"The Contender Special - Put Up or Shut Up" Oct. 14 in Providence & on ESPN2
The Contender I star Peter "The Pride of Providence" Manfredo, Jr. plans to embarrass his bitter Providence 'hood enemy Joey "KO Kid" Spina on October 14 in the 12-round main event on "The Contender Special - Put Up or Shut Up" at the Dunkin' Donuts Center in Providence, Rhode Island.
"This is a step-down fight for me," Manfredo said from his Los Angeles training camp. "He's (Spina) not on my level. He's been fighting stiffs; he's a built-up fighter. When he gets in the ring with me he's going to realize that I'm the real deal. I'm going in there to do a job, just listen to my corner. I'm going to embarrass him right in our hometown. I'll put on a boxing clinic to show him what it's really like to be a complete fighter. Spina has no jab, no fundamentals. He just throws a left hook and hopes; even if he lands, I have a chin of steel.
"There are some in Providence who think he can fight. On October 14th I'm going to show them that he's a joke. He's telling people he's the real 'Pride of Providence.' He's shown no respect for me. I don't like him. It's personal because of all the crap he's talked about me, my father, my wife, my family."
Manfredo (25-3, 11 KOs), rated No. 14 by the World Boxing Council and No. 15 by the International Boxing Federation, is the former NABO super middleweight title-holder. Last February in his last fight, Peter registered a devastating third-round TKO victory against former world No. 1 contender Scott "The Sandman" Pemberton in front of nearly 10,000 Providence fans at The Dunk. Manfredo and Spina grew-up less than a mile from each other in the Silver Lake section of Providence.
"We used to spar when I was 154 pounds and he was 175," super middleweight contender Manfredo remarked. "I used to drop him back then with body punches. Maybe now he's a little better fighter, but I'm bigger and better today. All of the talk is over October 14."
WBC USNBC and IBF Intercontinental super middleweight champion Spina (19-0-1, 14 KOs) is rated No. 16 by the WBC.
"They're saying Joey is bigger and stronger than Peter," Peter Manfredo, Sr. (father/manager/assistant trainer) added. "His manager (Pat Doljanan) is new to the game. He has what, two fighters? He believes what he sees. I've been in this business 30 years, around the best fighters and trainers. I know this is going to be a whitewash. Peter's training with some of the top contenders. Oscar La Hoya came by the gym the other day and said to me, 'Your kid looks good.' And that means something coming from him. This kid's (Spina) promoter (Jimmy Burchfield) built him up against stiffs.
"My kid is sharp. Don't be surprised to see this guy (Spina) get hit a lot more and harder than he's ever been. The way he's talking he could end-up getting hurt. I'll never have respect for him as a fighter or person for what he's said about my family. Peter's around guys like Freddy Roach (Peter's head trainer). Nothing against Eddie Mustapha Muhammad (Spina's head trainer), but how many champions has he trained? My kid is going to embarrass Joey. He's a one-dimensional fighter who's easy to plan for. He's going to get beaten up so bad that maybe he'll have to retire after the fight."
"The Contender Special - Put Up or Shut Up" is promoted by The Tournament of Contenders, in association with Classic Entertainment & Sports.
2000 Olympian Jerson Ravelo takes on undefeated prospect Allan "Sweetness" Green in the eight round co-feature. Ravelo (17-1, 12 KOs), fighting out of Newark (NJ) via the Dominican Republic, holds and amateur win against former world champion Jeff Lacy.
North American Boxing Federation and NABO top contender Green (22-0, 15 KOs), fighting out of Tulsa (KO), is rated No. 6 by the World Boxing Organization and No. 18 by the WBC.
Also featured on this card is The Contender I favorite Alfonso Gomez against an opponent to be determined. NABF rated No. 8 Gomez (15-3-2, 6 KOs) is a native of Mexico but now lives in California.
The fights will be televised on ESPN2 from 10:30PM - 12:30 AM/ET. It will be tape-delayed as the main event will begin LIVE at 9:00 PM/ET inside the Dunkin' Donut Center.
Tickets priced at $502.00, $302.00, $202.00, $102.00, $77.00 and $42.00 are on sale through www.Ticketmaster.com, all local Ticketmaster outlets or by calling Ticketmaster direct at(401) 331-2211 or (617) 931-2000. Tickets are also available through CES Boxing at (401) 724-2253, www.cesboxing.com and the Dunkin' Donuts Center Box Office.
For more information visit www.tournamentofcontenders.com, www.cesboxing.com, www.cesboxing.com or www.dunkindonutscenter.com.
THE CONTENDER
The Contender is an unscripted drama about the lives, fears and hopes of 16 professional boxers as they compete for the chance to change their lives and the lives of the people they love forever. The Contender 2 season culminated this week under the ESPN Original Entertainment (EOE) banner and executive producers Mark Burnett (Survivor, The Apprentice, Rock Star: INXS), Jeffrey Katzenberg and Sylvester Stallone. For more information visit www.espn.com.
ESPN Original Entertainment
Launched in 2001, ESPN Original Entertainment is ESPN's award-winning original programming banner. The EOE brand spans ESPN's sports-themed original movies, scripted and unscripted dramatic series, daily talk and debate series, documentaries, game shows, groundbreaking televised events such as the X Games and The ESPYS, and is delivered across multiple media platforms. With theatrical releases such as Through the Fire about basketball phenom Sebastian Telfair and Once in a Lifetime about the 1970's New York Cosmos, as well as The Impossible Jump where motocross champion Mike Metzger performed a motorcycle backflip over the Ceasar's Palace fountains live in Las Vegas, EOE continues to plant itself firmly on the cutting edge of sports and entertainment television, and event creation. Also, EOE's daily lifestyle and entertainment-themed series Cold Pizza and Quite Frankly are cornerstones of ESPN2's programming lineup. With many new scripted and unscripted projects in development, EOE serves both the passionate sports fan and the more casual viewer, and strives to expand ESPN's already industry-leading offerings in live events and sports news & information programming.
Mark Burnett Productions
Mark Burnett Productions (MBP) is a leading production company in the world of primetime non-fiction television. MBP revolutionized television with hits such as Eco- Challenge, Survivor, The Apprentice, The Contender, and Rockstar:INXS. MBP also successfully reintroduced product placement as an integral part of each of its shows and has garnered a total of 24 Emmy nominations since 2001. Mark Burnett was listed as the #1 Most Valuable Player by TV Guide and in Time Magazine's Top 100 most influential people in the world today.
DreamWorks
DreamWorks Television is a division of DreamWorks SKG which was founded in 1994 by Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen. DreamWorks Television is currently in production on season three of the hit NBC series "Las Vegas" as well as season two of the critically acclaimed FX drama "Rescue Me," and the upcoming ABC reality series "The Miracle Workers." DreamWorks Television recently produced "Into The West" for TNT, which was the highest rated mini-series for the season with 81 million unique viewers. Other DreamWorks
Television projects include: "Spin City," "Band of Brothers," "Taken." "Father of the Pride," "Freaks and Geeks," "The Job," "Boomtown," and "Undeclared."
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