GOLDENBOY PROMOTIONS RISING STAR

DANNY GARCIA
PHILADELPHIA’S NEWEST BOXING SENSATION

cozzon2
Philadelphia, PA - April 29, 2008
Photo By Chris Cozzone

FightwireImages.com

 

Philadelphia’s newest boxing sensation and Goldenboy Promotions rising star, Danny Garcia (5-0, 5 KO’s) is ready for the big stage as he’s scheduled to fight Manuel Bocanegra (7-8-1, 5 KO’s), Saturday May 3, 2008 on the Oscar De La Hoya vs Steve Forbes card.

 

Garcia, who possesses immense punching power in both hands, has put together a string of scintillating knock out victories, none of which have entered the third round. “I’m here to entertain everyone who comes to see me fight.” said Garcia. “I really love being a professional prize fighter opposed to being in the amateurs. With no head gear, I really feel my power comes to life. Although, if I have to go the distance, I’ll be well prepared.”

 

Bocanegra who hails from Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico will be Garcia’s toughest test being that he has a credible win against Daniel Attah (24-4-1 8 KO’s) who went the distance with former world champion Acelino Freitas.

 

The 27,000-seat soccer stadium at The Home Depot Center will be bursting with energy as Oscar De La Hoya battles Steve Forbes in showdown for the ages. The bout will also mark De La Hoya’s return home to fight for the first time in Los Angeles since 2000 as well as his return to HBO’s World Championship Boxing for the first time since 2001. The match up will be televised live by HBO’s World Championship Boxing beginning at 10pm ET / 7pm PT. Tickets may be purchased by calling Ticketmaster at 213-480-3232 or by visiting ticketsmaster.com. Group tickets, VIP packages and Hospitality packages are available by calling 1-877-AEG-TICKETS (1-877-234-8425) or by visiting www.aegtickets.com.

 

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WHAT THE EXPERTS ARE SAYING ABOUT DANNY GARCIA

 

“Philadelphia’s Garcia, a 19-year-old U.S. Olympic trials finalist and one of the sport’s most exciting young prospects, continued his once-a-month schedule by blowing away Cortez. So far there is nothing not to be impressed by when it comes to young Garcia. In fact, he reminds me a little of a young Miguel Cotto, and that’s a good thing.”

~Dan Rafael ESPN.com boxing writer

 

“I think he is one of the most highly touted American boxers if not the most highly touted boxer with less than five fights”

~Doug Fischer HBO PPV commentator and Maxboxing.com founder

 

“I know Doug we are both anxious to see Danny Garcia fight. I’m really looking forward to seeing more of Danny Garcia”
~Rich Marotta HBO PPV commentator and host of the Neutral Corner radio show.

“AMERICAN CHAMPION”

THE SEARCH FOR THE NEXT GREAT

HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION BEGINS

 

HOLLYWOOD, CA - April 24, 2008 - Mention the names Muhammad Ali, Joe Louis, Mike Tyson, or Rocky Marciano to anyone from 18 to 80, and you will immediately garner a reaction, a positive acknowledgement of athletes that held what was once seen as the most prestigious title in all of sports - the world heavyweight championship.

 

But today, ask someone who the heavyweight champion is, and you will receive either a blank stare or multiple answers, thanks to both boxing politics and the fact that those who hold this title have become faceless. Why, because talented and charismatic athletes over 200 pounds have turned to greener pastures on football gridirons across America.

 

This year, in a groundbreaking TV series that will set the standard in reality sports programming, boxing will look to those gridirons to find an “American Champion” to once again bring attention and prestige to the world heavyweight championship.

 

American Champion producers have approached several networks regarding the first American Champion show that would air in late fall of 2008.

 

The series will be produced by Motor Entertainment of Hollywood, CA, led by award winning producers Greg McClatchy and Jason Williams, in partnership with successful boxing promoter Roy Englebrecht.

 

“We already know they can hit,” said Englebrecht, owner of Roy Englebrecht Promotions and Roy Englebrecht Events who’s fight promotions company is the largest in California in terms of shows promoted. “Let’s identify those huge guys who have the heart to take their skill on the football field and move it into the square ring. They’re coming from one discipline - football - at 24 years old, in shape, fine tuned, right into our boxing training program.”

 

“American Champion” will begin its search with 75 elite athletes from college football programs from around the country. These are athletes who have been team captains, All-America candidates, and award winners who have fallen through the cracks when it came to being drafted into the NFL. Normally, not receiving a phone call on draft day would mark the end of their athletic journey. But their size, talent, intelligence and desire has given them another chance at pro sports in the boxing ring, and under the tutelage of some of America’s top boxing trainers including the likes of renowned trainer Floyd Mayweather Sr., they will learn the art of the sweet science from one of its finest teachers.

 

“You look at football, it’s just like boxing.” said Mayweather, who has been in the corner of fighters from his son, Floyd Jr. to the “Golden Boy”, Oscar De La Hoya. “It’s a sport where you make contact. And these guys know what pain is all about. That’s a good thing.”

 

“American Champion” is not a reality series…it’s reality. There will be no ‘challenges’ or other hijinks that have no correlation to learning how to become a world champion. The initial 75 athletes will be narrowed down to 30 after a series of intense mental and physical tests, and from that group, six athletes will be chosen to live and train together full-time at the American Champion sports facility.

 

There, a camera crew will film the drama, the pain, and the physical action that will test the will of each new prizefighter. The six men will become like brothers while training, pushing each other to perform when the bell rings, and they will not fight each other. Instead, the athletes will be developed into true professional boxers, and cameras will follow them as they make their way across the country to various fight venues, giving viewers an unprecedented look into the life on the road, in hotels, and behind the scenes that all potential champions experience.

 

“College football players and elite athletes who train properly, who are managed properly, and who are matched properly, can be successful in the heavyweight division,” said Englebrecht, one of the premier promoters in the fight game today. “They can bring new life to the heavyweight division, as they brought life to the athletic field. It can be done, it will be done.”

 

In the end, “American Champion” plans to give the heavyweight division the shot in the arm it needs while developing a star outside of the ring, as well as inside of it, a key element in bringing boxing back to the masses, as the boxers that have the skill and charisma that people can relate to - like Ali or De La Hoya - are the ones who transcend the sport.

 

“Just like American Idol needs people with real talent, so does heavyweight boxing,” said American Champion producer Jason Williams. “Heavyweight boxing needs big, fast, smart, quick, dedicated strong willed guys and American Champion is going to bring that star talent to the ring and the whole world of boxing.”

 

Who is the next great heavyweight? “American Champion” will provide the answer to that question.

 

All former or current college or pro football players and elite athletes interested in attending an American Champion Tryout Camp, can register at www.theamericanchampion.com or contact Roy Englebrecht at 949-760-3131 or by email at boxing77@aol.com.

Joe Calzaghe is still undefeated (45-0, 32 KOs) after twelve herky-jerky rounds with Bernard Hopkins (48-5, 32 KOs) at the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. Hopkins’ best moment of the fight came in round one when he caught Calzaghe coming in and landed a short, straight right that put the Welshman on his butt. Calzaghe fought the next few rounds cautiously, but by the middle of the fight he seemed comfortable landing flurries, getting caught with a single counter, then being held on the inside. By the championship rounds, Calzaghe seemed the more energetic fighter.

 

 

“I guess I’m the legend killer,” said Calzaghe after the fight. “Maybe I’ll fight Roy Jones.”

 

 

Of course, Hopkins saw a different fight. “The people are the judges,” he said. “I made him fight my fight for half the fight.”

 

 

It’s the other half that was the problem.

 

The scores were 115-112 and 116-111 for Calzaghe and 114-113 for Hopkins. FightTube’s score was 117-111 Calzaghe.

Antonio Margarito took Kermit Cintron’s IBF welterweight title with a left hook to Cintron’s liver. The fight, in Atlantic City, New Jersey, ended at 1:57 of round six.

 

 

Margarito came out fast and won every round but the first, which Cintron won with cleaner shots.

WBC Light Heavyweight Champion, Chad Dawson won a unanimous decision over Glen Johnson. All three judges scored the fight 116-112 for Dawson. FightTube scored the fight 115-114 for Dawson. Dawson’s ability to stay outside, circle, and box made the difference in the fight.

 

 

Johnson hurt Dawson with right hands in the third and tenth rounds, although he was unable to put dawson down. Dawson’s record rises to 26-0 (17) while the 39-year-old Johnson left the ring at 47-12-2 (32).

Carlos Quintana will give Paul Williams a rematch on June 7 at the Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, Connecticutt. Quintana took the WBO welterweight title from Williams on February 9 of this year. In the co-feature, Vernon Forrest risks his WBC junior welterweight title against Sergio Mora.

Showtime Championship Boxing will televise the card beginning at 7pm ET/PT.

April 4, 2008, on ESPN’s Friday Night Fights, Jason Estrada, 12-1 (2), won an easy unanimous decision over Lance Whitaker, 32-5-1 (27). Whitaker has long been proof that being big doesn’t mean you can fight. Whitaker is six-foot-eight-inches tall and has a reach advantage over nearly every man he faces, yet he insists on plodding inside and smothering his own punches instead of using a jab to open up simple straight right hands from a distance that would provide leverage and power. (Young fighters of all sizes take note: Learn to jab! Geeze).

 

Estrada did a fine job of taking what was available to him. Instead of trying to chop Whitaker down with hard punches, he found holes wherever he could and filled them. Estrada isn’t a powerful puncher anyway, but could have more KOs if he planted his feet and fired. That’s not to say Estrada would always win fights that way, because he wouldn’t be as successful as he is, but he does what he can with what he has. That said, more bodyshots tonight might have helped bring Whitaker down had Estrada chosen to throw them.

 

All in all, Estrada is a talented, speedy, well-schooled heavyweight (over 300 amateur fights) that will likely never reach great success because he isn’t a heavy puncher (it’s a marketability thing). It’s a shame too; I like watching guys like him fight. There are plenty of knockouts to go around, but not nearly enough solid technique among the heavyweights.

 

On the Undercard

 

Cruiserweights: Aaron Williams dispensed with Andre Purlett at 2:50 of round two. After knocking Purlett down with three consecutive rights earlier in the round, Williams poured coals on the fire until the referee stepped in to stop the fight. The TKO gives Williams a 17-0-1 record with 12 by knockout, while Purlett falls to 41-3 with 35 KOs.

 

Light Heavies: In a sloppy but entertaining fight, Joey Spina edged out David Whittam with scores of 58-56 and 57-56 with one judge giving the fight to Whittam with a 57-56 score card. A third round knockdown for Spina made the difference in the fight. Spina’s record goes to 22-1-1 (15) while Whittam’s falls to 10-6-1.

 

 

From Press Row

 

Cory Spinks, 30, tried fighting Verno Phillips on the inside and it ended up costing him his IBF junior middleweight title.  Phillips landed right hand bombs all night as Spinks always seemed just an inch or two from his usual elusiveness.  The split decision victory earned Phillips, 38, his fourth world title belt.

 

In the co-feature, Devon Alexander, 21, dominated Miguel Callist over twelve rounds to earn a unanimous decision.

 

More details to come…

 

 

Former lightweight champ, Juan “The Baby Bull” Diaz, has signed with GoldenBoy Promotions. “I’ve gained a lot of experience over the last couple of years, in and out of the ring, and I can’t wait to prove to boxing fans that I’m the best lightweight in the world,” said Diaz.

 

Diaz had been promoted by Don King until King backed out of their contract before Diaz’s loss vs. 36-year-old Nate Campbell. King claims that he ended his business relationship with Diaz because of constant disputes with Diaz’s manager, Willie Savannah.

Against Michael Katsidis tonight at Casino Morongo in Cabazon, CA, Joel Casamayor (36-3-1, 22 KOs) used his experience to conquer the too-eager-for-his-own-good Katsidis (23-1, 20 KOs) as the 27-year-old brawler charged after Casamayor in the opening seconds of round ten and ran into a left that dropped him face first into the ropes.  Although Katsidis beat the count, he had no legs, and a flurry by Casamayor convinced the referee that Katsidis had had enough. The fight ended at :30 of round ten.

 

 

Casamayor foreshadowed Katsidis’ undoing by dropping him twice in round one with counter left hands. Soon after, Katsidis started keeping his right hand high, negating the Casamayor left. Katsidis coupled his improved defense with constant pressure. Punches to Casamayor’s body set up a right that sent the 36-year-old through the ropes in round six.

 

 

Never too old to learn, Casamayor boxed from on the outside from round seven on. When he did get inside, he held Katsidis close, taking away the younger man’s body work that had been so effective earlier in the night. HBO televised the fight on its Boxing After Dark series.

 

 

Casamayor retains his Ring Magazine and linear lightweight championship.