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Rogers Mtagwa, coming off a match which was a candidate for Fight of the Year worldwide, and Ricardo Medina, who last year was involved in Philadelphia’s Fight of the Year, will collide in a battle of veteran war horses when they go at it for 10 rounds or less in the super featherweight main event Friday evening, May 1, at the Legendary Blue Horizon in Philadelphia.
Throw out the records in this one!
If you thought Mtagwa’s Nov. 7 fight with Tomas Villa was a Fight-of-the-Year candidate for 2008, wait until you see this one!
Mtagwa, 29, of South Philadelphia, is rated No. 9 in the world as a super bantamweight by the IBF and No. 14 by the WBC. This fight will be contested at 130 pounds.
In his fight Nov. 7 in Tucson, AZ, Mtagwa got off the floor in the ninth round and knocked Villa down three times in the 10th in a sensational comeback. The victory improved Mtagwa’s record to 25-12-2, 18 KO’s.
Prior to that, Mtagwa had earned a 10-round decision over Aldo Valtierra, of Mexico City, on March 7, 2008, at the New Alhambra in South Philadelphia.
Mtagwa, former USBA and NABF featherweight champ, has beaten contenders Fernando Trejo, Joe Morales and Art Simonyon, and he has been in there with world champions Agapito Sanchez and Valdemir Pereira as well as Orlando Salido, Martin Honorio and Billy Dib.
Medina, 38, of Mazatlan, Mexico, is 31-33-5, 17 KO’s, and like Mtagwa, he rarely gets an easy assignment. Medina’s six-round draw last year with Lenny DeVictoria at the Blue Horizon was voted Philadelphia’s Fight of the Year for 2008. Medina had out-pointed DeVictoria in 2007.
A pro since 1988, Medina has fought them all and his list of opponents reads like a Who’s Who of big little men around the world: champs Paulie Ayala, Guty Espadas, Jr., Mark “Too Sharp” Johnson, Enrique Sanchez; contenders Gerardo Martinez, Cuauhtemoc Gomez, Hugo Dianza, Zahir Raheem, Marcos Licona.
Matgwa is 5-foot-5, Medina 5-foot-6. Neither man knows how to fight backing up. Neither man will have to look hard to find the action.
This will be the second fight card back after an eight-year hiatus at the Blue Horizon for Hall-of-Fame promoter J Russell Peltz, who began his career there as a 22-year-old in 1969.
On March 6, welterweight Mike Jones, of North Philadelphia, knocked out Dairo Esalas, of Miami, FL, in front of a packed house of 1,327.
Peltz is promoting this card, the second of six within a 12-month period at the B lue Horizon, with Joe Hand Promotions, Inc.
Tickets for the May 1 are priced at $45 and $60. They are on sale at the offices of Peltz Boxing Promotions, Inc. (215-765-0922) and at the offices of Joe Hand Promotions, Inc. (215-364-9000). They also can be purchased online at www.peltzboxing.com.
