NEW YORK –-Unbeaten Timothy “Desert Storm’’ Bradley has traveled thousands and thousands of miles for fights in the last 15 months.
Now, finally, “Desert Storm” is getting a home game in the California desert when he defends his World Boxing Organization (WBO) Jr. Welterweight world title against former champion and dynamic puncher Nate Campbell, Saturday, August 1, live on SHOWTIME® (9p ET/PT, delayed on the West Coast). The scheduled 12-round world title fight will emanate from the brand-new The Show at Agua Caliente Casino • Resort • Spa in Rancho Mirage, Calif., less than 10 miles from where Bradley grew up in North Palm Springs.
The event is promoted by Gary Shaw Productions and Thompson Boxing Promotions in association with Don King Productions and Agua Caliente Casino • Resort • Spa. Tickets go on sale July 3, at 10 a.m. (PT) and will be available for purchase online at www.HotWaterCasino.com/TheShow or by calling (800) 585-3737.
In his professional career, Bradley has racked up the frequent flyer miles and collected two world titles, earning the respect of boxing fans and media throughout the world for his fistic efforts overseas and in the United States.
The veteran Campbell is a former unified lightweight world champion moving up in weight to challenge Bradley at 140-pounds. He can be crafty and smart, but more importantly, he’s hard hitting with 25 of his 33 wins coming by knockout.
“God answered my prayers’’, said Bradley (24-0, 11 KOs), who will be making his seventh appearance on SHOWTIME. “There have been a lot of people wanting to see me fight at home since I won my first championship.
“It's an unbelievable feeling to be able to fight out here, a dream come true. There will not be added pressure, I will not get out of character when I fight Nate, I learned a lot from the Holt fight and I will stick to my game plan. I have to thank my promoters Thompson Boxing and Gary Shaw for making this homecoming possible.’’
On defending against Campbell, Bradley said, “Nate is a good person. He is a veteran that has been watching me for a while but what he saw from outside of the ring is different than what he will feel inside. (Junior) Witter and (Kendall) Holt both saw me as a lesser threat. Ask them what they think now. And as great as Campbell thinks he is as a fighter, I am in my prime and he will not take that away from me."
Offered Campbell (33-5-1, 25 KOs), "We would prefer to not fight Bradley in his own back yard but at the end of the day neither the fans nor the officials will be able to get into the ring with him. Timothy Bradley will be alone with me when he steps into the ring and he's going to have to deal with that reality. Bradley will not be served a home-cooked dinner on August 1, so I urge him to enjoy breakfast and lunch beforehand with all of his friends, family and fans.
"I have no personal beefs with Timmy, and I respect him for taking this fight when a sanctioning organization hasn't ordered him to do it. Bradley has two things that I want: A world title and his undefeated record, and I will take them both."
The 25-year-old Bradley is coming off a world title unification victory over Holt on April 4, 2009, in Montreal on SHOWTIME.
In the biggest boxing event in Canada in nearly 30 years, Bradley retained his World Boxing Council (WBC) title and earned Holt’s WBO belt with a 12-round unanimous decision. Bradley was dropped in the first and final rounds, but dominated the middle sessions to win a hard-fought match in convincing fashion.
Bradley has since relinquished the WBC belt to avoid a less-enticing mandatory defense and take on the more fan-pleasing, former three-belt world lightweight titleholder Campbell.
The aggressive, physical and well-conditioned Bradley captured the WBC crown in Great Britain with an upset victory over Witter on May 10, 2008, and successfully defended it in Biloxi, Miss., the following Sept. 13 against Edner Cherry. Both fights were on SHOWTIME.
"Timothy Bradley is the hardest working world champion in the business as proven by his upcoming title defense against Nate Campbell," said Gary Shaw, Bradley's co-promoter. "He was an underdog when he defeated WBC champion Junior Witter and when he unified the title by beating WBO champion Kendall Holt. Timothy doesn't believe in easy paydays. He works hard in the gym and when he's not training he's an outstanding family man at home. He is a shining example of what is right in a boxer. Look for a SOUPberb performance against Campbell."
Campbell, from Jacksonville, Fla., won the International Boxing Federation (IBF), WBO and World Boxing Association (WBA) 135-pound belts by shocking previously unbeaten unified lightweight champion Juan “Baby Bull” Diaz on March 8, 2008.
In a sterling performance, “The Galaxxy Warrior” outgunned and battered the previously unbeaten Diaz en route to registering an upset, 12-round split decision in Cancun, Mexico.
The 37-year-old Campbell, who didn’t start fighting until he was 28, was scheduled to defend his world titles against undefeated two-division world champion Joan Guzman on Sept. 13, 2008, but Guzman failed to make weight and was not healthy enough to compete.
The relentless and punishing Campbell had to wait until Feb. 14, 2009 for an opportunity to defend his belts. He scored a majority decision over once-beaten Ali Funeka, but he failed to make weight and was stripped of his titles.
With trouble making weight and finding a big fight at 135 pounds, Campbell is moving up to the stacked 140-pound division to fight Bradley. With names like Manny Pacquiao, Ricky Hatton and Bradley, the move up in weight wasn’t a hard decision for the respected former champ.
Opened in February 2009, The Show at Agua Caliente Casino • Resort • Spa is the ultimate in luxury entertainment. With just over 2,000 seats and excellent sight lines, guests can get up-close and personal with the world’s finest entertainers and athletes. The Show also features 12 VIP boxes with gourmet catering and private bars. Right outside, Agua Caliente offers 24/7 gaming and a gorgeous, 340-room hotel, plus spa and resort. For more information, visit HotWaterCasino.com.
SUNRISE, Fla.—Two of the hardest-hitting boxers in the world will meet when International Boxing Federation bantamweight champion Joseph King Kong Agbeko defends his crown against two-division world champion Vic “Raging Bull” Darchinyan at BankAtlantic Center on Saturday, July 11 and on SHOWTIME at 9 p.m. ET/PT (delayed on the West Coast). The championship is scheduled for 12 rounds.
The televised co-feature will showcase two world-ranked No. 4 contenders when emerging lightweight Antonio DeMarco (20-1, 14 KOs), from Tijuana, Mexico, meets Anges “Baby Face” Adjaho (25-1, 14 KOs), from Benin, Africa, now fighting out of Geneva, N.Y.
Tickets priced at $75, $40 and $25 and $10 (with a limited number of golden circle seats available at $200) are on sale now and can be purchased at all Ticketmaster outlets, charge by phone at (800) 745-3000, www.ticketmaster.com or BankAtlantic Center box office.
The event is promoted by Don King Productions in association with BankAtlantic Center. Agbeko vs. Darchinyan and DeMarco vs. Adjaho are co-promoted with Gary Shaw Productions.
Both main event fighters possess eye-popping knockout percentages. Agbeko (26-1, 22 KOs) from Accra, Ghana, now fighting out of Bronx, N.Y., has knocked out over 81 percent of his opponents with Darchinyan (32-1, 26 KOs), from Sydney, Australia, by way of Armenia, right behind him at 76 percent.
The Aussie bomber is a four-time world champion at flyweight and super flyweight. He will leave his IBF, WBC and WBA titles at 115 pounds behind to move up to the 118-pound limit to face the champion. If victorious, Darchinyan will become a three-division world champion.
The Ghanaian powerhouse gave a gritty performance to win his world title, scoring a seventh-round technical knockout over Luis “El Demoledor” Perez—a tough-as-nails Nicaraguan who had been champion since 2003—at ARCO Arena in Sacramento, Calif., on Sept. 29, 2007.
“I’ve seen stronger fighters than Darchinyan,”Agbeko said defiantly. “I respect him for what he has accomplished but I don’t think he has the true heart to beat me and take my punches.
“This fight will be the genesis of King Kong and the defining moment of why my parents named me this at birth. This is my destiny.”
The brash Darchinyan sees a different outcome.
“Agbeko may have seen stronger fighters than me but I guarantee you he has never fought any of them,” Darchinyan retorted. “The only thing he and King Kong have in common is they are both works of fiction. After I’m through with him he’ll have to change his name to King Con.”
Both fighters only have one loss each. Agbeko lost his second professional fight and has not lost since—24 wins in a row—while Darchinyan was shocked by flyweight Nonito “Filipino Flash” Donaire on July 7, 2007, in Bridgeport, Conn., who landed a fight-changing left hook in round five that lead to a technical knockout.
The loss came in Darchinyan’s first appearance after a traumatic 12th-round stoppage of Victor Burgos on March 3, 2007, at Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif. Darchinyan had been dominant in the contest but was taken by surprise when Burgos was rushed to a nearby hospital after the match suffering from a brain injury. Heroic efforts by doctors saved Burgos’s life, but he will never box again.
Darchinyan moved up to super flyweight, winning the IBF title by fifth-round knockout over Dimitri Kirilov on Aug. 2. He added the World Boxing Association and World Boxing Council 115-pound crowns with a thrilling knockout over favored Cristian Mijares in round nine on Nov. 1 in Carson, Calif.
In his last appearance, Darchinyan was yet again dominant in a highly anticipated match against Mexican strongman Jorge Arce at the Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif., on Feb. 7. Clearly the best fighter in the world at 115 pounds, Darchinyan pounded Arce for 11 rounds until the referee halted the beating.
Although a champion himself, King Kong will be in the toughest challenge of his career against the Raging Bull, who is currently listed near the top of the top pound-for-pound best boxer lists.
The co-feature is a pivotal matchup for DeMarco, 23, and Adjaho, 32, with ramifications for the entire lightweight division. Both are near the top of the world rankings with only one career loss each and an identical number of knockouts at 14.
DeMarco, ranked No. 4 by the WBA, is the younger, more visible contender with multiple television appearances and hasn’t lost in his last 14 fights. While this will be Adjaho’s first television appearance in the United States, he grew up in boxing gyms as his father was a national boxing coach in Benin, Africa.
A child prodigy who compiled a stellar amateur record of 164-3, Adjaho, ranked No. 4 by the IBF, claims to have never been knocked down as an amateur or as a professional. Adjaho disputes his lone loss, a split decision, which came against Miguel Acosta in 2007 even though Acosta hit the deck twice during the fight.
In domestically non-televised action, fans at BankAtlantic Center will be treated to a full undercard highlighted by an important IBF elimination bout (for No. 1 and mandatory challenger) between former cruiserweight world champions Steve “USS” Cunningham (21-2, 11 KOs), from Philadelphia, and Wayne “Big Truck” Braithwaite (23-3, 19 KOs), from Guyana now fighting out of Brooklyn, N.Y.
Cunningham lost his IBF cruiserweight title at the hands of former light heavyweight world champion Tomasz Adamek in one of last year’s most memorable fights. In fact, the Boxing Writers Association of America designated the fight as one of the five nominees for “Fight of the Year” in 2008. The match took place at Prudential Center in Newark, N.J., on Dec. 11.
Cunningham suffered three early knockdowns from the heavy-handed Adamek, but many felt he should have been declared the victor after 12 rounds, but Adamek won the split decision.
Braithwaite won the WBC cruiserweight title in 2002 by defeating Vincenzo Cantatore, and he successfully defended that title three times before suffering a decision loss to Jean-Marc Mormeck in 2005.
Big Truck has also tangled with the likes of future world champions Guillermo Jones and Enzo Maccaranelli in 2005 and 2007, respectively. Always dangerous, Braithwaite would like nothing more than to earn another shot at a world title.
Also appearing will be undefeated and rising Cuban prospect Angelo “La Cobra” Santana (5-0, 4 KOs).
