Boxing News Boxing News
On August 14, 2009, Desert Diamond Casino and Golden Boy Promotions will partner up for the 24th time to offer Southern Arizona fans and ESPN2 viewers a lineup of supreme boxing entertainment.
The main event of the evening features former world champion Vivian “Vicious” Harris (29-3-1, 19 KOs) out of Brooklyn, New York. Harris held the WBA Junior Welterweight belt from 2002 to 2005, holding off opponents such as Diosbelys Hurtado and Oktay Urkal during his reign.
Harris faces Noe “Platanito” Bolanos (20-4-1, 11 KOs) from Ciudad Obregon, Sonora, Mexico in a 10-round junior welterweight bout.
In the opening televised bout, one of the most devastating young punchers in the sport, Keith “One Time” Thurman (9-0, 9 KOs) out of Clearwater, Florida, will make his second consecutive appearance in front of Tucson-area fans.
Thurman won six national championships as an amateur and captured the silver medal at the 2008 Olympic Trials. He will face the vastly more experienced Travis Hartman (10-13-1, 7 KO’s) of St. Joseph, Missouri in a six-round junior middleweight fight.
Making his second consecutive ESPN Friday Night Fights appearance is the United States’ only boxing medalist from the 2008 Olympics, Deontay “The Bronze Bomber” Wilder (6-0, 6 KOs).
He was last seen at Desert Diamond Casino on June 26 where he earned a round-one KO over Kelsey Arnold. He will look to keep his knockout streak alive in a four-round bout against Travis Allen (3-4, 3 KOs) of Atchison, Kansas.
The second heavyweight bout of the evening will feature Seth “Mayhem” Mitchell (12-0-1, 7 KOs), a former stand-out linebacker at Michigan State University in a six/eight round heavyweight scrap against Andrae Carthron of Los Angeles, California.
Adding more local flavor to the evening will be Tucson’s Joshua Renteria (15-3, 9 KOs) battling it out against Karim “Hard Hitta” Mayfield (9-0-1, 6 KOs) of the San Francisco, California area.
Mayfield, who also designs clothes and is known to lay down a rhyme, won the 2006 San Francisco Golden Gloves championship and has sparred with the likes of Ricky Hatton and Zab Judah. The two will fight in a 4/6-round junior middleweight bout.
Local fan-favorite Annette “Netta” Agredano (4-0) returns for her second consecutive fight at the Diamond Center after earning a unanimous decision win over Jessica Sanchez on June 26th.
Agredano will face fellow Tucsonan, Allison Cole (1-1, 1 KO) in a four-round featherweight fight.
Rounding out the local flavor of the card is Robert Sockwell (2-1, 2 KOs) of Tucson who will take on cross state rival Martin Vierra (4-2, 1 KO) from Phoenix.
“Having personally attended the last two Golden Boy shows at Desert Diamond Casino, I know how alive the room becomes when the action heats up in the ring,” said Golden Boy Promotions President Oscar de la Hoya. “I expect August 14 to be no different as we present a great card stacked top to bottom with tremendously talented fighters in great fights.”
Treena Parvello, Director of Marketing and Public Relations for the Tohono O’odham Gaming Enterprise, said, “The August 14 card has not only a former world champion-Vivian Harris-but also promising prospects and local favorites. The crowd loved Tucson’s Netta Agredano on June 26 and Desert Diamond Casino is pleased to bring her back for the fans!”
The action gets under way at 6:30 PM, with televised bouts on ESPN2’s “Friday Night Fights” starting at 7:00 PM.
Tickets are on sale now and range from $25 to $120 in advance. They can be purchased at any Ticketmaster location, by calling 1-800-745-3000, by contacting the Desert Diamond Casino Box Office, or by visiting www.desertdiamondcasino.com Doors open at 5:30 PM.
Desert Diamond Casino on Pima Mine Road, Desert Diamond Casino Hotel on Nogales Highway, and the Golden Ha:san in Why, Arizona, are enterprises of the Tohono O’odham Nation. Further information can be found at www.desertdiamondcasino.com or by calling 866-DDC-WINS.
