De La Hoya ups the ante with an extra $100,000 in prize money
Competition is good, so says Sergio Martinez regarding his battle with Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. On Saturday night, HBO PPV is in a tough scrap with that other boxing channel Showtime.
Going toe to toe against HBO’s fabulous boxing card on Saturday night will be Showtime Championship Boxing’s offering from the MGM Grand aptly named “Knockout Kings” and they’re claiming their fights will be even better because they’re going to have more fireworks. How can they miss when they’re showcasing eight boxers with a combined 206 KOs between them.
“These four fights all have the ingredients to end in spectacular fashion,” said President of Golden Boy Promotions Oscar De La Hoya. “Knockout Kings is the perfect title for this fight card because you have current world champions, former world champions and aspiring world champions all striving for a win on Saturday night. All the fighters are known for their power and none can be counted out or overlooked. This is a unique way to engage the fans watching around the country. I am hoping to see four knockouts so that the decision is that much tougher and the winner is that much more deserving of the prize.”
Following the conclusion of the main event, fans in the MGM Grand Arena and at home will have five minutes to vote for the “Knockout of the Night” by texting 74669 from their mobile devices. If there are no knockouts, there will no winner and if there is one knockout, that fighter is the automatic winner of the $100,000 prize. Should there be more than one knockout, the votes will be tallied in those five allotted minutes to vote and the $100,000 winner will be announced prior to the conclusion of the telecast.
Saul Canelo Alvarez versus Josesito Lopez
In the Main Event, a 12 round WBC light middleweight title fight, they have Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (40-0-1, 29 KOs) going up against Josesito Lopez (30-4-0, 18 KOs) of nearby Riverside, CA.
In Mexico, they’re claiming the 22-year-old redhead has garnered higher TV ratings than their national soccer team. Lopez gained his notoriety after breaking Victor Ortiz’s jaw on June 23rd on Showtime. Nobody likes you when you’re ego goes over the top and many felt Ortiz was a bit of a blowhard.
Daniel Ponce De Leon versus Jhonny Gonzalez
Then in a 12 round WBC featherweight title fight you have Jhonny Gonzalez (52-7-0, 45 KOs) going up against the 32 year-old Daniel Ponce De Leon (43-4-0, 35 KOs) from nearby Huntington Park, CA.
Marcos Maidana versus Jesus Soto Karass
In a 12 round WBA Inter-Continental welterweight title fight they have Marcos Rene Maidana (31-3-0, 28 KOs) going up against Jesus Soto Karass (26-7-3, 17 KOs).
Eric Morel versus Leo Santa Cruz.
In the fourth championship bout for the IBF Bantamweight Title, they have another local fighter, Leo Santa Cruz (20-0-1, 11 KOs) going up against Eric Morel (46-3-0, 23 KOs). Cameron Dunkin is Santa Cruz’s manager, his trainer is his father Jose and his promoter is Chet Koerner’s TKO. He first started training at Eddie Heredia’s Gym and then switched to the Maywood Gym.
Just as they’ve done in the National Football League, the boxing networks have started to add additional personnel to insure their broadcasts have less quiet time. Broadcaster Brian Kenny (former ESPN anchor, the host of ESPN2’s Friday Night Fights and his own ESPN Radio show The Brian Kenny Show) plus WBA Welterweight World Champion Paulie Malignaggi have been added to fill in the gaps with their views.
Kenny and Malignaggi will be joining blow-by-blow announcer Mauro Ranallo and analyst Al Bernstein along with ringside reporter Jim Gray to help set the stage for this mega fight card which features eight fighters with a combined record of 288-16-5 with 206 KOs. If you do the math, that’s a knockout percentage of 71.5 percent.
Malignaggi, who’ll be making his debut as a ringside commentator for Showtime, will soon be defending his 147-pound world title against Pablo Cesar “El Demoledor” Cano in one of three world title fights to air October 20, 21012 on Showtime from The Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y.
In the light welterweight 12 round Main Event they have Danny Garcia of Philadelphia, PA defending his WBC lightweight world title against Erik Morales of Tijuana, B. C., Mexico.
They also have 28 year-old middleweight 5’11” Hassan N’Dam N’Jikam of Pantin, Seine-Saint-Denis, France going up against 29 year-old Peter Quillin of Brooklyn, N.Y., N.Y. for the WBO Middleweight Title and finally they have welterweights, 30 year-old Dmitriy Salita (34-1-1, 18 KOs) facing 33 year-old Edgar Santana (26-4-0, 17 KOs) in an eight round welterweight clash.
This four-fight Showtime show which airs live from the MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas starts at 6 p.m. PT on Saturday. HBO’s enticing PPV telecast also begins at 6 p.m. Who’s going to win this fight? Immediately after the two telecasts, I wonder if there’s a number you can call to voice your opinion.
