Star Boxing Covers The Globe
With the 2008 year nearing an end, Joe DeGuardia and his team at Star Boxing will definitely deserve to enjoy the upcoming holiday season that is quickly approaching. Star Boxing has recently been all over the world representing their growing roster of boxers. Whether it has been promoting fights, attending major sanctioning body conventions, or just taking time out to support some of the different organizations throughout the boxing industry, you can pretty much guarantee that Star Boxing has been there.
Last month Star Boxing was in Dominican Republic for the WBA convention. DeGuardia was accompanied by Senior VP Brad Jacobs, WBA #5 rated heavyweight in the world Kevin Johnson, and Jimmy Hartofilis, manager of world rated “Mighty” Mike Arnaoutis. As a present to the WBA, DeGuardia staged a 5 fight show at the closing dinner ceremonies.
From the Dominican Republic, DeGuardia flew directly to California where Star Boxing’s Jr. middleweight Andrey Tsurkan fought Alfredo Angulo in a ten round war on HBO’s Boxing After Dark. Unfortunately Tsurkan came up on the short end that night, but the crowd loved him and it was hands down the fight of the night.
After California it was back to the home office in New York and then there was a quick stop in Las Vegas to meet up with Star Boxing’s welterweight Delvin Rodriguez and his manager Stan Hoffman for the American Association of Ringside Physician’s Convention. DeGuardia and Rodriguez had been invited as guest speakers at this years convention.
Next stop for DeGuardia and Star Boxing was Spokane,Washington where the newest addition to Star Boxing roster, 2008 Olympian and Amateur World Champion, Demetrius Andrade made his pro-debut on the Versus Network. Demetrius looked absolutely sensational, dropping his opponent at the end of the first with a vicious body shot and then finishing him off at 24 seconds of the second round with a huge straight left hand that landed flush on his opponents jaw. Andrade will be back in action on November 29th.
On Wednesday October 29th at the Roseland Ballroom in New York City, Star Boxing put together another fantastic night of boxing with world rated Jr. welterweight “Mighty” Mike Arnaoutis (21-2-2, 10KO) headlining the card and long-time Star fighter, fan favorite, heavyweight contender Vinny Maddalone (31- 4, 22KO) fighting in the co-feature.
Both Maddalone and Arnaoutis won their bouts and in turn set up big fights for themselves in the near future. Mike is currently ranked #7 in the WBO, 8 in the IBF, 11 in the WBA, and 11 in the WBC and if everything goes as planned he will face the winner of the upcoming Holt vs. Torres III WBO Jr. welterweight championship.
On Friday November 7th a little over a week after the show in New York, Star Boxing returned to Bally’s Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City for the third time this year and put on another sold-out show. Kevin Johnson (21-0- 1, 8KO) headlined the card and didn’t disappoint as he completely demolished tough Matthew Greer (12-4, 11KO).
Also on the card were Star Boxing welterweights Shamone Alvarez (20-1, 11KO) and Terrance Cauthen (33-5, 9KO) who fought in the co-feature bout of the evening. In a very exciting and entertaining bout Alvarez used his power and aggression to pull out a very close ten round majority decision.
Two more Star fighters participated on the card, both coming out victorious. Rising welterweight Raymond Serrano improved his record to (8-0, 5KO) with a six round unanimous decision over Shakha Moore and Curtis “Showtime” Stevens (19-2, 14KO) needed just 48 seconds to completely demolish Ray Smith.
Johnson, who was fighting for the second time in just three months at Bally’s looked absolutely sensational on this night. Johnson, the number 5 rated heavyweight in the world, stated he wants to continue to stay busy as this was his third fight in less then seven months. For a fighter of Johnson’s magnitude, it is very rare to see someone fight that often.
Usually top ten contenders fight once, no more then twice a year. Johnson’s philosophy is simple though, rather then wait around and wait for someone to step up to the plate, he will continue to stay busy and keep moving him up the ranks, and get himself in the position where eventually these champions will not be able to avoid him any longer and they will either be forced to fight him or simply hand over titles.
Just one day after the show at Bally’s, Star Boxing’s Polish heavyweight Albert Sosnowski (44-2, 27KO) scored the biggest victory of his career, knocking out Danny Williams (40-7, 31KO) in the eighth round at the York Hall in London, England. It was a huge win for Albert as many had picked him as being the underdog going into the fight. With the win Albert gets back on track and hopefully we will be back to the U.S. as soon as possible.
Maddalone’s win on the 29th set him up for the biggest fight of his career as he now will take on undefeated, highly touted, Denis Boytsov (22-0, 18KO) on Saturday November 15th at Burg-Waechter Castello, in Düsseldorf, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany. Maddalone left on Sunday the 9th with Star Boxing, Director of Media Relations Kevin Rooney Jr. and headed out to Germany where he will be one of the co-feature bouts of the evening on the undercard of the Alexander Dimitrenko vs Luan Krasniqi bout for the WBO Inter-Continental Heavyweight Championship.
Boytsov is ranked in the top ten in the world, and a win over him would throw Maddalone right back into the mix of things. Boytsov is a very good fighter, but he has never been tested and he has never been hit with someone who has as much power as the experienced warrior Maddalone, therefore making it very interesting to see how the fight plays out. One thing is for sure though, win, lose or draw the German fans are going to fall in love with Maddalone and his exciting all- action style.
On the very same night Monte Barrett (34-6, 20KO) looks to make David Haye’s (21-1, 20KO) debut into the heavyweight division an unpleasant one when he battles Haye in Haye’s home country at the O2 Arena (Millenium Dome) in Greenwich, London, United Kingdom. Barrett, who is co-promoted by Star Boxing and Dibella entertainment, is coming off a stunning and devastating knockout over Tye Fields (41-2, 37KO) back on June 28th. Fields was picked by many to walk right through Barrett but Barrett needed just 57 seconds to annihilate Fields. Barrett is hoping to have a similar result when he takes on Haye Saturday night.
Two days after Maddalone’s fight in Germany, DeGuardia will be in attendance when welterweight Delvin Rodriguez (23-2-1, 14KO) takes on Issac Hlatshwayo (28-1, 10KO) on November 17th in an official IBF welterweight eliminator for the number one spot. The fight will take place in Hlatshwayo’s home country of South Africa at the Emperor’s Palace, Kempton Park, Gauteng, South Africa. The winner will be in line to face IBF champion Joshua Clottey (35-2, 20KO).
While Team Maddalone leaves for Germany and DeGuardia heads to join Rodriguez in South Africa, VP Brad Jacobs will just be getting back from his trip to China where he attended this years WBC convention. Once back in his office in Miami, Jacobs will immeditaly turn around to attend this years WBO convention which is being held in Florida.
Dominican Republic, California, Las Vegas, Washington, New York, Atlantic City, China, United Kingdom, Germany, and South Africa, with such a busy schedule ending 2008, it is only a wonder what the year 2009 will bring, or where Star Boxing will show up next.