BEIBUT SHUMENOV 175 LBS.
TAMAS KOVACS 174.4 LBS.
SATURDAY, DEC. 14, FROM THE ALAMODOME LIVE ON SHOWTIME®
WBA Super & IBA Light Heavyweight World Champion Beibut Shumenov Defends Against Tamas Kovacs on SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING Quadrupleheader live from San Antonio
SAN ANTONIO (Dec. 13, 2013) – WBA SUPER and IBA Light Heavyweight World Champion Beibut Shumenov (13-1, 8 KOs) weighed in today at 175 pounds for his title defense tomorrow night (Saturday, Dec. 14) against unbeaten challenger Tamas Kovacs (23-0, 14 KOs), of Slovakia, in the opening bout of a SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING quadrupleheader, airing live on SHOWTIME® (8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT) from the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas. Kovacs tipped the scales at 174.4 pounds.
Light Heavyweight World Champion Beibut Shumenov Returns to the Ring on Saturday, Dec. 14 in San Antonio for Fifth Title Defense
LAS VEGAS (November 18, 2013) – World Boxing Association (WBA) Super and International Boxing Association (IBA) Light Heavyweight World Champion Beibut Shumenov (13-1, 8 KO’s) will make his fifth title defense Sat., Dec. 14 on SHOWTIME from the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas.
Photo by Emily Harney – KZ Event Productions)
The 30-year-old Shumenov, the 2004 Kazakhstan Olympian fighting out of Las Vegas, set a light heavyweight record for capturing a world title in the fewest career fights, 10, when he won (Jan. 10, 2010) a 12-round decision over Gabriel Campillo in Las Vegas. Shumenov has successfully defended his WBA/IBA titles four times against No. 1 mandatory challenger Viacheslav Uzelkov (DEC12), three-time world champion William Joppy (KO6) and multi-world title challengers Danny Santiago (TKO9) and Enrique Ornelas (DEC12). Shumenov’s last fight was June 2, 2012 against Ornelas.
“We tried to make a couple of unifications and different fights that for one reason or another fell through,” he explained. “We tried to made unification fights with [Nathan] Cleverly and [Chad] Dawson when they held belts, but they weren’t interested in fighting me. I’ve wanted to unify since I first won my WBA belt and we tried against then WBO champion [Juergen] Braehmer who literally ran out of town instead of stepping in the ring. A unification fight is still a goal of mine.
“We are now looking ahead to the future, working with Golden Boy, my team and SHOWTIME. I am looking forward to my first fight on SHOWTIME and fighting on this amazing card that Golden Boy Promotions has put together on December 14 with four world title fights. It will be a great night of boxing for fans at the Alamodome and those watching on Showtime. I am very appreciative to Showtime for putting me on its great network and Golden Boy Promotions for believing in me.”
Shumenov faces undefeated, WBA No. 14-ranked challenger Tamas “Tomi Kid” Kovacs (23-0, 14 KO’s). The Slovakian has held a number of title belts, including the World Boxing Organization (WBO) European and World Boxing Federation.
“Kovacs is a tough guy who doesn’t know what it’s like to lose,” Shumenov said. “He has nothing to lose and I expect him to bring his best. I’m very excited to get back in the ring and fight on Showtime. I’m really looking forward to this fight.”
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.
