ESPN Boxing Coming to Minneapolis on June 21!
Barthelemy vs. Sakkreerin Eliminator and Truax vs. George War Highlight
World-Class Night of Boxing at Minneapolis Convention Center
On Friday, June 21, 2013, at the Minneapolis Convention Center and broadcast live on ESPN Friday Night Fights, Seconds Out Promotions and Warriors Boxing will proudly present a night of world-class professional boxing featuring Miami, Florida, via Arroyo Naranjo, Cuba’s IBF #2-rated Rances “Kid Blast” Barthelemy (18-0, 11 KO) taking on Chiang Mai, Thailand’s IBF #5-rated Fahsai “Mountain Boy” Sakkreerin (39-3-1, 21 KO) in a 12-round IBF Super Featherweight Title Eliminator.
The two super featherweights will be competing for the right to face Dominican champion Argenis Mendez in a mandatory title defense.
And in the explosive co-feature between power-punching middleweights, local hero “Golden” Caleb Truax (21-1-1, 12 KO) of Osseo, Minnesota, will face Chicago’s Don “Da Bomb” George (24-3-2, 21 KO) over 10 tough rounds or less.
Tickets to Friday Night Fights at the Convention Center start at $35 and can be purchased through www.sofights.com.
“This is a fantastic night of boxing with a 12-round elimination bout for a world championship in the main event between two of the world’s top 130-lb fighters,” said Leon Margules of Warriors Boxing. While “Mountain Boy” Sakkreerin is a lesser-known commodity over here, he’s well known in Asia as a very tough fighter. Rances is coming off a closer-than-expected performance in his last fight, so he’ll be looking to return to his dominant form. I expect both main event fighters to show up ready for all-out action. They both know what’s on the line. The winner will fight for a world championship.”
“The co-main event between one of our local heroes, Caleb Truax and Donovan George will be huge for fight fans in this area, added Tony Grygelko, Founder of Seconds Out Promotions. “Caleb is a very hard puncher and so is Donovan, so we don’t expect a distance fight. It will be bombs away in there. This will be a good old-fashioned middleweight war and I’m very happy to be promoting it for Minnesota fight fans.”
26-year-old Barthelemy stands an amazing 5 foot 11 inches for a 130-lb fighter, with punching power and toughness to go with it. The Cuban standout was a former highly decorated amateur. He was last seen in the ring in January, when he scored a unanimous 12-round decision over surprisingly game Canadian Arash Usmanee for the IBF #2 ranking.
31-year-old Sakkreerin is the WBC Asian Boxing Council Lightweight and IBF Pan Pacific Super Featherweight Champion. He stands 5 foot 7 inches and, with 43 career fights, will enjoy a huge advantage in experience over Barthelemy. Sakkreerin’s last ring appearance was a “stay busy” TKO 2 over Robert Rubillar in March.
29-year-old Truax’s only career loss was a decision to former world champion Jermain Talor, in which Taylor had to come off the canvas. He stands 6 feet tall and can punch, hard, with either hand. Truax compiled a record of 24 wins and 8 losses as an amateur boxer. In 2006 he was the USA Boxing State Champion, the Region 1 Champion, and the Upper Midwest Golden Gloves Champion.
28-year-old George is one of the most exciting fighters in the 160 and 168-lb divisions. He stands 6 feet tall and is known for his paralyzing right hand. George was last seen giving a beating to former world title challenger David Lopez in March (on ESPN Friday Night Fights), but somehow only receiving a draw verdict for his efforts. Despite having only 32 amateur fights (28-4), George won the Chicago Golden Gloves and Chicago Park District Tournaments and won bronze medals at the 2003 US National Junior Olympics and the 2003 US Under-19 championships.
Tickets to Friday Night Fights at the Convention Center start at $35 and can be purchased through www.sofights.com.
The Minneapolis Convention Center is located at 1301 2nd Ave South, in Minneapolis. On fight night, doors open at 6:00 pm and the fights start at 7:00 pm. All bouts and entertainment are subject to change.
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.
