WBC NEWS
Posted on | November 15, 2007 | No Comments
WORLD BOXING COUNCIL NEWS
November 15, 2007 – Manila , Philippines .
WBC President Jose Sulaiman presided over a productive general assembly meeting at the Manila Hotel on Wednesday.
All of the ratings were discussed in each division, with the discussions open to all promoters and managers.
During the afternoon session, mandatory defenses and final elimination bouts were voted by the WBC Board of Governors.
In the heavyweight division, Vitaly Klitschko was confirmed as the next mandatory challenger, and will face the winner of the February 3 fight between WBC world champion Oleg Maskaev and WBC interim world champion Samuel Peter. All three fighters are required to file with the WBC a medical examination performed by a WBC-approved physician, and several scenarios were discussed in case injuries prevent any of these matches from taking place.
Manny Pacquiao has been confirmed as the mandatory challenger for WBC super featherweight champion Juan Manuel Marquez.
A direct rematch has been ordered between WBC interim lightweight champion Joel Casamayor and Jose Armando Santa Cruz after Casamayor’s very controversial split decision win on November 10.
A voluntary title defense was approved for light heavyweight world champion Chad Dawson that must take place by January 25, 2008. Adrian Diaconu is the mandatory challenger in the division.
Carl Froch and Dennis Inkin were ordered to fight in a final eliminator to determine the mandatory challenger in the super middleweight divsion.
Sergio Martinez was confirmed as the mandatory challenger in the super welterweight division.
A final eliminator was ordered between Timothy Bradley and Jose Luis Castillo to determine the mandatory challenger in the super lightweight division.
Hector Velazquez and Elio Rojas must fight each other to determine the mandatory contender of the featherweight division.
Promoter Gary Shaw must provide signed contracts for the third fight between WBC super bantamweight world champion Israel Vazquez and former champion Rafael Marquez. The mandatory challenger in the division is Naphapol Kiattisakchocchoi from thailand .
Veeraphol Nahkoluang has been ordered to fight Vusi Malinga in a final eliminator for the bantamweight mandatory spot.
The Jorge Arce-Martin Castillo fight has been confirmed as a final elimination bout in the super flyweight division.
Omar Niño will fight Juanito Rubillar in a final eliminator bout to determine the mandatory challenger in the light flyweight division.
The Thursday general assembly meeting addressed several important topics, as well.
The current structure for sanctioning fees will be modified in order to adjust to the times and prevent the common problems that arise from this difficult topic. The WBC is a non-profit organization, and none of its officers earn a single penny from boxing: their position in the WBC is honorary. The organization has operations, however, in several countries and continues research and other programs that need funding which comes from sanction fees.
A committee was formed to review the several proposals that came from the board and from the floor, including promoters and will present a final proposal for immediatte implementation.
The WBC has been working for many years to try to get a definite program and reciprocity with AIBA, the amateur International Boxing Association. A committee was formed to continue the efforts with the new AIBA president, Dr. Ching-Kuo Wu.
An immediate rematch was approved for the WBC female super flyweight championship between new champion Myong Ok Ryu of North Korea and Ana Maria Torres of Mexico . The fight must take place in South Korea or Mexico .
WBC female flyweight champion Stefania Bianchini must face her mandatory challenger next, and then the winner fight the mandatory rematch.
It was voted to seek a site for the 2010 convention in the United States . The last convention held in the U.S.A. was in Las Vegas in 1994.
The WBC aproved the construction of a statue of Rocky Marciano in the state of Massachusetts .
The WBC accepted the institution of a formal rehabilitation program to help boxers in need with drug and alcohol problems throughout the world.
The gala dinner will take place Thursday night, and the annual awards will be presented to honor The Best of the Year.
EUROPEAN BOXING NEWS
Posted on | November 15, 2007 | No Comments
It´s on: Graciano “Rocky” Rocchigiani vs Dariusz “Tiger” Michalczewski III will happen at the TUI Arena in Hannover May 24. Bild Zeitung break the story today and it´s headline news. The 43-year old “Rocky” is fresh out of jail while “Tiger” have already been in a healthspa / diet clinic to shed some weight. The fight is made at 84 kg / 185 lbs. Michalczewski won their first fight back in 96 under dubious circumstances but stopped the somewhat faded Rocchigiani in 2000 in Hannover. Both fights were huge ticketsellers. There is one hurdle left writes Bild: both have to pass extensive medical checkups.
Supermiddles Robert Stieglitz, signed to SES, and Vitaly Tsypko, promoted by Sauerland Event, have been nominated by the IBF to fight an eliminator.
German supermiddle Jurgen Brahmer was ringside for Calzaghe vs Kessler but in the WBC ratings the Universum promoted fighter was replaced by stablemate Denis Inkin to fight an eliminator against Brit Carl Froch. It could be Universum are awaiting Calzaghe´s anticipated move to lightheavy before making their move with Jurgen.
Heavies Vladimir Virchis and Juan Carlos Gomez have been nominated by the WBC to fight an eliminator. The winner will be mandatory challenger for the winner between Oleg Maskaev and Samuel Peter. Should Vitali Klitschko again attempt a comeback he moves ahead in line. Virchis vs Gomez is an exciting matchup in and out of the ropes as Universum, who promote Virchis, are in a bitter rivalry with Arena, who handles Gomez. Add to the mix that Oleg Hug, who manages Virchis, is matchmaker for Arena.
New Danish promoter Robert Larsen have signed up WBA, WBC and GBU bantam champ Anita Christensen. Christensen debutes for Larsen November 24 in Gilleleje.
Comebacking Danish promoter Anders Vester will apparently have Swedish female middleweight Asa Sandell on his planned promotion in Aarhus in early February. Heavyweight Mikael Lindblad could according to Swedish paper GP also be on the bill along with Norwegian superbantam Reidar Walstad.
Argentinian jr middle Sergio “Maravilla” Martinez, who on and off have been fighting out of Spain for a number of years, have been named mandatory challenger by the WBC.
Spanish veteran Javier Castillejo knocked out Mariano Carrera in tonight´s WBA middleweight eliminator in Goppingen. This will probably make Felix Sturm vs Castillejo III and remove “El Lince” as mandatory challenger for the EBU title – which should pave the way for Finn Amin Asikainen and a third fight against Sebastian Sylvester.
Slovenian welter Jan Zaveck have accepted the dubious honor of being appointed official challenger for EBU champ Jackson Osei Bonsu.
The undercard to AMI Production´s doubleheader December 8 in Le Cannet features French cruiser Jean Marc Monrose and female jr welter stars Ann Sophie Mathis and Miriam Lamare. Juan Carlose Reveco vs Brahiam Asloum for the WBA light flyweight title and Yuri Nuzhnenko vs Frederic Klose for the WBA interim crown headlines.
WBO jr welter champ Ricardo Torres will defend the title February 16 in Las Vegas writes boxeocolombiano.com. Opponent will be either Juan Urango, Victor Ortiz or slick Russian Sergey Sorokin.
Norwegian jr welter Geir Inge Jorgensen, 24-1 and WBC Meditteranean champ, is currently in training camp in Newark, NJ. Jorgensen is booked for a fight in Maine December 15.
Former WBA, IBO, WBU and EBU bantam champ Johnny Bredahl have a book out done in collaboration with Lars Steen Pedersen called “Kampen” (the Fight). In the book Bredahls tells his story from his childhood days, through his 20+ years in boxing. That Johnny was far from a clean liver was well known in fight circles but maybe not the extent of it. Bredahl blew hot and cold during his long career but was at his peak an outstanding fighter.
Russian promoter German Titov and Arena Box Promotion join forces for the first of a series of shows November 23 in Ekaterinburg. Featherweight Andrey Isaev take on Thai Saohin Srithai Condo in WBO Asia-Pacific titlefight in the headliner. Croatian jr middle Ante Bilic and superfly Marat Mazimbaev are featured in the chief supports.
Tags: Boxing > european > footwork > hook > jab > Johnny Bredahl > Oleg Maskaev > pugilism > punching > ring > Sam Peter > Vitali Klitschko
RUBIN “HURRICANE” CARTER: A LOOK BACK
Posted on | November 15, 2007 | No Comments
By: Patrick McElligott
In the 1960s, boxing fans knew Rubin “Hurricane” Carter as one of the most exciting middleweights, who knocked Emile Griffith out in one round. In the 1970s, he was known as the most famous inmate in the United States, and the subject of a Bob Dylan classic. In the years since he release from prison, Carter has become a global spokesperson for human rights, and his case revisited by a Denzel Washington movie.
Even after his case was decided in the federal courts, there were some people who continued to say that Rubin was a cold-blooded assassin, who was only released on a legal technicality. Today, while I was looking through an old file of paperwork, I came across a series of letters between Carter, the warden of Rahway State Prison, and the inmate population in April of 1974.
These papers reminded me of a chapter in the longest, most tried case in US legal history, and one that I think Unlimited Fight News readers might find interesting.
One of the opening scenes in the movie “The Hurricane” shows Rubin in his cell, ready to go to war with the guards who have been tasked with moving him. It’s impossible, of course, to put all the important parts of a 20 year struggle into a 2 hour movie. That incident played a larger role in Carter’s 20 case than the movie showed. Let’s take a closer look.
In 1973, I was a 15 year old amateur boxer, who read one of the first articles in a sports magazine that suggested “Hurricane” Carter had not committed the murders that resulted in his being sentenced to triple life in
prison. Being young and idealistic, I wrote to Rubin, and told him that I was convinced he was innocent, and that I was going to get him out of prison. I also assured him that I was on my way to becoming a professional
boxing champion.
Rubin wrote back, and during the summer of ’73, we became fast friends. We discussed boxing, his case, prisons, and school. He encouraged me to focus more on doing well in school, than on boxing. Thus, when I started the 10th grade that fall, I showed one of my teachers, Russell Pokorney, the sports magazine’s article on Rubin’s case. Mr. Pokorney was influenced by the progressive educational advances from the 1960s and early ‘70s, and he encouraged me to study Carter’s case. Soon, two classes of teenagers in rural upstate New York were corresponding through cassette tapes and letters with an inmate who had been convicted of a violent, racist hate crime.
A couple of students believed that if a court of law had convicted him, then Carter was by definition “guilty.” And they didn’t hesitate to tell him so. Rubin wrote back to say that he was impressed that these two were not swayed by the group’s perception, and were thinking for themselves. But he asked them to take the time to read more about his case before deciding if he was guilty or innocent.
In one letter, he wrote: “I somehow think, Tom, that perhaps you have fallen into that same old mirror of images that trapped me and is the cause of my being placed here in the first instance. I’m talking about the diabolical image the news media and law enforcement agencies successfully depicted of Rubin ‘Hurricane’ Carter; but of which was also an image that didn’t necessarily reflect the opinions that I truly expressed. You must remember that this happened during a time when it wasn’t fashionable to be black, and black people weren’t proud …. And the ‘Long Hot Summer Sessions’ were about to set in. That was when there was only Malcolm X and myself telling our people to protect themselves from police brutality and harm …. And if you
can really understand exactly what happened to Malcolm, only then will you be able to understand what happened to me. Our lives were interlocked into each other’s, and the only difference was: the cops feared me just a little more than they did Malcolm – they hired some mentally-dead niggers to kill him! But they couldn’t find any to do it to me ….”
Students asked questions about prison life, and Carter responded in detail in a series of cassette tapes. “This is not the long arm of coincidence, pulling itself out of its socket,” he said, “but the cold and cruel reality of life behind bars.” And the students could hear the sounds of the institution: metal doors, the PA, and bells in the background.
At the age of 15, school still took a second place to boxing. As much as I respected Rubin Carter, I knew that the education business was a sure dead-end, and I wanted to concentrate on a sure thing – my becoming world
champion. I was a pretty good fighter, and Rubin would help with finishing touches. He even sent rare photos of his own bouts, to illustrate certain points. I also sent him pictures of my fights.
“I’ve really enjoyed the pictures,” he wrote in one brief letter. “They reminded me of when I was the sports director in my hometown, and used to train youngsters of your age bracket. Those are some times I can look back on with some joy.”
Then: “…but, man, I kid you not – things are really uptight in this jail, and about to explode in death and destruction. Whatever you do in life, be it good, bad, or indifferent: Please! Stay the hell out of these kind of
places. They’re not fit for man nor beast. But that’s beside the point, isn’t it?”
Rubin had sent me a number of cassette tapes, including some that had parts of his soon-to-be-released autobiography “The Sixteenth Round.” I knew that Carter had been through a violent riot at Trenton, just weeks after Attica. Rubin’s actions were credited with preventing the 27-hour crisis from spreading to a wing of the institution where he and other inmates had saved a guard’s life. And so I wrote and told Rubin to take similar actions to prevent a riot in Rahway.
In an early 1974 letter to my brother, Carter wrote: “Since I’ve been writing to Pat, and he asked me not to let this prison explode, I stepped forward and took control of the jail. Something I never wanted to do in the
past – and which is very dangerous to me …. And now I am the Director of the Rahway Prisoners Council on Penal Reform. So if you and Pat and perhaps Russell P. really want to come into this prison and see what it is like … we can arrange a day in the near future. What the hell! If I can’t go to you –then you come to me.”
A week later, Rubin noted in a letter to me, “since I’ve become Director of the Rahway People’s Council, I’ve been busy beyond belief. Man! I’m just waiting until you can send me the date that you will be in here to see me in person – that’s really going to be a day for me to remember. (smile) I truly love you, little buddy – I think you are one of the best things that ever happened to me. You are a real friend. Thank you.”
For over six years, Carter had been a virtual hermit in prison. The Rahway administration was surprised when he ran for the inmate council, and had at first refused to recognize that he won the election. They were caught even more off guard with the events that followed.
Rubin called in the Police Benevolent Association, church groups, and sociologists for meetings on prison reform. He spoke out on problems with drugs and weapons being smuggled into the prison. I have a copy of an 18-
page letter to a senator’s aide that outlined some of Rubin’s ideas for reducing tensions within the prison. It was becoming evident that Rubin Carter was no ordinary inmate, and he was gaining the attention of a growing
number of people outside of Rahway.
The most influential person who came to visit Carter was Muhammad Ali. The ex-heavyweight champion was interested not only in Carter’s work for prison reform, but also in helping Rubin on his appeal. And so, on April 26, 1974, Rubin wrote to me: “Point of information: Today I talked with Ali and he and I have set a date to fight June 10, 1974 – here at Rahway. So, I have to get back in shape. But I can do it – it’s only been eight years since I’ve had the gloves on at all ….. but since I put something in my mind – that’s it baby! Watch out! (smile) Look at me! Now I’m talking like Tom, what? (smile)”
In the 1960s, Rubin had sparred in some of boxing’s famous “Philadelphia Gym Wars” with Charles “Sonny” Liston. It seemed to me that he was serious about “fighting” Ali, rather than merely putting on an exhibition to draw attention to his case. And so now I advised him: be careful, because Ali was….well, Ali!
“Dear Little Buddy of Mine: Only he who attempts the ridiculous can ever hope to achieve the impossible, and that’s the way I feel about Muhammad Ali – while he may very well be great, he’s still not invincible. Right? In
point of fact: ever since we first started boxing together, he has always sent his sparring partners to whip me …. ‘Sugar Boy’ Nando … Gomeo Brennan …Fernandez … Jimmy Ellis … Ernie Buford ….and none of them has succeeded in the past. And although Muhammad and I are considered friends, we would both like to know who can beat whom – real friendly-like. You know? (smile) With friends like he and I – who the hell needs enemies! (smile)”
But the exhibition never took place. It was then that the prison officials decided to take Rubin from his cell late in the night, and transport him to an isolated cell in the psychiatric wing of the state’s maximum security “hospital” for incorrigible and insane inmates. “Carter was a danger,” the Director of New Jersey’s Institutions & Agencies told reporters the next morning. Rubin had become “too much of a threat to prison security.”
“I have some bad news for you,” Rubin wrote to me from the hole. “It seems that my being elected as Director of the People’s Council, and the Rabbi as the Director of Information, we were putting too much pressure on the
inhumane conditions which exist within the New Jersey prison system. So at one o’clock Wednesday morning – and you have probably heard about it on TV by now – the pigs rolled down on me and the Rabbi with shotguns and pistols and zoomed us through the night to the Readjustment Unit ….where we are right now. We were getting too many people involved in the prison system.
Too many influential people were flocking to Rahway to investigate the conditions – to right the wrongs, if they could – and the administration couldn’t accept that ….
“And this is why I wanted you and your friends to come to Rahway and to see this for yourselves. Now isn’t that a kick in the ass? (smile) So I am sorry to tell you that our meeting date is off for the moment – postponed, but not canceled out completely. Just bear with me for a while, my friend. Okay?”
Lawyers filed an appeal in US District Court, and the federal judge ruled in Carter’s favor. The state had violated Rubin’s rights, and he was released from the Vroom Building’s Isolation Unit and sent to Trenton State Prison. On his first day back, he sent me a postcard: “Hi there, Little Buddy: long time no see! Tommy and I are out of the Vroom Building now, and I’m in Trenton State Prison. Just wanted you to know. I miss you – The Hurricane.”
However, we never made our class trip to the prison. By this time, teacher Russell Pokorney – who was every bit as enigmatic as the Canadians who befriended Carter a decade later – had been fired. And in a few short
months, events were set in motion which resulted in Rubin winning a second trial. Muhammad Ali played a crucial role in energizing the defense, and he was joined by Smoking Joe Frazier in the effort to free the Hurricane.
In the second trial, the prosecution introduced a “racial revenge” theory. A few hours before the Lafayette Bar murders that Rubin was accused of, a white man had killed a black man in a bar in another part of Paterson, NJ.
With no supporting evidence, the DA told the jury that Carter was a racist, and that his hatred for white people was his motive for murdering strangers in “revenge” for the death of a man he had never met. The jury believed this, and convicted Carter and John Artis for a second time.
Looking back, it is hard to find the prosecution’s mad-dog racist assassin in the Rubin Carter who wrote to that 15-year old, his 45 white classmates, and their white teacher. It is not as difficult to recognize what the prison
administration found so threatening about the 3 weeks of work Carter did with the inmate’s council. To counter that threat, they added another label to “criminal” – Rubin became “insane.” New Jersey had learned a lesson from the Soviet Union regarding punishing people for “thought crimes”; indeed, criminals and mentally ill people have few if any rights within the penal institutions.
In 1983, a US Federal District Court ruled that New Jersey had acted maliciously in putting Rubin in Vroom. The court awarded Carter $2760 in punitive damages ($30 a day for 92 days). Carter used the money to hire a
private detective to investigate what actually had happened in the Lafayette Bar & Grill on that tragic night in 1966.
This investigation centered on information that came from the Caruso file. This was a series of notes kept by a Paterson detective investigating the case prior to the 1976 retrial. Caruso quit in disgust when he found major
flaws in the case. Two books. “Lazarus and the Hurricane” and “Hurricane,” detail much of this information.
After studying the case for over 30 years, I believe that I have a good idea of what really happened. First, the earlier murder had not been racially motivated. It was a business dispute, between competing interests, over
money. Of course, this does not make it any less of a crime.
The Lafayette murders were not something that angry people came up with in an hour’s time at the back of a bar. They were a well-planned part of the organized crime wars that were being waged throughout the area at the time. One of the victims identified the gun men to police shortly after the savage attacks. The “mentally-dead” assassins that committed the crime had come from New York City.
Several eye witnesses saw the gunmen leave the bar. None identified either Carter or Artis at that time. One stated later that he knew who the assassins were, and that it wasn’t Rubin Carter. During the grand jury
investigation of the crime two weeks later, the Paterson police detective running the investigation said that the descriptions of the killers did not remotely fit Rubin and John, and that they were not suspects.
However, the police were not able to solve the crime. No weapons were ever located, nor any other physical evidence. After a few weeks, a couple detectives became convinced that Carter was the mastermind behind a revenge killing. Evidence was planted and faked, in order to implicate Rubin. Two career criminals were pressured into identifying Rubin as having been outside the bar after the murders. This became a chain reaction, and other police and prosecutors were convinced that Carter was a killer. The case history shows how evidence of Carter’s innocence was suppressed.
Sadly, even after the federal courts had cleared Rubin Carter, one prosecutor would appeal all the way up to the Reagan Supreme Court. Twice in court motions the prosecutor argued that Carter needed to be incarcerated to protect society; he attempted to use the “psychiatric” history from the Vroom incident to prove Rubin posed an unacceptable risk to the community at large.
Twenty years later, Rubin Carter continues to carry on some of the same type of work he was doing in Rahway. He is an advocate for the “wrongly convicted,” and an opponent of the death penalty. He has met and spoken with men like Nelson Mandela and President Bill Clinton. He has addressed the United Nations, Harvard Law School, and thousands of people have found inspiration in his motivational message. Today, Dr. Rubin Carter is proof that only he who attempts the ridiculous can achieve the impossible.
FIGHTZONE MAGAZINE UPDATE
Posted on | November 15, 2007 | No Comments
Hi, Just a short note to let you know the latest issue of FightZone Magazine is on the stands, in the mail add available in its entirety at www.FightZoneMedia.com
Read all about your favorite Florida and National fighters. This month’s issue features Frankie “El Gato” Figueroa who is defending one of his 3 titles this Friday in Kissimmee, FL and is being televised on Telemundo.
We also have features on Randy Couture’s Retirement, Keith Thurman’s signing by Starfight Productions, Edson Berto’s RFC Title defense, Bonecrunch Fight League’s entire 2008 Season TV airing Agreement with FightZone TV, IFL Championship Wrap-up, a look at Florida’s Nonstop Matchmaker, Paul Andres Domenech. Olando Rivera’s Amateur Kickboxing event, Liz Posener’s win at Unified Cage Fights 6, the newest MMA event entry Cage Fighting Championships and much, much more.
As we celebrate the first Anniversary of our weekly FightZone TV Presents on Sun Sports, we are pleased to announce that that we continue to present the Best of MMA in the country on FSN/Sun Sports (6,000,000+ Fl Homes) and nationally on the Direct TV Network and The Dish Network (2,000,000+) Subscribers.
We are now airing one of the Midwest’s finest events – Mainstream MMA’s “Evolution,” (See TV Schedules below)
You can also see all of FightZone’s Up Close & Personal Videos by Jay Adams and Nancy Evans’ as they interview many of the National and Florida MMA fighters on You Tube at:
www.Youtube.com/profile_videos?search_query=&user=FightZoneTV
And FightZone has completed the Media Trifecta with the debut of FightZone Magazine’s Nancy Evans’ “Up Close & Personal” segment on Danny & Theresa Zaino’s Martial Arts Program broadcast weekly on the Action Radio Network which has over a million listeners worldwide. Nancy will be doing interviews with the hottest fighters, trainers and promoters in the business. Visit their website at www.BattleOfTheArts.com to join their free weekly e-newsletter and receive schedule information.
And make sure you check out the new features on our every growing website www.FightZoneMedia.com such as the 20,000+ Photo Galleries, the Events Banner links page, and Worldwide Links Page – all FREE to our advertisers and Strategic Partners. If you are not listed, all you have to do is contact us and we’ll swap links.
Keep those Event & New Product releases coming in and “Let’s Make Fight History Together.” Thanks and Happy Holidays!
Al Martino – FightZone Media
Nancy Evans – FightZone Magazine
Jay Adams – FightZone TV
FightZone Media
PO Box 20044
St. Petersburg, FL 33742
727-577-5500
email: FightZoneMedia@aol.com
www.FightZoneMedia.com
FightZone TV SunSports, Direct TV, Dish Network
Airing Schedule
11/16/2007
1:00AM
(MRL) FIGHTZONE Presents: 8 Mainstream MMA: Evolution (R)
11/20/2007
11:00AM
(MRL) FIGHTZONE Presents: 8 Mainstream MMA: Evolution (R)
11/26/2007
11:00PM
(MRL) FIGHTZONE Presents: 8 Mainstream MMA: Evolution (R) MH
12/04/2007
8:00PM
(MRL) FIGHTZONE Presents: 8 Mainstream MMA: Evolution (R)
12/08/2007
10:00PM
(MRL) FIGHTZONE Presents: 8 Mainstream MMA: Evolution (R)
12/11/2007
3:30PM
(MRL) FIGHTZONE Presents: 8 Mainstream MMA: Evolution (R)
NEW MMA THEMED STORE OPENS
Posted on | November 15, 2007 | No Comments
Opening of Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) Themed Store in Valley West
Mall Breaks Trend Setting Retail Ground
Des Moines, IA- November 15, 2007 – UFC fighter Jeremy Stephens and fellow fighter Paul Bird will combine numerous synergistic elements when they open PJ’s Combat Hut at Valley West Mall in West Des Moines on Friday, November 23. “Tying the hottest sport, a killer location, and a personality driven retail concept together provides a destination for fight fans and creates an environment to make new ones,” commented Stephens, a local fighting legend and rising national star.
The 2,000 square foot store is located in a space previously occupied by The Limited. PJ’s Combat Hut is one of the largest stores of its type in the country and may well be the first located in an enclosed mall. The store carries clothing, books, DVD’s, and items appealing to fans, as well as supplies for fighters and people training in the sport. MMA apparel, commonly known as fight gear, has become one of the most popular categories in many clothing and department stores, including Nordstrom’s. PJ’s Combat Hut will carry many of the most recognized clothing lines including Sinister, Pimpit, Warrior Wear, UFC Wear, Stacks and Bundles, Kubed, and Title Boxing, as well as a private label from Jeremy Stephens.
“There is amazing support of MMA in Iowa now and interest continues to blow up,” provided partner Paul Bird. MMA has become the fastest growing sport in the country and has garnered significant national press recently. Stephens and Bird are able to utilize relationships with other celebrities, while applying their own celebrity to create excitement in the store. “Mixing it up with fans is absolutely one of my favorite parts of being a fighter. As I will frequently be in the store, I’m able to extend myself to more fans and to thank them for what they’ve done for me,” offered a grateful Stephens.
PJ’s opening on the Friday following Thanksgiving is traditionally the busiest shopping day of the year. A Grand Opening follows on Saturday, November 24, with celebrity appearances by well known UFC fighters Josh Neer and Spencer Fisher. Both fighters will be on hand from 10AM to noon, and 1PM-3PM to meet fans, provide autographs, and offer photo opportunities.
PJ’s Combat Hut is located in Valley West Mall on the lower level near the food court. They can be reached online at www.myspace.com/pjscombathut and by phone at 515-360-5450.
Tags: clothing > gear > goods > MMA > Paul Bird > Spencer Fisher > store > Valley West. Jeremy Stephens
GLEASONS NOTES
Posted on | November 15, 2007 | No Comments
Greetings!
On Monday November 19 from Noon to 2:00PM Gleason’s Gym will host a Press Conference for the upcoming James Moore NY State Title Fight. The Press are invited to this catered affair to watch James and many of the other fighters work out and prepare for the Thanksgiving Eve match at The Plattduetsche Park Restaurant in Franklin Square, Long Island.
James (13-0-0) will face Thomas Davis 11-5-2, a tough junior middleweight fromTennessee. James Hyland (9-0-0), a fellow countryman of James from Ireland, will be the co-feature. Other New York fighters on the card include: Eilon Kedem, Joe Rosa, Kamel Alolabi, Karl Desravines, Vanessa Greco, Kimberly Tomes, Daniel Sostre, Roman Oliveri and Joseph Judah. Many of these boxers will be here for the open workout and to answer your questions.
Tickets for this near sellout event are available at Gleason’s Gym. Only two
price points are left, $100 and $50.
Another Special Event is taking place at Gleason’s Gym this Saturday Night
at 6:00 PM.
David Lawrence, a boxer, trainer and poet will launch his newest book of poems with a reading and book signing. Gleason’s Gym and Four Way Books are hosting this catered event. We hope to introduce the two art forms to our young boxers and the residents of DUMBO as well everyone else from New York.
You are all invited to these great events.
Wrestling Legend Kurt Angle to guest on HDNet’s INSIDE MMA
Posted on | November 15, 2007 | 1 Comment
Olympic Gold Medal winner and Eight Time World Champion to appear on INSIDE MMA Friday, November 16 at 9:30 p.m. ET
DALLAS (November 15, 2007) Former WWE and current TNA superstar Kurt Angle will join HDNet this Friday as a guest on INSIDE MMA.
INSIDE MMA is the new weekly HDNet series covering the latest news, rankings, stats and highlights from the world of Mixed Martial Arts.
Angle, who is the only wrestler in history to hold the distinction of winning four different world heavyweight championships throughout his career, sits down with Bas Rutten and Kenny Rice to discuss his thoughts on all of this week’s MMA action.
Angle also discusses his potential career change from pro-wrestling to MMA – and talks bluntly about which MMA organization he is NOT going to join and why!
INSIDE MMA airs Friday, November 16 at 9:30 p.m. ET with another airing at 1:30 a.m. ET November 17 to accommodate West Coast Prime Time.
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HDNet (www.hd.net) provides viewers with the best in original comedy, drama, news, sports and music programming.
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VARGAS MEDIA WORKOUT SCHEDULED FOR NOVEMBER 15
Posted on | November 15, 2007 | No Comments
TWO-TIME WORLD CHAMPION ‘EL FEROZ’ FERNANDO VARGAS
MEDIA WORKOUT ON THURSDAY, NOV. 15, AT 2 P.M. PT
At Big John McCarthy’s Ultimate Training Academy in Valencia, Calif.
WHO: Two-Time World Champion “Ferocious” Fernando Vargas
WHAT: Fernando Vargas will participate in a rare media workout, which could be his last if he makes good on his promise to retire after his highly anticipated showdown with Ricardo “El Matador” Mayorga the day after Thanksgiving on Friday, Nov. 23 at STAPLES Center & on SHOWTIME PPV beginning at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT.
WHERE: Big John McCarthy’s Ultimate Training Academy
25385 Rye Canyon Rd. , Valencia , CA 91335 Contact Ryan Carlton (661) 775-0365
(Take I-5 North, Exit Magic Mountain Pkwy., left on MM Pkwy., about 200 yards go right on The Old Road., continue 1 mile turn right on Rye Canyon Rd., continue 2 miles and the gym will be on the left-hand side.)
WHEN: Thursday, Nov. 15, 2007
2 p.m. PT
WHY: Boxing fans that have purchased over $1 million in tickets to see two-time world champion “El Feroz” Fernando Vargas (26-4, 22 KOs) and three-time world champion Ricardo “El Matador” Mayorga (27-6-1, 22 KOs) in what is anticipated to be a street-style brawl at STAPLES Center will get their chance when the two meet on the day after Thanksgiving on Friday, Nov. 23.
Tickets priced at $300, $150, $100 and $50 are on sale now online at ticketmaster.com, via Ticketmaster charge-by-phone lines at (213) 480-3232 or (714) 740-2000 and at all Ticketmaster ticket centers. The bout is scheduled for 12 rounds at a catch weigh of 166 pounds.
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