Hobart, Tasmania – Australia (January 23, 2012) – Grange Global Promotions in conjunction with Main Event Television and Gary Shaw Productions present a night of world class boxing Wednesday, March 7th 2012 at the Derwent Entertainment Centre, Hobart, Tasmania.
This will be last bout on home soil before heading abroad, International Boxing Federation world Middleweight champion Daniel “The Real Deal” Geale faces his toughest test to date when he defends his crown against the number one contender Osumanu Adama of the United States.
The champion wants another taste of hometown support after the roaring atmosphere generated by the D.E.C.s capacity crowd during his 1st defense was compared by legendary U.S. promoter, Gary Shaw, to that of a Las Vegas super fight.
This is Daniel’s mandatory defense of the much coveted IBF 160lb title captured in Germany last May, Geale’s record currently stands at 26-1 (15 KO) and victory imperative in order to set up a unification bout abroad in the middle of the year. Whilst his team negotiates with Sergio Martinez, Dmitry Pirog and Felix Sturm, Daniel never looks past the fight ahead and remains totally focused on his next challenger.
Number one contender for the Middleweight crown and the man looking to derail “The Real Deal’s” plan is Osumanu Adama. The former Ghanaian Middleweight champion now lives and fights out of Joliet, Illinois and boasts a record of 20-2 (15 KO). His path to a shot at the title has seen him in his last 3 outings defeat tough Mexican, Angel Hernandez for the vacant I.B.O. world title in a shutout, defend successfully against Marcus Upshaw with a devastating 4th round knockout, followed by the systematic dismantling of Roman Karmazin over 9 rounds.
In typical African fashion, Adama is fit, confident and an aggressive come forward fighter guaranteed to apply extreme pressure from the opening bell, the big question is “does he have what it takes” to step up in class and on to the world stage, to face the champion Daniel Geale.
In the main support, Sydney’s Billy “The Kid” Dib in mandatory defense of his 126lb IBF Featherweight world title will face the rugged and well schooled Mexican Eduardo “Canilla” Escobedo, in a fight that promises fireworks. Dib will look to continue on with his impressive form, after his last outing on November19th 2011 saw him stop the previously undefeated Italian challenger Alberto Servidei, in just 2 minutes and 38 seconds of the opening stanza.
Both fighters have the potential to render the judges unnecessary in this bout with Dib possessing a 33-1 (20 KO) record, Escobedo 32-3 (23 KO) and coming off a second round demolition of Joksan Hernandez for the IBF Latino regional title after visiting the canvas 5 times in 6 minutes, courtesy of the heavy handed native of Mexico City. A convincing win by “The Kid” at this level will firm his aspirations and desire to headline events in the U.S. of A.
Leading in to the main support bout, Australia’s primo heavyweight Kali “Mean Hands” Meehan defends his IBF Pan-Pacific Heavyweight title over 12 rounds against a much improved Travis Walker of the U.S.A. Fox sports fans will remember Walker troubling Samoan/Australian big banger Alex Leapai back in 2010. Since taking the Leapai fight on short notice, Walker is 4 wins from 6 outings, winning the NABA USA Heavyweight title along the way with his 2 defeats being point’s decision losses to former WBA World champion, Ruslan Chagaev and undefeated prospect Kubrat Pulaev in an I.B.F. International title bout.
Kali Meehan will look to solidify his IBF #8 and WBA #11 world ranking when he meets Walker on this occasion, with a combined force of 500lb, 350 rounds professional experience and knockout records of near 70% the only advice promoters can give is “Hang on to your seats and don’t blink”.
A quality undercard featuring Steve Lovett, Steve Heremaia, Aaron Lai and Corey McConnell commences at 6.00pm, get in early for your tickets to this must-see world title showdown, on sale as of 9.00 am Monday 23st January 2012 starting at $45 through Ticketmaster.com, by calling 136 100 or attending the D.E.C. in person. MAIN EVENT will also broadcast every minute of the entire card live and exclusive to FOXTEL, Austar and Optus terrestrial subscribers as well as to selected FOX SPORTS pubs and clubs.
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.
