Joel Julio Kicks Off ShoBox 2006 Boxing Schedule

Dominic Pesoli’s 8 Count Productions, home of the best in Chicago boxing, along with Kathy Duva’s Main events and Miller Lite and TCF Bank present the first professional card of the new year as Showbox, “The New Generation” visits Chicago for the first time on Friday, January 6th at Cicero Stadium. Headlining the evening is a ten round welterweight showdown between boxing’shottest prospect, unbeaten Joel Julio of Monteria, Columbia and Ugandan native Roberto “The Doctor” Kamya. Julio, turning 21 years old the day before the fight, is 25-0 with 22 knockouts, twelve of which have come in the first two rounds. Kamya, now fighting out of West Palm Beach, Florida is 15-5 with four knockouts.

Tickets, starting at $30, are on sale in advance by calling 312-226-5800. Cicero Stadium is located at 1909 S.Laramie, at the corner of 19th and Laramie, just ten minutes south of theEisenhower Expressway and ten minutes north of the Stevenson Expressway. Doors for this evening will open at at 6pm with the first bell at 7pm.

Julio most recently decimated Hicklet Lau on November 30th, a fight stopped in the fourth round after Lau was dropped three times. Prior to that, Julio overwhelmingly impressed the 11,000 Chicagoland fight fans attending the 8 Count Productions/Main Events promoted Fernando Vargas/Javier Castillejo “Return to Battle” event at the Allstate Arena by knocking out perennial contender Christopher Henry also in the fourth round.

Kamya returns to the Windy City after his upset majority decision over Alex Bunema on August 13th of this year. The win is part of a modest three fight streak Kamya has put together which includes victories over Alex Quiroga and Anthony Osbourne earlier this year.

The co-main event of the evening features a terrific eight round bantamweight bout between hot prospect Raul “The Cobra” Martinez, 12-0 (9KO’s) of San Antonio, TX and Andres “Andy Boy” Ledesma, 13-1-1 (8KO’s) of Arjona, Columbia.

Earlier this month Martinez destroyed Sheldon Wile with a first round KO. Earlier this year “The Cobra” made his first visit to Chicago, knocking out Miguel Martinez on September 16th of this year, a bout internationally televised on SOLO BOXEO. Ledesma is currently riding a nine bout winning streak, five of which have come by knockout. This will be the first time he has fought in the United States.

Also featured on the undercard is Chicago middleweight “MACHO” Miguel Hernandez, 17-3 (9KO’s) in a scheduled eight rounder against Butch Hajicek, 4-4 (2KO’s) of Grand Ford, ND. Hernandez is coming off a unanimous decision over Jeremiah Torres on October 14th of this year while Hajicek won the Minnesota State Middleweight Title with a sixth round stoppage of Christopher Holt three weeks ago.

Hot lightweight prospect Mike Gonzalez, 4-0 (4KO’s) of Milwaukee, WI returns to Chicago taking on Tony Kinney of Cincinnati, OH in a scheduled four rounder. Gonzalez’s last bout in Chicago was a second round knockout over Antoine Hicks in October at Cicero Stadium. The heavy handed Gonzalez also knocked out previously unbeaten prospect Tommy Pyle on July 15th at Chicago’s Aragon Ballroom in a four round bout.

A special attraction featherweight bout features fan favorite Omar “Little Bull” Reyes, in a scheduled five rounder against Luis Navarro, 0-1. Reyes is coming off his first pro win, a terrific six round battle over Barbaro Zepeda on November 11th at the Aragon Ballroom.

A six round light heavyweight bout will feature “Next Great Champ” finalist David Pareja, 6-1 (1KO) of Chicago, IL facing Derek Andrews, 3-1, of Lewisville, TX.

Rounding out the card is the pro debut of Chicago middleweight Reynaldo Reyes in a four round bout against Ricardo Swift of Jackson, TN.

To view the poster for this evening and details on tickets, please visit the 8 Count Productions’ website at www.8countproductions.com The open to the public weigh-in will be held on Thursday, January 5th at 7pm at Aquarius Club, 2459 N. Pulaski, one block north of the intersection of Pulaski and Fullerton.

For information on “ShoBox: The New Generation” and SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING telecasts, including complete fighter bios, records, related stories and more, please go the SHOWTIME website at www.sho.com . The televised portion of the evening will start at 11pm ET/PT (delayed on the west coast). Nick Charles will call the action from ringside, with Steve Farhood serving as expert analyst.This telecast represents the 70th in the popular “ShoBox” series, which debuted on SHOWTIME in July 2001.

In 2005, “ShoBox” became the premier boxing telecast for excellent bouts featuring “THE NEW GENERATION” of exciting boxers including Ebo Elder, Mike Arnaoutis, Courtney Burton, Sechew Powell, Paul Williams, Kelly Pavlik and David Estrada amongst many others.