PHILADELPHIA, PA—Unbeaten super bantamweight Teon Kennedy, of North Philadelphia, will face his most experienced opponent as a pro when he boxes crowd-pleasing southpaw Paulino Villalobos, of Veracruz, Mexico, in an eight-round contest Friday evening, March 6, at the Legendary Blue Horizon, 1314 North Broad Street. First fight set for 7.30 pm.
Topping the seven-fight card will be Mike Jones’ first defense of his North American Boxing Association (NABA) welterweight title in a 10-round match with Larry Mosley, of Los Angeles, CA.
Kennedy, 22, won the 2004 National Golden Gloves flyweight championship. As a pro, he is 11-0, 5 K0s, with his biggest wins coming over Castulo Gonzalez, of Lowell, MA, by decision, and over Thomas Snow, of Washington, DC, by knockout.
In his last fight Nov. 14 at the New Alhambra in South Philadelphia, Kennedy pounded out a one-sided, six-round decision over Felipe Almanza, of Lorica, Colombia.
Villalobos, 37, is 27-39-2, 16 K0s, and he has fought some of the best. His list of foes is a virtual Who’s Who of flyweights and bantamweights: Antonio Escalante, Cruz Carbajal, Mike Oliver, Oscar Andrade, Nonito Donaire, Al Seeger, Mark “Too Sharp” Johnson and Melchor Cob Castro.
In his last fight July 18 in Tucson, AZ, Villalobos upset previously unbeaten (12-0-2) Jesus Ruiz, of Nogales, Mexico, scoring an eight-round decision.
Villalobos does well against unbeaten prospects. He is the only man to beat Puerto Rican prospect (5-0) Jonas Hernandez, earning a six-round decision on Jan. 26, 2007, in Cicero, IL. A p ro since 1989, Villalobos has been stopped just six times in 68 fights.
The March 6 card represents a return to the Blue Horizon after eight years for Hall-of-Fame promoter J Russell Peltz, who began his career there as a 22-year-old in 1969. He is promoting this card with Joe Hand Promotions, Inc.
Tickets for the March 6 card are priced at $45 and $60. They are on sale at the offices of Peltz Boxing Promotions, Inc. (215-765-0922) and at the offices of Joe Hand Promotions, Inc. (215-364-9000). They also can be purchased online at www.peltzboxing.com
O’Connor splits glove in winning performance
FRAMINGHAM, Mass. (February 4, 2009) – Legends are made from incidents like 2008 U.S. Olympic first alternate Danny O’Connor experienced last weekend in Canada, when his glove split after he pounded pro-debuting Greg Jimenez’s body with monster-like hooks en route to a win by 4-round decision off-television on ESPN Friday Night Fights show, headlined by the IBF light welterweight title fight between Juan Urango and Herman Ngoudjo at the Bell Centre in Montreal.
The 23-year-old O’Connor (3-0, 1 KO) turned in the best performance of his young pro carer, but what fans there will remember is seeing Danny hit his opponent so hard that his glove literally split. “I don’t know what happened and nobody there had seen anything like it,” O’Connor explained. “I hit him with a clean body shot and the stuffing and padding started coming out. They had to stop the fight, cut-off my gloves, and put on a new pair. It had to be a 7-minute ordeal.”
“Danny had been hitting him with some really effective body shots and after one good shot in the third round,” O’Connor’s head trainer and co-manager David Keefe added, “his glove split open and the fight had to be stopped. He had the kid hurt but never put him away because of the long break.”
O’Connor won on all three judges’ scorecards – 40-36, 40-36, 40-34 – and his impressive performance locked-up his first ESPN Friday Night Fights appearance in the opening bout February 27.
“I had a great time in Canada,” Danny remarked. “It was a very well run show in a great atmosphere. Everybody was nice to me. It was my best performance as a pro. Each fight is a learning experience for me. I fought real well and was relaxed during the entire fight. I felt so good I could have easily fought six rounds.
“Fighting on ESPN means a lot to me, not just because it’s national television, but so many of my fans haven’t been able to watch me fight. Now, they won’t have to wait until they read about my fight the next day. They can watch with their own eyes. I’m very excited to showcase my tools on ESPN to a lot of people who’ve never seen me fight before.”
O’Connor, fighting out of Framingham (MA), won last year’s US Future Stars National Championship, in which he was named Most Outstanding Boxer, as well as the 2008 National Golden Gloves Tournament. Danny, who signed a promotional contract with Seminole Warriors Boxing, defeated 2008 Olympic Gold medalist Felix Diaz, of the Dominican Republic, last May as an amateur in a USA-Dominican Republic dual meet.
“We’re all very excited about Danny fighting on ESPN,” Keefe commented. “When (co-manager) Rob (Valle) and I wanted to go with a promoter, one of the keys was signing with a promoter who could get Danny exposure like this and had a plan that we can work with. (Seminole Warriors Boxing executive director) Leon (Margules) has that plan and getting Danny on ESPN in only his fourth pro fight is another step towards getting Danny to the top. It’s a great marketing tool for a good, young boxer. Fighting in Montreal on that card was a great experience for all of us because we were around Team Urango and saw first-hand what it’s like and takes to win a world championship.”
"Wild Thing" Ling books appointment with Solicitor
Earl “Wild Thing” Ling has an appointment with a solicitor on February 28th – and it’s guaranteed to come to blows. The Norwich cruiserweight will take to the ring in his hometown at the Norfolk Showground as he looks to end the unbeaten run of Dewsbury based solicitor Zahid Kahut.
It will be Ling’s first bout in over 3 years in a long career that stretches back to 1992 when he was a regular on Herbie Hide undercards in Norwich.
“To be honest sometimes it feels like I’ve been around since the pre war days never mind the Herbie Hide days,” joked the charismatic Ling. “When I made my debut back in 1992 boxing was booming in Norwich but I think it’s even better now at the moment, you have some very good fighters around. Take this next bill as an example, you have Jon Thaxton defending his European title and Danny McIntosh is another young guy coming through at Light Heavyweight. There’s a real buzz about the sport in Norwich again.”
Ling’s current record stands at 6 wins, 11 losses and 5 draws but he feels the bare stats don’t tell the whole story. “My record doesn’t look the best but quite a few of my defeats were down to injuries like cuts and even a broken ankle in one of my fights. In my last fight I ripped the anterior cruciate ligament in my right knee so I knocked it on the head after that but I’m feeling good at the moment and with boxing going so well in Norwich again I thought I’d comeback and give it one last go.”
Ling says he’s being realistic about his comeback ambitions and feels ending Kahut’s unbeaten record would be a good start. “I’m not coming back to win the world title or set the world alight but I’d like to have 2 or 3 fights and then fight for a minor title. I’m enjoying being back and although it’s a lot of hard work it’s also a lot of fun. I’ve no pretences about being a world beater but I’m always good value and I put a lot of bums on seats in Norwich because I’m an entertainer.
“They call me the ‘Wild Thing’ but I actually think I’m more a boxer than a fighter. Sometimes that goes out the window when I fight though and I’m nearly always in a good, exciting scrap. I’ll be 37 in March so a nice little win in Norwich would be an early birthday present.”
Ling’s time out of the ring in the last few years has allowed him to concentrate on his acting career and he will be hitting the big screen again in the summer.
“Acting is something I always wanted to do and I got my first role in 2003 playing a Russian hit man! I’ve been in a couple of BAFTA nominated films since and I play a guy called ‘Two Guns Tony’ in a Danny Dyer film coming out this summer called ‘Malice in Wonderland’. Obviously given my background I do tend to get typecast a bit so I normally end up playing the gangster or tough guy but I really enjoy it.”
Featuring on the exciting undercard: Danny McIntosh v Matthew Barney for the English Light Heavyweight Title (subject to Boards approval), also appearing New Heavyweight Sensation Tyson Fury, Matthew Thirlwall, Lee Purdy and making his pro debut, ABA Senior Featherweight Champion 2008 & awarded the best boxer of the night Royston’s Bradley Evans.
Tickets for Ling - Kahut which is part of the undercard of Jon Thaxton’s first European title defence at the Norfolk Showground, Norwich on the 28th February are available from the Ticketline box office on 0871 424 4444 or via www.ticketline.co.uk .
