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“This feels like making history”, said Arena CEO Ahmet Öner before entering the plane to New York on Tuesday morning. This Saturday, October 10, Öner and his Hamburg based Arena Box-Promotion will co-host “Islands Warriors – Latin Fury 12” along with Top Rank and PR Best Boxing at world famous Madison Square Garden.
“MSG is the place where all fighters and promoters want to be”, adds Öner. “I am very proud that we made it there in only three years. I want to thank our partners at Top Rank that they opened this door for us. I think Gamboa and Solis are exceptional talents who deserve to enter this most prestigious venue where so many great champions have fought true ring battles.”
Arena was founded in 2006 when Ahmet Öner was fed up with the German promoters Klaus-Peter Kohl (Universum) and Sauerland. “Originally I had only planned to bring some new life to the German boxing scene”, states Öner. “But when I signed Gamboa and Solis I knew that this was going on the world stage.”
With his Cuban Olympic gold medallists, Öner started out big in Germany and finally brought his brightest starts to the USA where Gamboa turned from sensational prospect to superstar winning the WBA featherweight championship in his 15th pro-fight against Jose “Cheo” Rojas in April 2009. This Saturday, “El Ciclon de Guantanamo” defends his world title for the first time against Whyber Garcia from Panama.
“La Sombra” Solis, who is already rated on #7 in the WBC world rankings, defends his WBC international championship against two-time world title challenger Fres Oquendo.
“Originally we wanted Solis to take on Kevin Johnson”, says Öner. “But Johnson got an offer from the Klitschko management to take on Vitali, so he pulled out of the Solis fight. You can’t blame him for that. I am glad that we found an excellent replacement in Fres Oquendo. We had planned that fight before but Solis had to pull out due to an injury. Oquendo called him a ‘coward’ after that – now he has to live up to his big mouth.”
In the main event of “Island Warriors – Latin Fury 12”, WBO super bantamweight champion Juan Manuel Lopez defends his belt against Rogers Mtagwa from Tanzania.
The Pay Per View event will be broadcasted worldwide. Sky will cover the show in Germany ; Fox will present it in Turkey. “I am very happy especially for our German fans that they can watch Gamboa and Solis live”, says Öner. “They have a huge fan base in Germany who will get up at 3am on Sunday morning to watch the show.”
