SERGIO MORA OUT TO PROVE HE DESERVES ANOTHER SHOT AT A WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP RETURNS TO ACTION SATURDAY NIGHT IN LAS VEGAS ON HBO LATINO UNDERCARD
HBO LATINO & HBO2
SATURDAY, MAY 31
THE NEW TROPICANA IN LAS VEGAS, NV
New York, NY / Las Vegas, NV (5/28/14) – This Saturday, May 31, DiBella Entertainment and Sampson Boxing, in association with Right Hook Promotions, will present an exciting doubleheader headlined by former world champion Javier Fortuna (24-0-1, 18KO’s) taking on Juan Antonio Rodriguez (26-4, 23KO’s) in a 10-round super featherweight matchup. In the co-feature, top-rated super bantamweight contender Luis “Orlandito” Del Valle (18-1, 13KO’s) will look to take a major step toward repositioning himself back among the elite of the 122lb. division when he faces highly regarded undefeated prospect Luis Rosa (16-0, 7KO’s) in a 10-round super bantamweight showdown. Both bouts will be shown live on the HBO Latino telecast from the beautiful newly renovated Tropicana Resort in Las Vegas, NV. In addition to the HBO Latino telecast, the HBO2 service will air the doubleheader with English language commentary at 12 midnight (ET/PT).
Also scheduled to appear on the card in a special attraction 10-round middleweight bout will be former WBC junior middleweight world champion and “The Contender” champion, WBA #10-rated Sergio “The Latin Snake” Mora (25-3-2, 8 KOs) taking on once-beaten Samuel Rogers (14-1, 8 KOs).
While the bout against Rogers is off-tv, it is a very important fight at this point of Mora’s career. If he is to ever get another world championship opportunity, the 33-year-old Mora not only has to continue winning but do so in impressive fashion.
“We realize that just winning isn’t enough anymore,” said Mora. “Promoters and TV execs, even fans have changed the name of the game from the Sweet Science to ‘Entertainment’. Guys getting knocked out are getting more TV dates because they lose in grand fashion. I am not willing to lose, but in order to get the TV dates nowadays, I am willing to adapt to what is needed. Entertaining can be dangerous, but I chose a dangerous profession.
Mora is currently riding a two-bout winning streak, including an impressive and grueling10-round unanimous decision against Gregorz Proksa on ESPN in June of last year and a fifth-round TKO over Milton Nunez in November. The bout against Nunez was Mora’s first after signing an exclusive promotional contract with DiBella Entertainment. For the bout, Mora was much more aggressive and determined than he’d been in the past. Now Mora is hoping another impressive performance on Saturday night will push him closer to challenging for a world title.
“I had a great training camp, we had the proper time to prepare physically and work out a game plan, and we are ready to go. Ready to shine.”
Mora continued, “This is a risky fight for me. I am always in risky fights. You never see me in a stay-busy or walkover-type of fight. I am always in tough, but that is the reason that I am who I am.”
“I know that I have what it takes to win another world championship, I just need my opportunity. In a perfect world, I want Sergio Martinez. He is the #1 middleweight in the world, and we are both promoted by DBE, so it’s not so farfetched. If I can’t get him though, I would love to fight the undefeated and unproven Peter Quillin, or the man everyone seems to be scared of, Golovkin. I believe that I match up well with both of them and would love a chance to take their championship belts from them.”
First, Mora must take care of business on Saturday night.
Tickets are priced at $85, $65 and $37, plus applicable taxes and fees and will go on sale today, Monday, April 21. They will be available for purchase online (www.troplv.com), in person at the Tropicana Las Vegas Show Tickets desk or by phone (800-829-9034) starting today.
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.
