Banks defends NABF heavyweight title vs. Gavern in “Fists Of Steel” co-feature
Posted on | May 19, 2010 | No Comments
Vitali Klitschko-Albert Sosnowski WBC heavyweight title fight headlines May 29 PPV
HOBOKEN, N.J. (May 19, 2010) – NABF heavyweight champion Johnathon Banks makes his first title defense May 29 on the “Fists Of Steel” pay-per-view event, featuring WBC heavyweight title holder Vitali “Dr. Ironfist” Klitschko against challenger Albert “The Dragon” Sosnowski, live from the 61,000-seat Veltins Arena in Gelsenkirchen, Germany.
Detroit punisher Banks (24-1, 17 KOs), ranked # 7 in the world by the WBC and #9 by the IBF, takes on veteran Jason “The Sensation” Gavern, rated in the top 15 of the WBC, in the 12-round co-feature.
“Fists Of Steel,” presented by K2 Promotions and Klitschko Management Group, is being distributed in North America by Integrated Sports Media for live viewing at 3 PM/ET – 12 PM/PT on both cable and satellite pay-per-view via iN Demand, DIRECTV, Avail-TVN and DISH Network in the United States, as well as Bell TV, Shaw PPV and Viewer’s Choice in Canada, for a suggested retail price of only $24.95.
A 3-time U.S. national amateur champion, Banks captured the NABF crown last March in what was voted NABF Fight of the Year, stopping Travis Walker (34-3-1) with a dramatic KO in the sixth round of their title fight in Germany. The former NABO and IBO cruiserweight champion, Banks has been the chief sparring partner for the Klitschko brothers for the last three years. He has now emerged in his own right as one of the top heavyweights in the world.
“We’re excited by the progress Johnathon has made in the heavyweight division,” said Tom Loeffer, managing director of K2 Promotions. “He was struggling to make weight as a cruiserweight when he lost to Adamek, but now he is much stronger as a heavyweight. By winning the NABF title the way he did, Johnathon has established himself as one of the top heavyweights in the world today.”
Gavern also won a title in his lasts fight, when he captured the WBC Caribbean Boxing Federation title with a win over Manuel Quezada. In what turned out to be the biggest win of his career, Gavern beat Quesada (29-4), rated #7 at the time by the WBC, by a 10-round decision to capture the title. The battle-tested Floridian has also defeated Cisse Salif, Jermell Barnes and Raphael Butler during his 7-year career.
In the 12-round main event, Sosnowski will attempt to upset Klitschko to become the first Polish heavyweight champion of the world against 3-time heavyweight champion Klitschko (39-2, 37 KOs), who returned to the ring after a 4-year retirement to regained his WBC championship belt by stopping Samuel Peter in 2008. He has since defended his title three times by stopping Juan Carlos Gomez and Chris Arreola, and winning every round against Kevin Johnson last December.
Sosnowski (45-2-1, 27 KOs), now fighting out of the United Kingdom, became the European champion by capturing the European Boxing Union heavyweight title in his last fight. He won a 12-round decision last December against Italian Olympian, Paolo Vidoz.
For more information about the Klitschko-Sosnowski PPV event go to www.integratedsportsnet.com.
Integrated Sports Media: North America’s leading distributor of International Pay-Per-View and Closed Circuit sports events has presented World Championship and world-class boxing matches featuring Erik Morales, Ricky Hatton, Cristian Mijares, Evander Holyfield, Roy Jones, Jr., Ivan Calderon, Rocky Martinez, Nicolai Valuev, Amir Khan, Marco Antonio Barrera, Arthur Abraham, David Haye, John Ruiz, Wilfredo Vasquez, Jr. and Ruslan Chagaev. In addition, Integrated Sports Media distributed numerous International soccer matches showcasing teams like Club America of Mexico and the National Teams of Argentina, Honduras, El Salvador and the USA, as well as World Championship and world-class mixed martial arts shows featuring Fedor Emelianenko, Tim Sylvia, Bobby Lashley, Bob Sapp, Jeff Monson, and Roy Nelson. For more information on upcoming Integrated Sports events visit www.integratedsportsnet.com.
SIX QUESTIONS WITH STRIKEFORCE CEO SCOTT COKER
Posted on | May 19, 2010 | No Comments
SAN JOSE, Calif., (May 19, 2010) – Just days after another successful STRIKEFORCE event in St. Louis, Mo., CEO Scott Coker took time out to answer six questions.
STRIKEFORCE moves to Portland, Ore., this Friday night for a Challengers Series event, which will be televised live on SHOWTIME® at 11 p.m. ET/PT (delayed on the West Coast).
Question: How did the results from Saturday’s event reshuffle the STRIKEFORCE heavyweight division?
Coker: “I think Alistair Overeem reinforced his status as a dominant champion in the division. “Big Foot” Silva showed the world that he’s also among the elite fighters in the division He fought a very game Andrei Arlovski and displayed tremendous skill on his feet during some great exchanges between the two. Overall, we saw some very exciting action in the heavyweight division on Saturday night, giving us more to look forward to.”
Question: What are your thoughts on the state of STRIKEFORCE’s middleweight division?
Coker: “Our middleweight division is arguably our deepest weight class in terms of talent. The fight between Jacare Souza and Joey Villasenor on Saturday is an example of how tight the competition is in this division. Joey fought a great fight against a guy that is regarded as one of the best in the world in the 185-pound division. At the same time, I think Jacare learned that there aren’t any easy fights in STRIKEFORCE. Jacare clearly dominated the first round against Joey, but Joey continued to come at him and press the action no matter how badly he was hurt.”
Question: What is going to happen with Jake Shields?
Coker: “Jake is our champion and a great Jiu-Jitsu stylist. We are still in a period of negotiations with him, so we’ll see. We inherited Jake’s EliteXC contract last year and we have to find an agreement that works for both sides. I think it is clear, though, that no single fighter makes or breaks our roster in any weight division.
“STRIKEFORCE has a great track record of seeking and acquiring the fighters we want to compete in our organization. It’s important not to forget that the No. 1 male and No. 1 female MMA fighters on the planet fight for STRIKEFORCE.”
Question: What’s next for “Feijao?”
Coker: “Feijao’s got a very fast paced, exciting style of fighting and I think he surprised a lot of people on Saturday with his knockout of Antwain Britt, who’s another one of the sport’s top prospects in the light heavyweight division. We’ll continue to test Feijao with top competition and see how he progresses. A title shot could be in his future if he continues to fight the way he did on Saturday.”
Question: What did you think about the non-televised fights on Saturday’s card?
Coker: “We had some great submissions and other interesting results in the preliminary bouts. I take my hat off to Jesse Finney, who is not only a great competitor, but also a great promoter and pioneer of MMA in the St. Louis market. Jesse put on a great show on Saturday. He’s still unbeaten and still hasn’t been taken the distance of a fight after five starts. The fight between Lyle Beerbohm and Vitor “Shaolin” Ribeiro was a very tactical fight as well. Both fighters displayed great grappling skills and produced one of the best fights of the night.”
Question: What are you looking forward to?
Coker: We’ve got a very busy schedule with a lot of great matchups. This Friday, we will be back on SHOWTIME® with our Challengers series. We have a great main event between Matt Lindland, a former Olympic wrestling silver medallist and highly accomplished MMA star, and “King” Kevin Casey, a former Rickson Gracie protégé and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu expert. We’re also looking forward to having Tyron Woodley back in the cage and to having Roger Bowling, another great prospect, make his STRIKEFORCE debut.
“On June 16, we have a tremendous card scheduled in L.A. featuring Robbie Lawler vs. “Babalu” Sobral, during the E3 gaming expo and, just 10 days later on June 26, Fedor will defend his status at the world’s No. 1 heavyweight and pound-for-pound fighter, against another top contender and incredible submission artist, Fabricio Werdum.”
Marianne ‘Golden Girl’ Marston Launches Friday Night Fight Club For Women
Posted on | May 19, 2010 | No Comments
Professional female boxer Marianne ‘Golden Girl’ Marston, the protégé of legendary Heavyweight Champion of the World Smokin Joe Frazier, announced today the addition of FRIDAY NIGHT FIGHT CLUB, a full on boxing training class for Women, which will be held at the Ultrachem TKO Boxing Gym in Canning Town, London, each Friday evening at 6pm, to her already successful series of ‘Golden Girl’ Women’s Boxing Fitness classes.
Marston, who is part of Cruiserweight King Steve ‘USS’ Cunningham’s Philadelphia, based professional boxing team, originally created the ‘Golden Girl’ series of Women’s Boxing Fitness Classes in ‘09 at a gym in South London where she was training at the time. The concept of the classes came about following her return to London, after two years training in America, as she had noticed that the only type of Boxing fitness programmes being offered to women in London were of the aerobic ‘Boxercise’ type.
In April this year she expanded the series and launched new classes at various locations around London, firstly at The Boxing Clinic in Islington, North London then a couple of weeks later at The Tokei Gym at London Bridge and The Ultrachem TKO Gym in Canning Town, East London.
Friday Night Fight Club, unlike the current series of classes, is for those wishing to pursue competitive boxing. The coaching will be to full amateur and professional boxing standards. Each class will concentrate on a single element, such as footwork, ringcraft, defensive techniques etc. before undertaking a basic training circuit of shadow boxing, padwork, bagwork and ringcraft exercises.
Taking a little time off from her preparations by top British coach Derek Grainger at the Ultrachem TKO Gym for her upcoming fight with Lana Cooper, Marston explained why she decided to create Friday Night Fight Club, “It’s quite exciting, I wish I had something like this when I first became interested in boxing, as I found it almost impossible to find a gym in London that would offer me training or even take my ambition seriously so I had to go to America to train.
I always intended to offer advanced classes at some point as I know there is some real interest in them. Back last year two girls that came to my original classes wanted to progress further. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to add an advanced class at that gym so they tried to find a gym to train at. They really struggled but in the end did manage to find amateur coaches that were willing to train them.
Now I’m in the same situation with the new classes as there are a couple of the girls ready to progress. Luckily this time I am at a gym where, thanks to the wonderful Johnny Eames (owner of Ultrachem TKO Gym), I am able to have an advanced class as well as offer personal One-2-One Boxing coaching.
The basis of the Friday Night Boxing Club classes are pure boxing skills and drills, in fact the only difference between the classes and normal boxing training is that it is in a group and not One-2-One.
I will be covering every element, from footwork right through to full contact sparring. From time to time I will also have top coaches, such as former Team GB head coach Terry Edwards MBE, hosting technical seminars.
I really do believe that Friday Night Fight Club will produce some very exciting new female boxers, both for the amateur and professional ranks. Who knows, perhaps one of them could end up representing Great Britain at the 2016 Olympics, now wouldn’t that be something.”
Marianne ‘Golden Girl Marston’s Friday Night Fight Club is held at the Ultrachem TKO Boxing Gym, Gillian House, Stephenson Street, Canning Town, London E16 4SA every Friday evening at 6pm. The cost per session is £10.
The full schedule for ‘Golden Girl’ Women’s Boxing & Boxing Fitness Classes are:
The Boxing Clinic, 29 St Alban’s Place, Islington, London N1 0NX, on Tuesday and Thursday evening at 6.30pm,
The Tokei Gym, 28 Magdalen Street, Southwark, London SE1 2EN on Monday and Wednesday evening at 6.00pm.
Ultrachem TKO Gym, Gillian House, Stephenson Street, Canning Town, London E16 4SA on Friday at 6.00pm (Friday Night Fight Club) and Saturday at 2.00pm (Boxing Fitness)
Marianne ‘Golden Girl’ Marston Versus Lana Cooper will be on the Steve Goodwin promoted event at York Hall on the 11th September 2010. Further news on this will be announced shortly.
For further information see www.womensboxingclasses.com
Tags: cruiserweight > Friday Night Fight Club > Joe Frazier > London > Marianne Marston > Philadelphia > Steve Cunningham > UK > Ultrachem TKO Boxing Gym > women's boxing
WORKOUT QUOTES STRIKEFORCE CHALLENGERS EVENT THIS FRIDAY, MAY 21, AT ROSE GARDEN ARENA IN PORTLAND
Posted on | May 19, 2010 | No Comments
PORTLAND, Ore. (May 19, 2010) – Friday’s night’s STRIKEFORCE Challengers headliner, former Olympic wrestling silver medallist Matt “The Law” Lindland, and two other popular area fighters took part in a workout at Team Quest Martial Arts and Fitness just days before the event to be broadcast live on SHOWTIME® at 11 p.m. ET/PT (delayed on the West Coast).
Lindland (21-7) from nearby Eagle Creek, Ore., faces “King” Kevin Casey (3-1) of Hawthorne, Calif., at Portland’s Rose Garden Arena on Friday night. Welterweight prospect and former Oregon State wrestling star Nathan Coy (8-2) of Portland takes on promising, unbeaten welterweight Tyron “T-Wood” Woodley (6-0) of St. Louis. Also appearing on one of the five SHOWTIME televised fights is Portland’s Pat “Bam Bam” Healy (22-15), who will face rising star Bryan Travers (13-1), of Bakersfield, Calif., in a lightweight bout.
Here’s what the three had to say after their open media workout:
MATT LINDLAND:
“We want all the local Portland MMA fans to come out for an exciting show on Friday night. You can stay home and watch it on SHOWTIME but we want you to come out and experience what a big MMA show is all about.
“I’d love to see signs and the fans getting into it. The louder it is and the more excited people are the better.
“I think there are a lot of gyms around and it’s an incredibly competitive market but I’d really love to see more fans come out and experience a live event. Until you’ve been there you really can’t make a decision about it. You might find that’s it’s truly something that you might enjoy or at least appreciate it for what it is.”
NATHAN COY:
“We’re excited about this fight. It’s like a dream come true; fighting in our hometown. We’ve been fighting here for some time and it’s just an honor for us.
“I think I was considered a prospect when I got into the sport. I’m established now and ready to prove to the fans of MMA that I’m one of the top-notch fighters. I think I’m worthy for a shot at the belt and I want to fight for a title.
“This is home for me, being in the gym. It’s so comfortable to me. It’s what it’s all about.”
PAT HEALY:
“It’s funny because my friends were just asking me about two weeks before they announced the fight when I was going to be fighting here next. I told them, ‘Man, just don’t count on it anytime soon.’ And then at practice one day Matt just said ‘They’re having a STRIKEFORCE fight here and you’re on it so spread the word.’
“I haven’t been able to find too much on my opponent. It should be an interesting bout. I think his style matches up with mine so I’m just going to push the pace on him and see what he’s really made of.”
Tickets are on sale at the Rose Garden Box Office, all participating Safeway/TicketsWest outlets, or by calling (877) 789-ROSE (7673). They also can be purchased online at www.ComcastTIX.com and STRIKEFORCE’s official website (www.strikeforce.com).
Rose Garden Arena doors will open for the STRIKEFORCE Challengers event at 5:15 p.m. The first preliminary card bout will begin at 6 p.m. and the first main card bout will begin at 8 p.m.
Tags: California > Eagle Creek > Hawthorne > Kevin Casey > Lindland > martial arts > Matt Lindland > Mixed Martial Arts > MMA > Oregon > Portland > Rose Garden > SHOWTIME > Strikeforce > Team Quest
Tachi Palace to Host Grapplers Quest in July
Posted on | May 18, 2010 | No Comments
Tags: CAGWA California Super Tournament 2 > California > grappling > Tachie Palace
SATURDAY 7:30 PM—KENNEDY VS. BERANZA—USBA SUPER BANTAMWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP
Posted on | May 18, 2010 | No Comments
Teon “The Technician” Kennedy (14-0-1, 6 KO’s) will be making his first ring appearance since the tragic death of Francisco Rodriguez in his last fight as he defends the USBA 122 lb crown against rough veteran Jose Angel Beranza.
In that fight which took place on November 20th, Kennedy and Rodriguez fought a classic back and forth brawl with thrilled the fans at The Legendary Blue Horizon in Philadelphia. Kennedy finally stopped Rodriguez in round ten and just days after, Rodriguez unfortunately passed away due to injuries in that “Fight of the Year” candidate.
Kennedy, who is ranked number thirteen in the world by the IBF, maybe the best Prospect under 126 lbs on the east coast and is always in fan friendly tussles and a win over Beranza would catapult him to a very significant fight late this Summer or early Fall.
Beranza of Mexico City has a record of 32-17-2 with twenty-five wins coming via knockout.
He has fought the “whose-who” of fighters in the lower weight divisions.
Some of the recognizable names on his resume include former world title challengers Raul Juarez, Jorge Lacierva, Diosdado Gabi, Nestor Rocha, and AJ Benal; Former world champions Jhonny Gonzalez, Currant world champion Wilfredo Vasquez Jr.
He holds a win over former WBC champ Ivan Hernandez.
Just two fights ago, Beranza shocked than 9-0 top prospect Juan Carlos Velasquez in front of a nationally televised audience on ESPN 2.
That fight is just one of seven big fights set for this Saturday night.
The co-feature will be an interesting Middleweight clash between Polish import and undefeated Patrick Majewski (12-0, 7 KO’s) risking his unblemished mark against upset minded Loren Myers (7-7-1, 2 KO’s)
Anthony Flores (8-1, 5 KO’s) looks to rebound from his first pro loss when he takes on the upset specialist Carlos Vinan (9-8-3, 1 KO) in a six round Jr. Lightweight bout.
Vinan holds wins over Orlando Gonzalez (4-0-1); Eric Hunter (5-0); Andrew Cancio (8-0-2) and Victor Vasquez (11-3).
Ina six round Jr. Welterweight bout, Ronald Cruz (8-0, 5 KO’s) takes on grizzled vet, Juan Ramon Cruz (16-8-1, 12 KO’s)
Local favorite, Josh Mercado (3-1, 1 KO) battles Joel Nieves (0-1) in a four round Welterweight bout.
Ryan Carson (2-0, 1 KO) takes on Marcos Garcia (0-1) in a four round lightweight affair.
Rounding out the card will be a tussle between Troy Maxwell (2-0, 1 KO) and Rafael Jastrzebski (1-6) in a super middleweight bout scheduled for four rounds.
Seven big fights which includes an important championship bout for just $9.99 is one click away at http://www.gofightlive.tv/showEvent.do?eventId=668
The action begins promptly at 7:30pm eastern
Tags: Bantamweight > Blue Horizon > Boxing > Francisco Rodriguez > Jose Angel Beranza > Mexico City > Philadelphia > Teon Kennedy
STRIKEFORCE ST. LOUIS: HEAVY ARTILLERY UNDERCARD BOUT TO STREAM ON STRIKEFORCE WEBSITE TOMORROW/WEDNESDAY
Posted on | May 18, 2010 | No Comments
LYLE “FANCY PANTS” BEERBOHM vs. VITOR “SHAOLIN” RIBEIRO
Tomorrow/Wednesday, May 19 at 6 p.m. ET / 3 p.m. PT
at www.Strikeforce.com
WHO: Undefeated Lightweight Rising Star Lyle “Fancy Pants” Beerbohm
World-Ranked Lightweight/Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Specialist Vitor “Shaolin” Ribeiro
WHAT: Replay of their STRIKEFORCE St. Louis: Heavy Artillery undercard bout ….
www.Strikeforce.com will replay the hotly-contested undercard bout between Beerbohm and Ribeiro on Wednesday, May 19 at 6 p.m. ET / 3 p.m. PT.
The fight, which was featured on the non-televised undercard of last Saturday’s STRIKEFORCE St. Louis: Heavy Artillery event, was an incredible game of human chess with both fighters displaying impressive grappling skills.
The 31-year-old Beerbohm has become an inspiration since he literally took up MMA on his way home from prison following a year of incarceration at a Washington State Penitentiary as a result of felony convictions, all related to his crystal meth addiction. Just eight days after his release from the penitentiary, the Spokane, Wash. native had his first amateur fight and has since amassed a perfect 14-0 record and become a top contender as a professional.
Ribeiro, a 30-year-old Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu specialist, is among the top lightweights in MMA. He’s won the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu World Championship four times, once as a purple belt in1996 and three times as a black belt in three consecutive years (1999-2001). Among his 20 victories include 14 stoppages (12 by submission) while topping notables such as Joachim Hansen, Eiji Mitsuoka, and Mitsuhiro “The Endless Fighter” Ishida.
WHEN: Tomorrow/Wednesday, May 19 at 6 p.m. ET / 3 PT at www.Strikeforce.com
Tags: Lyle Beerbohm > MMA > Strikeforce > Vitor Ribeiro
FREE PUBLIC STRIKEFORCE CHALLENGERS WEIGH IN THURSDAY
Posted on | May 18, 2010 | No Comments
MATT LINDLAND, KEVIN CASEY, NATE COY AND TYRON WOODLEY AND ALL OTHER STRIKEFORCE CHALLENGERS FIGHTERS TO STEP ON THE SCALES
Thursday, May 20 at 3:30 p.m. PT at The Game at the Rose Quarter
WHERE: The Game (located across the commons from the south entrance of the Rose Garden)
1 North Center Court Street
Portland, OR 93711?
WHEN: Thursday, May 20, at 3:30 p.m. PT
WHAT: All fighters who will compete in the STRIKEFORCE Challengers mixed martial arts (MMA) event this Friday, May 21, at Rose Garden in Portland, Ore., will weigh in the day before, Thursday, May 20 at The Game, located across the commons from the south entrance of the Rose Garden. The weigh in is OPEN TO THE PUBLIC, free of charge and will start at 3:30 p.m. PT.
Oregon’s own middleweight (185 pounds) MMA superstar and former Olympic wrestling silver medalist Matt “The Law” Lindland (21-7), who recently ran for the state’s House of Representatives seat, will return to the cage to face Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu expert and former Rickson Gracie protégé “King” Kevin Casey (3-1) in the main event.
Undefeated, rising star Tyron “T-Wood” Woodley (6-0) will face off with fellow welterweight (170 pounds) prospect and former Oregon State wrestling star Nathan Coy.
In other fights, undefeated welterweight prospect Roger Bowling (7-0), of Columbus, Ohio, will face veteran Bobby Voelker (21-7), of Kansas City, Kansas. Nate Moore (6-1), of San Jose, Calif., will square off with the dangerous Tarec Saffiedine (8-2), of Temecula, Calif., in another welterweight bout. And Portland’s own Pat “Bam Bam” Healy (22-15) will face rising star Bryan Travers (13-1), of Bakersfield, Calif., in a lightweight bout.
Tickets are on sale now at the Rose Quarter Box Office, all participating Safeway/ TicketsWest outlets, or by calling 877.789.ROSE (7673), as well as online at ComcastTIX.com and STRIKEFORCE’s official website (www.strikeforce.com). Rose Garden Arena doors will open at 5:15 p.m. The first preliminary card bout will begin at 6 p.m. and the first main card bout will begin at 8 p.m.
Tags: Challengers > Mixed Martial Arts > MMA > Strikeforce > weigh in
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