IBF MIDDLEWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP

Hobart, Tasmania – Australia (January 23, 2012) – Grange Global Promotions in conjunction with Main Event Television and Gary Shaw Productions present a night of world class boxing Wednesday, March 7th 2012 at the Derwent Entertainment Centre, Hobart, Tasmania.

 

This will be last bout on home soil before heading abroad, International Boxing Federation world Middleweight champion Daniel “The Real Deal” Geale faces his toughest test to date when he defends his crown against the number one contender Osumanu Adama of the United States.

 

The champion wants another taste of hometown support after the roaring atmosphere generated by the D.E.C.s capacity crowd during his 1st defense was compared by legendary U.S. promoter, Gary Shaw, to that of a Las Vegas super fight.

 

This is Daniel’s mandatory defense of the much coveted IBF 160lb title captured in Germany last May, Geale’s record currently stands at 26-1 (15 KO) and victory imperative in order to set up a unification bout abroad in the middle of the year. Whilst his team negotiates with Sergio Martinez,Dmitry Pirog and Felix Sturm, Daniel never looks past the fight ahead and remains totally focused on his next challenger.

 

Number one contender for the Middleweight crown and the man looking to derail “The Real Deal’s” plan is Osumanu Adama.  The former Ghanaian Middleweight champion now lives and fights out ofJoliet, Illinois and boasts a record of 20-2 (15 KO). His path to a shot at the title has seen him in his last 3 outings defeat tough Mexican, Angel Hernandez for the vacant I.B.O. world title in a shutout, defend successfully against Marcus Upshaw with a devastating 4th round knockout, followed by the systematic dismantling of Roman Karmazin over 9 rounds.

 

In typical African fashion, Adama is fit, confident and an aggressive come forward fighter guaranteed to apply extreme pressure from the opening bell, the big question is “does he have what it takes”to step up in class and on to the world stage, to face the champion Daniel Geale.

 

In the main support, Sydney’s Billy “The Kid” Dib in mandatory defense of his 126lb IBF Featherweight world title will face the rugged and well schooled Mexican Eduardo “Canilla” Escobedo, in a fight that promises fireworks. Dib will look to continue on with his impressive form, after his last outing on November19th 2011 saw him stop the previously undefeated Italian challengerAlberto Servidei, in just 2 minutes and 38 seconds of the opening stanza.

 

Both fighters have the potential to render the judges unnecessary in this bout with Dib possessing a 33-1 (20 KO) record, Escobedo 32-3 (23 KO) and coming off a second round demolition of Joksan Hernandez for the IBF Latino regional title after visiting the canvas 5 times in 6 minutes, courtesy of the heavy handed native of Mexico City.  A convincing win by “The Kid” at this level will firm his aspirations and desire to headline events in the U.S. of A.

 

Leading in to the main support bout, Australia’s primo heavyweight Kali “Mean Hands” Meehandefends his IBF Pan-Pacific Heavyweight title over 12 rounds against a much improved Travis Walker of the U.S.A. Fox sports fans will remember Walker troubling Samoan/Australian big bangerAlex Leapai back in 2010. Since taking the Leapai fight on short notice, Walker is 4 wins from 6 outings, winning the NABA USA Heavyweight title along the way with his 2 defeats being point’s decision losses to former WBA World champion, Ruslan Chagaev and undefeated prospect Kubrat Pulaev in an I.B.F. International title bout.

 

Kali Meehan will look to solidify his IBF #8 and WBA #11 world ranking when he meets Walker on this occasion, with a combined force of 500lb, 350 rounds professional experience and knockout records of near 70% the only advice promoters can give is “Hang on to your seats and don’t blink”.

 

A quality undercard featuring Steve Lovett, Steve Heremaia, Aaron Lai and Corey McConnellcommences at 6.00pm, get in early for your tickets to this must-see world title showdown, on sale as of 9.00 am Monday 23st January 2012 starting at $45 through Ticketmaster.com, by calling 136 100or attending the D.E.C. in person.  MAIN EVENT will also broadcast every minute of the entire card live and exclusive to FOXTEL, Austar and Optus terrestrial subscribers as well as to selected FOX SPORTS pubs and clubs.

By unanimous decision, Luis ‘Orlandito’ Del Valle ( 15-0, 11KO’s ) defeated tough Mexican José Beranza ( 34-22-2, 26 KO’s ) in last night’s 8 round fight at the super bantamweight ( 122 lbs. ) division.  The judge’s called it at 80-72, 78-74 and 79-73 in favor of Del Valle.

“Beranza wouldn’t quit, I give him a lot of credit for his performance because he really made me work hard. But I used the counter punches to my advantage and fought from outside to win him over round by round”, said the undefeated rising prospect from Puerto Rico.

“The fight went as expected. Really tough, against a veteran of more than 50 fights who has defeated some very good formerly undefeated boxers”, said Raymond Rivera, Orlandito’s manager and trainer about the opponent.

Beranza has beaten Boricuas Jesús Rojas (18-1-2, 13KO’s) and Juan Carlos Velázquez (10-1, 5KO’s), as well as recently Christopher Martin (23-1-3, 6KO’s). He also won against former world champion Ivan Hernández (26-5-1, 15KO’s).

As a professional at the featherweight division (126 lbs.), Del Valle won the New York State title after defeating veteran Pascal Rouse, and a year later won the WBA’s regional North American Boxing Association (NABA) title after defeating Vietnamese fighter Dat Nguyen (17-1, 6KO’s at the time) by unanimous decision on the eve of New York’s Puerto Rican Day Parade.

The card DiBella Entertainment’s ‘Broadway Boxing’ series, featured fellow Boricua and junior welterweight (140 lbs.) Gabriel ‘Tito’ Bracero (18-1, 3KO’s) who lost by unanimous decision to former world champion DeMarcus “Chop Chop” Corley (38-19-1, 22KO’s).