March, 21, 2012 – Greg Robinson’s Power Productions returns to the National Guard Armory Friday, April 20 with an action-packed card loaded with local talent.
Tickets starting at $40 are available by calling Power Productions at 267-385-0721, Manny Rivera at 267-325-9963, Moz Gonzalez at 215-500-7435, or Ticketmaster at 800-745-3000.
Headlining “Philly Barn Burner III” is the highly-anticipated rematch between popular Philadelphia based lightweight Angel Ocasio and Camden, NJ’s Jason Sosa. In their first meeting on January 13, Ocasio, 6-0-1 (1 KO), and Sosa, 4-1-2 (1 KO), fought a crowd-pleasing bout that ultimately ended in a draw.
“I’ve been training hard for over a month getting ready for this fight and we still have (a month until fight night),” said Ocasio, who is one of the biggest ticket sellers in the City of Brotherly Love. “I’m not going to leave it up to the judges to declare me the winner!”
Sosa, who doesn’t share the same sentiments as Ocasio, has his own outlook on the rematch.
“He got lucky in our last fight. I got a cut early in that fight and I was concerned the fight might be stopped, so I took it easy. But this time luck can’t save him. I’m excited to be fighting for a title so early in my career and I’m going to take advantage of the opportunity. I know without a doubt that I’m better than him and I’m going to be looking for the knockout quick and early.”
Ocasio-Sosa is scheduled for eight rounds and in addition to bragging rights, the winner claims the vacant USBC championship.
In the co-feature, bantamweight prospect Miguel Cartagena of Philadelphia puts his perfect 4-0 record on the line when he battles rugged New York based Mexican Jose “Chilli” Rivera in a six rounder. Cartagena, who stopped three of his four opponents, won the 2009 National Golden Gloves tournament and is considered one of the east coast’s brightest young talents. Rivera, 3-5-2, has never been knocked out, going the distance with hard-hitting foes Jonathan Gonzalez and Qa’id Muhammad, while battling former amateur standout Raul Lopez to a draw.
In separate bouts, Tim Witherspoon Jr. and Isiah Seldon, both sons of former heavyweight titlists, will look to impress what expects to be a sold out crowd. Joining Witherspoon Jr. and Seldon on the talent-laden undercard are heavyweight sensation Joey Dawejko, Brian Donahue, Georgiy Guralnik and Saud “Kid Grady” Clark.
“This is going to be a phenomenal show from top to bottom,” stated Robinson. “We have some of the top young talent in Philly on this card and the Ocasio-Sosa rematch all under one roof. April 20 will definitely be a great night for the fans!”
Doors open at 6:30 pm and the first bout is scheduled for 7:30. The National Guard Armory is located at 2700 Southampton Rd in Philadelphia.
For more information on Power Productions, go to www.battlestrongboxing.com and makboxing.com.
As in September, I once again ran out of gas in the 10th & 11th championship rounds of October & November with this column, but I recovered to complete them and will unleash a few more flurries to close out the 12th and final round.
In the first week of October, Hassan N’Dam won a UD over Curtis Stevens in an eliminator for the right to challenge Jermaine Taylor who defeated aging Sam Soliman to regain the IBF Middleweight title. How Taylor even earned this title shot is another story altogether, but it is all irrelevant as he is now the champion. However he will not have too much time to savor his victory as he has assault and battery charges pending against him and an upcoming court fight that may turn out to be the toughest fight of his life, just when things started to look up for him in boxing, we wish him luck.
