WBO LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT WORLD CHAMPION NATHAN CLEVERLY VS. SOUTH DAKOTA’S SHAWN HAWK TO BE FEATURED ON SHOWTIME EXTREME® THIS SATURDAY NIGHT!
ANTONIO OROZCO VS. DANNY ESCOBAR ALSO FEATURED ON BROADCAST BEFORE SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING TRIPLEHEADER BEGINS LIVE FROM STAPLES CENTER IN LOS ANGELES, CALIF.
LOS ANGELES (November 7) – One of Europe’s top stars, WBO Light Heavyweight World Champion Nathan Cleverly will put his unbeaten record and world championship belt on the line against South Dakota’s Shawn “The Sioux Warrior” Hawk this Saturday night at STAPLES Center in Los Angeles, Calif. The 12-round world title fight will air live as part of the SHOWTIME EXTREME® broadcast along with a clash between junior welterweight prospects Antonio Orozco and Danny Escobar before the SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING® tripleheader headlined by the WBC Super Bantamweight World Championship matchup between Abner Mares and Anselmo Moreno begins at 10:00 p.m. ET/PT.
Also in non-televised action on Saturday night will be young undefeated prospects Chris Pearson, Zachary Wohlman, Isaac Torres, Robert Easter and Luis Arias.
Mares vs. Moreno, a 12-round battle for Mares’ WBC Super Bantamweight World Championship taking place on November 10 at STAPLES Center in Los Angeles, is promoted by Golden Boy Promotions and sponsored by Corona and AT&T. In the co-featured attractions, Los Angeles’ own Leo “Terremoto” Santa Cruz puts his IBF Bantamweight World Championship on the line against Victor “Nene” Zaleta and hard-hitting junior middleweight Alfredo “El Perro” Angulo of Los Angeles by way of Mexicali, Mexico makes his highly anticipated return against Raul Casarez in a 12-round bout. The SHOWTIME® CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING telecast begins live at 10:00 p.m. ET/PT (delayed on the West Coast). Preliminary fights will air live on SHOWTIME EXTREME® beginning at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT (delayed on the West Coast).
Tickets priced at $200, $100, $50 and $25, not including applicable service charges and taxes, are on sale at all Ticketmaster outlets, online at www.ticketmaster.com, by phone at (800) 745-3000 and at the STAPLES Center Box Office.
Already a star in the United Kingdom, 25-year-old Nathan Cleverly (24-0, 11 KO’s) returns to fight in the United States for the first time since 2008 and hopes to follow in the footsteps of his Welsh countryman Joe Calzaghe in making a mark on the international stage. The WBO Light Heavyweight World Champion since 2010, Cleverly has defended his title three times, most recently with a 12 round win over Tommy Karpency in February.
28-year old Shawn Hawk (22-2-1, 16 KO’s) has been boxing since the age of seven and after winning over 100 amateur fights, he made the move to the pros in 2004. Fighting at cruiserweight and heavyweight before finding a home at 175 pounds, Hawk has won five of his last six fights, including consecutive wins over Rubin Williams, Otis Griffin and Henry Buchanan. This weekend, he attempts to win world championship gold against Cleverly.
Rapidly improving with each fight, 25-year-old Antonio Orozco (15-0, 11 KO’s) is on the verge of a breakthrough performance that he hopes will take place this Saturday. Already 3-0 in 2012, with each win coming by knockout, the San Diego native will be bringing his hometown fans to STAPLES Center to cheer him on to victory this Saturday night.
Also hoping his fans will help lift him to victory will be Riverside’s Danny Escobar (8-1, 5 KO’s). A professional since 2008, the 23-year-old has handed defeats to two unbeaten prospects in his most recent fights, decisioning then 21-0 Jose Emilio Perea last November and defeating then 4-0 Abner Lopez in March by decision as well.
Ohio knockout artist Chris Pearson (5-0, 4 KO’s) will make his third California appearance in an eight round junior middleweight fight against Ottumwa, Iowa’s Jeremy Marts (8-12, 6 KO’s). 21-year-old Pearson has stayed busy in 2012, winning all four of his fights with three of those wins coming by way of knockout. Marts is on a two-fight winning streak of his own, knocking out Alan Moore and William Bokhart in 2012.
Popular Hollywood favorite Zachary “Kid Yamaka” Wohlman (4-0-1, 1 KO) is a former Golden Gloves champion whose charisma and exciting style have made him a must-watch attraction for California fight fans. On Saturday, the 24-year-old faces Gilroy’s Alonso Loeza (2-7-1, 2 KO’s) in a four round welterweight fight.
In four round bantamweight action, Midland, Texas’ Isaac Torres (5-0, 4 KO’s) takes on Montebello’s David Reyes (2-2), a four round lightweight fight will see debuting Robert Easter of Cincinnati take on Omaha’s Eddie Corona (0-1) and opening the show will be Las Vegas’ Luis Arias who is promoted by Mayweather Promotions and will be making his professional debut against Joshua Thorpe (1-1) of Cincinnati in a four round super middleweight 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.
