HBO’s hit late-night boxing franchise travels to Canada for an all-action Thanksgiving weekend doubleheader of light heavyweight powerhouses when HBO BOXING AFTER DARK: ADONIS STEVENSON VS. TONY BELLEW AND SERGEY KOVALEV VS. ISMAYL SILLAKH is seen SATURDAY, NOV. 30 at 10:15 p.m. (live ET/tape-delayed PT) from the Colisee Pepsi in Quebec City, exclusively on HBO. The HBO Sports team of Jim Lampley, Max Kellerman and Roy Jones Jr. will be ringside for the event, which will be available in HDTV, closed-captioned for the hearing-impaired and presented in Spanish on HBO Latino.
Other HBO playdates: Dec. 1 (3:30 p.m.) and 2 (12:25 a.m.)
HBO2 playdates: Dec. 1 (8:45 a.m.) and 3 (11:00 p.m.)
In the 12-round main event, light heavyweight champion Adonis Stevenson (22-1, 19 KOs) of Quebec defends his title on his home turf against the UK’s Tony Bellew (20-1, 12 KOs). Stevenson, 36, dismantled former champion Chad Dawson with a first-round knockout in June to win his first world championship, and successfully defended his title in September, stopping another top veteran, Tavoris Cloud, at the end of the seventh round. Making his third appearance on HBO in five months, he hopes to continue his meteoric rise in the 175-pound division.
In his HBO debut, Bellew will look to use his significant height and reach advantages to halt Stevenson. Taking place on his 31st birthday, the bout marks Bellew’s first fight outside the UK and his first shot at a world championship.
The co-feature bout pits Russia’s Sergey Kovalev (22-0-1, 20 KOs) against Ukraine’s Ismayl Sillakh (21-1, 17 KOs) in a scheduled 12-round light heavyweight title fight. Making his second HBO appearance this year, the undefeated Kovalev, 30, is coming off the biggest win of his career, a masterful fourth-round technical knockout of Nathan Cleverly that brought him his 175-pound title. He is one the sport’s fastest rising stars and on everybody’s “must see” list.
Sillakh, 28, has an extensive amateur resume and near-perfect professional record. A resident of Simi Valley, Cal., he will be fighting in his sixth country as a pro and making his HBO debut.
Leading off the telecast will be the HBO replay of the hard-hitting welterweight fight between Manny Pacquiao and Brandon Rios that took place on Nov. 23 in Macau. In his 2013 debut, Pacquiao, a worldwide superstar, registered a dominant performance and reasserted his standing in one of boxing’s deepest divisions.
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All HBO boxing events are presented in HDTV. HBO viewers must have access to the HBO HDTV channel to watch HBO programming in high definition.
The executive producer of HBO BOXING AFTER DARK is Rick Bernstein; producer, Jon Crystal; director, Doug Getts.
® HBO BOXING AFTER DARK is a registered service mark of Home Box Office, Inc.
IABA UPDATE (IRELAND V POLAND WOMEN’S INTERNATIONAL)
Irish Amateur Boxing Association
November 27th – Ireland and Poland will meet in an historic international next month. Click here for further information.
The St Brigid’s BC in Edenderry, Co. Offaly, who are celebrating heir 80th anniversary this year, will host the first ever women’s boxing international in Ireland at the Hamlet Court Hotel in Kildare on December 8th.
Forty eight hours before the Kildare clash, a Belfast International Select goes head-to-head with the Poles at the Whiterock Leisure centre in Belfast.
Geesala BC stand out Ciara Ginty, the current AIBA World Junior champion and AIBA World Female Junior Boxer of 2013, will be between the ropes in Kildare.
EU Senior and Youth medallists Leanne Murphy and Grainne Gavin have also been named in the Ireland squad, along with the experienced Kelly Harrington and Dervla Duffy, Lycia Heneghan, Lauren Hogan, Niamh Ball, Robin Smith and Diane Campbell.
The Ireland women’s team helped Irish boxing secure a record haul of 42 medals in AIBA World and European competition in 2013. Click here.