Local favorite Anthony "Juice" Young will take on Jorge Martin Garcia in the eight-round welterweight co-feature bout, this Saturday night, March 7th at Ballys Atlantic City Hotel and Casino.
The show, which is promoted by Hard Hitting Promotions will be headlined by a eight-round South Jersey Super Middleweight Showdown between Derrick Webster (28-2, 14 KOs) of Glassboro and Gabriel Pham (11-2, 5 KOs) of Atlantic City
Young has a record of 21-2 with eight knockouts. The 32 year-old Young is a nine-year professional who has wins over Jose Javier Calderon (4-1) and his last bout when he burst into contendership when he stopped former junior middleweight world champion Sadam Ali (27-2) in three rounds on May 4th in Las Vegas.
Young will be making his 13th appearance in Atlantic City.
Garcia of Buenos Aries, Argentina, has a record of 13-7-1 with three knockouts. The 35 year-old Garcia is a 14 year veteran who has shared the ring with two-time world title challenger Fernando Saucedo and former world title challenger Juan Jose Velasco. Garcia is coming off a unanimous decision victory over Dario Baigorria on October 19th in Buenos Aries. This will be Garcia's 1st fight outside of Argentina.
This will be 1st card staged by Hard Hitting Promotions as part of a series of boxing events at Ballys Atlantic City Hotel and Casino. Hard Hitting Promotions has grown into one of the biggest promotions in the Tri-Sate Area as they have been the 1st to promote fights at SugarHouse Casino, The Filmore and Met Philadelphia. Hard Hitting Promotions also was the last promoter to host fights at The Tropicana in Atlantic City and spearheaded the 1st ShoBox: The Generation card in Philadelphia.
This Saturday night, super middleweight contender Derrick Webster (28-2, 14 KOs) views Gabriel Pham (11-2, 5 KOs) a mere steppingstone as they meet in an eight-round bout that will serve as the main event at Ballys Atlantic City Hotel and Casino.
Webster of Glassboro, New Jersey is supremely confident as he enters will is being billed as a South Jersey Super Middleweight Showdown.
"My camp was amazing. I was scheduled to fight in October, but my opponent came in way over weight. I took about two days off, and was right back in the gym. I then got a call to fight Demond Nicholson, but then we were offered this fight."
There is some familiarity with Pham as Webster defeated Pham in Webster's last amateur bout and the two have sparred.
"When I sparred with him, I was told by trainers to take it easy and hold back on my punches. So that's all you have to know."
"He does not have a chance of beating me. I have nothing to worry about in this bout. This fight is more for him then it its for me. He does not impose a threat. There is no one on his resume with my ability and in his last bout he was knocked out by Ievgen Khytrov from a body shot."
Despite Pham being from Atlantic City, Webster feels that he is the hometown fighter as this will be his 6th bout on the boardwalk.
"Atlantic City is my town. I have been headlining here since very early in my career. They love me in Atlantic City. The only reason that he is in a main event is because of me. The only reason that he is on any billboards is because of me. He has to be on top of his game to be competitive with me. I am looking down the road at world title bouts, where he has never been ranked. The bottom line is that I will not be happy with my performance if I don't knock him out."
USBA Junior Welterweight champion Samuel Teah is not taking his opponent, Diemurci Nzau lightly for their scheduled six-round non-title main event the fight this Saturday night at The 2300 Arena in Philadelphia.
The fight will headline the inaugural card promoted by RDR Promotions.
Teah of Philadelphia, who has a record of 16-3-1 with seven knockouts is coming off a 10-round majority decision over Sonny Fredrickson to win the crown in November knows that a win on Saturday night will lead him to a possible big opportunity.
"I had a very good training camp. Early on, it took a while to get going after the win over Fredrickson, but then I looked at some film on Nzau, and I saw that he is a tough guy, so we picked it up for the rest of camp," said Teah
"Nzau is tough and durable, and I am not underestimating him as an opponent."
Teah has won two of his last three against more heralded fighters such as Fredrickson and Kenneth Sims, but Teah knows he can't slip up against Nzau.
"Fredrickson and Sims were better names, but I know what it takes to win as an underdog, so I am sure Nzau will be looking to do that to me. I need to win this fight as I know that bigger fights are very close to me."
Because of the recent success, Teah, who works for the city transit system SEPTA, expects a lot of support as he enters the 2300 Arena ring.
"I am very excited about the turnout that expect there to be for me. Everyone at my job will be there in addition to my normal fanbase who to support me for all of my fights."
As he heads into the biggest fight of his career, proud Sheffield fighter Tommy Frank says he wants to take the city’s fight fans on a journey they’ll never forget, with hopefully some exciting overseas trips thrown into the mix.
In just his fourteenth fight, unbeaten Tommy, 13-0 (3), faces Maximino Flores for the Mexican’s International Boxing Organisation (IBO) World Flyweight Title on March 27 at Sheffield’s Ponds Forge Arena, in what will be a huge night of boxing for the ‘Steel City’.
‘Super’ Tommy already holds titles at super-flyweight, with both the Commonwealth and World Boxing Council (WBC) International Silver straps displayed proudly at home. Last time out in November, in his first title fight at flyweight, the 26-year-old also claimed the IBO Inter-Continental crown, which set him up for a crack at Flores’ full version of the belt.
Despite making the first defence of his title, away from home, Flores will enter the Sheffield ring as the far more experienced man. The 28-year-old has just four defeats from 33 bouts and won’t be fazed by facing Frank on home turf, having won the belt in August last year with an excellent ‘on the road’ win in the Philippines.
“How many times have I topped the bill now in my home city, it’s got to be five or six times, it’s amazing,” said Tommy, who trains out of the Sheffield Boxing Centre. “I’m just a young, normal lad from Sheffield who’s just working hard and loves what he does. I’m just trying to be the best at what I do, so to top the bill in Sheffield in a world title fight – what an achievement; it’s something I’ll be telling my grandkids.
“Winning titles is great, but we’re also making memories on the way that people won’t forget, that’s really important. I love the Sheffield people, I feel like they’re really getting behind me, and hopefully that will keep growing with every fight. I’m not getting too far ahead but, hopefully one day, I can take these Sheffield people to Vegas and New York, with some big fights in years to come. I just want to take the fans on an exciting journey.”
The Eubanks, Benns, Minters and Londons are just some of British boxing’s famous father-son champions.
Now the Cantwells could join those illustrious fighting family names when Sam Cantwell aims to emulate father Mickey and become a champion when he challenges for his first professional title on Saturday 25th April at the National Sports Centre, Crystal Palace.
Bexleyheath’s Cantwell (7-1-1, 1 KO) will challenge Southern Area Super-Flyweight Champion Ricky Little (5-2-1, 1 KO) from Southampton on the undercard of Alex Dilmaghani’s European Super-Featherweight title challenge against Champion Samir Ziani, exclusively live across the UK on free-to-air Channel 5.
Mickey was a hugely popular fighter in the 1990s with a relentless, all-action, style that saw him win the British and Southern Area Flyweight titles and challenge for the World title four times and once for the European.
Being the son of a famous father and living up to the expectation can be tough in professional sport and more so in a hard sport like boxing and can be bring immense pressure, but Sam says he’s not affected.
“I’ve always taken the pressure in my stride, I think that other people view it as pressure.” Said Cantwell.
“I can see how everyone expects you to be good because your dad was so good. Right now I know I’m not at the level my dad was at but I know the level I can get to. I don’t feel the pressure of boxing, I just feel the pressure of expectation because of where you’ve come from. I’m quite calm with it all to be honest.”
Sam is following in the footsteps of his old man who fought twice at the famous venue. Mickey made his professional debut there against Eddie Vallejo with a fourth round TKO in January 1991 and his last fought there in May 1999 against now top trainer Dave Coldwell with a points win.
He said, “Lets hope it’s a good omen for me! I’ll aim to keep it three out of three for the Cantwells. The National Sports Centre has got a lot of history behind it with the likes of Lennox Lewis and Nigel Benn fighting there so I’m happy to fight where my dad and some of the other big names of the sport have fought. This is my first title opportunity and I’m excited to fight for it at Crystal Palace and I aim to make it a great night for me, my family and fans.”
It’s hard for Sam not to look further than the fight against Little, but he realises that he must win if he is to progress to further title opportunities and riches.
He added, “Everything is focused on this fight against Little. If I don’t win then nothing else will materialise. Everyone has dreams, My dream is to wear a British title, whether at fly or super flyweight. I think that if I win and win well on the 25th then that will open up the doors towards my dream, but they won’t open unless I win. My eyes are just focused on Ricky Little at the moment. He’s a good tough kid and I know what I’ve got to do to win.”