The August 9th edition of NBCSN Fight Night will feature three bouts with three undefeated fighters and a high chance of a knockout in each bout. Undefeated heavyweight contender Vyacheslav “Czar” Glazkov (17-0-1, 11 KOs) returns to the Sands Casino Resort in Bethlehem, PA on Saturday, August 9th where he will face-off against veteran Derric “El León” Rossy (29-8-0, 14 KOs) for ten rounds. The Glazkov-Rossy fight will be the main event of the special NBCSN Fight Night triple-header. In the middle bout, Robert “The Butcher” Berridge (24-1-1, 20 KOs) takes on Vasily “The Professor” Lepikhin (15-0, 8 KOs). Undefeated heavyweight Joseph Parker will open the live telecast versus an opponent TBA. Tickets for the event are available now on www.Ticketmaster.com and ticket prices are $50 and $75. Doors open at 5:00 PM and the Fight Night telecast begins live at 8:00 PM ET/5:00 PM PT.
Czar Glazkov stunned audiences in his last fight at Sands on March 15th when he upset former two division world champion and heavyweight contender Tomasz “Goral” Adamek to secure the #2 position in the IBF and the IBF North American Heavyweight Title. Czar has an impressive 65% (11 of 17) knockout-to-win ratio.
The undefeated Glazkov, 29, immigrated to Ft. Lauderdale, FL earlier this year from Lugansk, Ukraine. This will be Glazkov’s first fight training with renowned boxing trainer John David Jackson. Jackson also trains fellow Main Events’ stable mate and WBO Light Heavyweight Champion Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev. According to his manager, Egis Klimas, “Czar moved to Florida a month ago with his wife and daughter, so now he is 100% concentrated on boxing. Many changes came into his life since he moved here. He started working with his new trainer John David Jackson so it will be interesting to see the new Czar on August 9th.” Glazkov added, “I look forward to stepping back in the ring on August 9th. I am in United States preparing for this fight with my new trainer, John David Jackson. Preparation in Florida is going well and John and I have a good understanding. He is adding some new stuff and I like it. I can’t wait to try new things in the ring.”
Rossy, 34, is a seasoned veteran with 37 professional fights on his resume. He hails from Medford, NY and is coming off a ten-round majority decision victory over heavyweight prospect Joe Hanks in Montreal, Quebec, Canada on May 16, 2014. Prior to their fight, Hanks had only one career loss. Both Rossy and Glazkov are 6’3″ tall. Rossy said, “Tune in boxing fans because you will see some great heavyweight action on August 9th. I would like to thank Kathy Duva of Main Events and Sal Musumeci of Final Forum for this great opportunity.” His promoter Sal Musumeci added, “As Derric has proved in the past he a true warrior and is stepping up to face one of the best fighters in the heavyweight division.”
The second bout of the Fight Night triple-header features New Zealand native and southpaw Robert “The Butcher” Berridge (24-1-1, 20 KOs) in a twelve-round light heavyweight match-up against Vasily “The Professor” Lepikhin (15-0, 8 KOs). Berridge, 29, is currently on a nine-fight winning streak (all KOs) dating all the way back to Oct. 5, 2012 (second round KO of Joel Casey in Victoria, Australia).
The undefeated Vasily Lepikhin, 29, hails from Gelendzhik, Russia and will make his U.S. debut on Aug. 9th. Since making his professional debut in 2005, Vasily has fought exclusively in his home country, Russia. The undefeated Lepikhin is also on a knockout streak. He has knocked out his last three opponents all in the first round (Apr. 18, 2013 – TKO Romans Sevcenko; Jun. 13, 2013 – KO Mikhail Demin and Nov. 30, 2013 – KO Alexey Varakin).
Starting off the Fight Night telecast will be another heavyweight battle featuring New Zealand native Joseph Parker (9-0, 8 KOs) in an eight round fight. Parker, 22, who will make his east coast debut on Aug. 9th, has a stunning 89% (8 of 9) knockout-to-win ratio. He has nine professional fights since his professional debut just two short years ago. This is only his second fight on U.S. soil in his professional career. The first was on May 16, 2013 in Irvine, CA when he defeated Brice Ritani-Coe via unanimous decision in six rounds. Most recently, he defeated Brian Minto via a seventh round stoppage in Manukau City, New Zealand on July 5, 2014 for the PABA Heavyweight and WBO Oriental Heavyweight titles. Parker’s opponent is still to be determined.
Main Events CEO Kathy Duva said, “This card features a bunch of powerful big men, so I expect to see some fireworks at the Sands on August 9th! I’m happy to bring Czar Glazkov back after his impressive performance against Tomasz Adamek in March and to introduce some new faces to the Fight Night fans.”
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.
