Boxing Info: Virgil Hill Vs Henry Maske

ByBoxing Press
If future Hall of Fame boxer Virgil “Quicksilver” Hill becomes any more popular in Germany, where he is preparing for his March 31st pay-per-view fight against Henry “The Gentleman” Maske in the main event on “The Rematch” card, promoted by WHS International at Olympia Hall in Munich, Bavarians will make him an honorary Baron.

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“The Rematch,” headlined by the 12-round Hill-Maske special attraction, will be broadcast live in the United States on cable and satellite pay-per-view starting at 4 PM/ET, 1 PM/PT. The event is being distributed for pay-per-view by Integrated Sports and will be available via iN Demand, DirecTV and TVN for a suggested retail price of only $24.95.

“The reception here has been great,” Hill said. “I’m a little surprised. Henry has nobody to blame but himself. You can’t forget about the fans. We’ve never done anything secretly. We’ve been enjoying ourselves, spending time with Germans, letting them do interviews and come to training. We’re pretty confident and have no secrets. I don’t speak much German other than to say hello, but a smile’s a smile in any language. I’m just very relaxed, laughing and being myself. I’m real with it.

“I think I’ll have some supporters (at the fight) that are German. It’ll be nice but when push comes to shove, they’ll probably still want one of their boys to get it done. It’s the nature of the beast. We’re in Bavaria – meats, potatoes and goulash — right down my alley. I come from North Dakota, which is predominantly German and Norwegian, so a lot of the foods here are the same.”

The fan-friendly Hill (50-5, 23 KOs), five-time world champion and reigning WBA cruiserweight title-holder, knocked previously unbeaten IBF light heavyweight king Maske into retirement with a 12-round split decision (116-113, 115-113, 112-116) in their 1996 unification bout at Olympia Hall. Maske (30-1, 11 KOs) has come out of more than decade in retirement to fight Hill in their Mar. 31 rematch.

Team Hill, which has been in Germany since March 3, also includes Virgil’s wife and manager, Carla; trainers Allen Larsien, Michael Hall and Ray Nard; strength-and-conditioning coach Jon Simon, and assistant trainer Willie Parrish.

“The Rematch” is sold out with more than 13,000 standing-room fans and projected 20 million viewers worldwide, a figure expected to exceed the number who watched the March 10th Wladimir Klitschko-Ray Austin IBF/IBO heavyweight title fight on television.