SHMOUEL HIGHLIGHT BLUE HORIZON CARD ON FEB.6
Fast becoming one of the most popular fighters in Philadelphia, Ran Nakash of Haifa, Israel will once again look to thrill the crowd at The Legendary Blue Horizon as he will participate in the scheduled eight round main event of big night of boxing at boxing’s number-one venue on Friday night February 6th.
The “Valentines Day Special” card is promoted by Vernoca L. Michael and Blue Horizon Boxing Inc.
Nakash, 16-0 with twelve knockouts put on his most complete performance in his last bout when he systematically broke down Harvey Jolly over seven rounds on December 5th. It was during that fight that Nakash heard loud cheers from The Blue Horizon crowd and is now solidified as one of the most popular fighters in Philadelphia.
Nakash has a record of 7-0 with four knockouts at The Legendary Blue horizon and has scored seven consecutive stoppages. With a win Nakash could be on the cusp of a world ranking. Nakash’s very formidable opponent will be announced shortly.
In the co-feature, Jr. Welterweight Steve Upsher Chambers will look to extend his unbeaten streak to seventeen as he will take part in a bout scheduled for eight rounds.
Chambers is coming off a solid victory over Ben Ankrah on December 5th at The Legendary Blue Horizon.
In that bout, Chambers showed that despite his long length, he could mix it up inside as he consistently outworked Ankrah at close-quarters to pound out the unanimous decision victory.
Chambers, 19-1-1 (1NC) with five knockouts has become a staple at The Legendary Blue Horizon has fought all but one of his fights at The Legendary Blue Horizon.
Chambers will be taking on an opponent to be announced shortly.
It has been fourteen months since Elad Shmouel took part on one of the greatest toe-to-toe wars ever inside the confines of Philadelphia and on February 6th; Shmouel will make his long awaited return to the ring
Back on December 7th, 2007, Shmouel and Lenny DeVictoria put on one of the greatest shows in the history of Philadelphia boxing as Shmouel battered and dropped DeVictoria over the first four rounds. It was then where DeVictoria found something deep inside of him and the tide turned as DeVictoria shockingly came back to stop Shmouel in round seven of what Philadelphia fight fans are still calling a classic.
Shmouel, 18-2-1 of Tel Aviv, Israel with nine knockouts has been thinking about that fight for over a year and there have been rumors of a rematch taking place in 2009. In order for that to occur Shmouel must be victorious on February 6th against an opponent to be announced in a six round Jr. Welterweight bout. Shmouel will be making his seventh appearance at The Legendary Blue Horizon (5-1, 2 KO’s)
In another six round bout, Jr. Middleweight Darren Fallen, 12-4-1 with six stoppages will look to build on a two-fight winning streak when he sees action on February 6.
In a Featherweight bout set for four rounds, Jules Blackwell, 8-2-2 with three knockouts will look to rebound from a devastating knockouts loss that he suffered on December 5th at the hands of Darrell Martin will battle the highly popular Nicky DeMarco (2-2, 2 KO’s) of Staten Island, New York.
After a four year hiatus and relocating back home to Philadelphia, Jr. Welterweight John Pawlowski, 2-1-1, 2 KO’s needed just twenty-three seconds to dispose of John Goldwire on December 5th and on February 6th Pawlowski will look for his third straight first round knockout when he battles Danny Morales (0-2) in a bout scheduled for four rounds.
Also seeing action on February 6th in separate bouts scheduled for four rounds will be Jr. welterweight Julius Edmonds (3-3); super featherweight Derek Bivins (1-0) & middleweight John Turner (1-0, 1KO)
These fights will be streamed live all over the world on www.gofightlive.tv
Ticket prices for this great night of boxing are $200 for Queen Seating, $125 for Presidential seats, $65 for VIP, $55 for Ringside, and $45 for General Admission and can be purchased by calling The Legendary Blue Horizon at 1-215-763-0500 or by logging on to comcasttix.com. Doors open at 6:30 PM / 1st bout begins at 7:30 PM
The Legendary Blue Horizon is located at 1314 North Broad Street in Philadelphia, PA
For more information, log on to www.legendarybluehorizon.com
Steve ‘USS’ Cunningham – Wants His Cruiserweight Crown Back – Returns To
Training
Former IBF cruiserweight champion, Steve ‘USS’ Cunningham, has returned to training at the James Shuler Memorial Gym in West Philadelphia just three weeks after losing his crown by close split-decision to Tomasz ‘Goral’ Adamek in what most media and fans alike described as one of the Fights Of The Year at the Prudential Center in Newark New Jersey on December 11th 2008.
After chatting with ‘early bird’ gym mates, Gee Culmer, Darren Fallen and Marianne “Golden Girl” Marston, about the fight Steve got down to business. After his normal warm-up, Steve went straight into a full work-out session.
Ever willing to pass on his knowledge and experience to fellow fighters, Steve then spent a little time advising British featherweight, Marianne Marston, on reflex bag techniques. After which he took a little time to talk about his return to training. “It feels real good, I am real excited to get back into the gym. The team made me take the three weeks off, it’s good, I got a good amount of rest. But, now it’s back to the schedule of dominating the cruiserweight division. I still believe that I’m the best cruiserweight in the world. I don’t think any of them out there can beat me. I don’t think I got beat on December 11th it’s just the points on the
knockdowns. But, you know, I’m going to prove in ‘09 that I am the greatest cruiserweight in the world.”
When asked if he had any other fights in mind if the rematch with Adamek isn’t forthcoming soon ‘USS’ Cunningham replied “I want to fight by the end of April, I’d love to fight in March or early April. We’re working on
that with Don King. But I pray in Jesus’ name that we get the rematch right away. The buzz is hot, everybody wants to see a rematch. It’ll be money and Television will be there, so I’m excited. I’m just praying for the rematch man. If it doesn’t come we’ve got other avenues to go. We’ll go for all of them. I say in Jesus’ name I will be the two time world champion in ‘09.
Steve ‘USS’ Cunningham is intent on getting back in the ring as soon as possible and whilst it’s clear that Steve wants the rematch more than anything else and we can only hope that Tomasz Adamek’s management and promotional team agree to one soon, but if it is not to be Steve is determined to get fighting and start shaking up the cruiserweight division as early as possible in 2009.
Boxing fans deserve the opportunity of watching another scintillating battle between the two best cruiserweights in the world, if you agree go to www.wewantarematch.com and sign the petition.