Karl “Dynamite” Dargan (16-0, 8 KOs) the current USBA Atlantic Coast Region Lightweight Champion looks to add another belt to his collection on Sept. 20, 2014 at Foxwoods Resort Casino when he faces Angino “The Nightmare” Perez (16-5, 14 KOs) for the Junior NABF Lightweight Title as the ten-round co-feature live on the broadcast NBC edition of Fight Night. The main event during the NBC broadcast will feature Thabiso “The Rock” Mchunu (16-1, 11 KOs) against Garrett “The Ultimate Warrior” Wilson (13-7-1, 7 KOs) for the NABF Cruiserweight Title.
The undefeated Dargan is a Philadelphia native who successfully defended his USBA Atlantic Coast Region Lightweight Title for the first time just days after his 29th birthday on June 21, 2014 by knocking out fellow Philadelphian Anthony “Flawless” Flores at the Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs in Wilkes-Barre, PA. This will be Dargan’s third appearance on Fight Night and his second on broadcast NBC (Jun. 21, 2014 – knockout of Flores in the fifth round on NBCSN and Nov. 16, 2013 unanimous decision over Michael Brooks on broadcast NBC). Dargan is trained by legendary trainer Naazim Richardson. Richardson is best known for training WBA and IBF Light Heavyweight World Champion Bernard “The Alien” Hopkins, fellow Main Events’ stable mate and two-time former cruiserweight world champion Steve “USS” Cunningham and “Sugar” Shane Mosley. When asked about the fight Dargan simply said, “I’m ready. I am ready to fight anyone, anytime, any place.”
Perez, 31, is from Miami, FL and made his professional debut almost ten years ago on Nov. 20, 2004 against Jose Angel Roman with a TKO loss in the third round. After that he knocked out his next two opponents in the third round (Jun. 28, 2005 – Marcial Reartes and Mar. 31, 2006 – Anthony Concepcion). Throughout his professional career he has had a stellar 88% (14 of 16) knockout-to-win ratio. In his last fight, in the Dominican Republic, on Jul. 19, 2014 he knocked out Esteban Diaz in the first round. This will be his first fight for a title.
Angino and his trainer, Javier Centeno, are grateful for this fight because for the first time in a long while they have advance notice to properly prepare for their opponent. Their last several fights were made on short notice and Perez said, “We are thankful that they called us with enough time to train. We are going to be ready for this fight. I have been called too many times with only one or two weeks in advance. We are grateful that they called us with enough time that we can get prepared well. We hope to show what we are really capable of.”
Main Events’ CEO Kathy Duva said, “I expect this co-feature to be great in the ring. Dynamite Dargan is poised to become a star. In his last fight, he stepped up and showed the world what he’s capable of. Now he’ll get to do it again in front of millions of viewers on NBC. Hopefully he’s not looking past Perez, because I know Perez is not taking this opportunity lightly.”
