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This Friday the 13th at New York City’s famed Roseland Ballroom in mid-town Manhattan, Star Boxing’s exciting light heavyweight prospect Yathomas Riley, 5-0 (3), will look to showcase his skills for the first time on national TV when he takes on Julius Jackson, 2-2 (0).
The pair clash in a four round light heavyweight contest that is scheduled to open up that evening’s ESPN “Friday Night Fights” telecast.
In the main event, Star Boxing’s Alexis Camacho, 17-1 (16), will look to start the new year with a bang when he takes on the always dangerous Carlos Molina, 14-4-1 (5), in a ten round welterweight contest.
Riley, the 2006 National Golden Gloves light heavyweight champion, burst onto the scene in 2008 with a fourth round TKO of Borngod Washington.
Riley, who is from Homestead , Florida, but now fights out of the Bronx, NY, went a perfect 4-0 in his first year as a pro and looks to continue that success in 2009 and gradual move up the light heavyweight ranks.
Riley ran his record to 5-0 (3) when he handed out a four round beat down to the very game Evgeny Stardubstev on January 14 in his home state of Florida. Now Riley returns back to New York City for his much anticipated national TV debut.
“This is a very exciting time for me right now,” stated Riley. “I am very grateful for this opportunity from my promoter Joe DeGuardia and Star Boxing for putting this fight together, and for ESPN2 for wanting me to open their telecast. This is every fighter’s dream, to fight on national TV, and come this Friday, I get to live that dream.”
While some young fighters might feel there is added pressure in fighting on a nationally televised broadcast, the very confident Riley, is only looking at the positives in this opportunity.
“I am confident in my ability and my skills, and being able to fight on TV is going to give me a chance to showcase them on a national level,” he said.
“This is a huge moment for me and my career, and I promise that I won’t take that for granted. I plan on putting on a spectacular showing on Friday, and look to feed off that and continue to impress and continue to put together dominating performances for the rest of 2009.
“Friday the 13th is when I check in. It’s going to be my coming out party, a chance to show the entire boxing world that Yathomas Riley is going to be a force to recon with in the light heavyweight division.”
“I feel strongly that Yathomas is really going to be something special,” stated Joe DeGuardia, CEO of Star Boxing. “Yathomas still has things to work on and improve on just like any up and coming prospect, but he has so much natural ability that I truly believe the sky is the limit for him.
“The best thing about Yathomas, and it’s something that you can’t really teach in boxing, is that this kid punches extremely hard. He has the ability to end a fight with one punch and the best part about it, it can come from either hand.
“2009 is going to be big year for Yathomas, he is getting a chance to showcase his skills on national TV on the 13th and we look to continue to keep moving him in this direction and continue to watch him grow and move up the light heavyweights ranks in the process.”
