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A massive night of boxing is shaping up in Cancun, Mexico on Saturday, December 15, 2007 when WBA Super Featherweight Champion Edwin Valero and WBC Featherweight Champion Jorge Linares co-headline a high octane fight card billed as “Night of Champions: Iron Fists”, promoted by Jose Gomez with support by the Mexican state of Qunitana Roo and it’s Governor, Licenciado Felix Gonzalez Canto.
This remarkable night of fights will be held at Cancun’s historic bullfighting ring Plaza de Toros and will be televised on Pay Per View to over 100 countries.
Topping the bill in Cancun is the hardest punching fighter on the planet, WBA Super Featherweight Champion Edwin “Dinamita” Valero, world record holder of consecutive first round knockouts.
Valero, 22-0 (22), stopped his first 19 opponents in the first frame but needed two rounds to turn the trick against Genaro Trazancos in March of 2006 before meeting the WBA titlist at the time, Vincente Mosquera in August of that year.
“Dinamita” had Mosquera down twice in the first round but had to climb off the canvas himself in the third before finishing off the champion for good in the tenth round.
After retaining the WBA crown with a first round KO of Michael Lozada, Valero is coming off a hard fought sixth round stoppage of Japanese and OPBF titlist Nobuhito Honmo in Tokyo this past May.
Facing Valero in Cancun on December 15 will be the undefeated Juan Carlos Salgado, 18-0-1 (13), of Mexico City, who is coming off impressive wins during the last year over veterans Ivan Valle and Marcos Licona.
Co-headliner of the bill, 22 year old Jorge Linares, 24-0 (15), also known as “The Golden Boy”, secured the vacant WBC Featherweight title by upsetting former longtime WBC 122 lb champion Oscar Larios via a shocking tenth round stoppage at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas this past July.
Larios exerted tremendous pressure on his young adversary but Linares showed great composure in weathering the storm and making the Mexican warrior pay for his aggressiveness with blazing combinations and severe left hooks to the body that repeatedly rocked the ex-super bantam titlist.
But the man from Guadalajara refused to back down, pressing the fight until he was hammered to the canvas by right hands from Linares, forcing the end of the fight in the tenth.
In his very first defense of the WBC title, on December 15 in Cancun, Linares will be put to the test by hardened veteran Gamaliel “El Platano” Diaz of Nezahualcoyotl, Mexico.
Diaz, 22-6-2 (9), won a WBC Title Eliminator in July, posting a split decision victory over previously unbeaten Elio Rojas and the 26 year old featherweight is best known for the pair of contests he split with current two-time IBF Champion Robert Guerrero.
Both Linares and Valero are originally from Venezuela but are based in Japan under the wing of Akihiko Honda’s very successful Teiken Promotions and are expecting very tough fights in Cancun from their proud Mexican opponents.
Also on the card is a thrilling WBC Featherweight Eliminator between Japan’s Naoki Matsuda, 28-7-3 (11), and Mexico’s Rodolfo Lopez, 20-4-1 (14), who will be meeting each other for the second time.
In their first clash this past March, Matsuda was floored in the first round but roared back to KO former WBC Champion Lopez in the fifth after a terrific slugfest.
Rounding out the bill are ex-WBC Featherweight Champion Guty Espadas Jr, lightweight Pipino Cuevas Jr., featherweight Wilfredo Vazquez Jr., and featherweight Moises Perez.
Promociones Jose Gomez presents “Night of Champions: Iron Fists” at Plaza de Toros in Cancun, Quintana Roo, Mexico on December 15, 2007 featuring WBA Super Featherweight Champion Edwin Valero defending against Juan Carlos Salgado and WBC Featherweight Champion Jorge Linares defending against Gamaliel Diaz. Ticket and Pay Per View information will be released soon.
