Boxing News Boxing News
Saturday, June 16 at 9:30 PM ET/PT, from the Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville, CT
The main event features a 12-round junior welterweight championship showdown, as Lovemore N’Dou (45-8-1, 30 KOs) of Sydney, Australia puts his title on the line against the flashy and popular Brooklynite Paulie Malignaggi (22-1, 5 KOs).
N’Dou is a veteran fighter with more than twice as many professional bouts on his resume than Malignaggi. Fighting in the United States for the first time since 2005, N’Dou hopes his fan-friendly, pressuring style will win over some of the pro-Malignaggi crowd.
Fresh off his dominating victory over Edner Cherry on Boxing After Dark last February, Malignaggi will look to use his quickness to outmaneuver N’Dou and take the championship belt.
In the opening bout, Brooklyn’s heavy-handed Curtis Stevens (17-1, 12 KOs) faces 2004 Olympic Bronze medalist Andre Dirrell (11-0, 7 KOs), out of Flint, Mich., in a ten-round clash of young super middleweight prospects.
With his devastating power, 22-year-old Stevens has quickly become a fan favorite in the New York area, earning 11 of his 12 knockouts in the first two rounds.
Dirrell, a complete boxer with respectable power, hopes to show he’s on the fast track to prominence in the 168-pound division.
The HBO Sports team will be ringside for the event, which will be available in HDTV, as well as closed-captioned for the hearing impaired and presented in Spanish on HBO Latino.
HBO2 playdates: June 17 (7:30 AM, 4:00 PM) and 19 (midnight).
