ShoBox: The New Generation Doubleheader Tomorrow/Friday, May 11,
LIVE on SHOWTIME® At 11 p.m. ET/PT
LAS VEGAS (May 10, 2012) – All four fighters participating in an eagerly awaited doubleheader on ShoBox: The New Generation tomorrow/Friday, May 11, live on SHOWTIME® (11 p.m. ET/PT, delayed on the West Coast) made weight on their first attempts Thursday at Texas Station Gambling Hall & Hotel in Las Vegas.
In the ShoBox main event at Texas Station, former Cuban amateur standout and 2004 Olympian Yudel Jhonson (12-0, 8 KOs) of Miami, Florida, will take on Willie “The Great’’ Nelson (17-1-1, 11 KOs), of Youngstown, Ohio, in a 10-round junior middleweight bout.
The co-featured bout will match six-time Swedish national champion and 2008 Olympian, Badou Jack (10-0, 8 KOs), of Las Vegas, Nev., and Alexander Brand (17-0, 15 KOs) of Bogota, Colombia, in an eight-round super middleweight bout.
WEIGHTS: Jhonson and Nelson each weighed 151½ pounds. Jack tipped the scale at 167 pounds; Brand 166½.
What the fighters said Thursday:
YUDEL JHONSON
“Thank you to the United States for the freedom to fight professionally. Thanks to SHOWTIME for making me able to show my talents. I’m in great condition. I’m in the best shape I’ve ever been in and I had the best training camp of my career.
“This is a great opportunity and I won’t let it pass me by. I’m dedicating this fight to all the mothers in the world, especially my mother in Cuba.’’
WILLIE “THE GREAT” NELSON
“I want to thank everybody for coming to this fight. The only thing I can say is Yudel is a great fighter, but I’m better. Tomorrow night I will be the better man.
“I’m not taking anything away from him, but I will win. Watch tomorrow night.’’
BADOU JACK “THE RIPPER”
“Thanks to my promoters and SHOWTIME for this opportunity. I can’t wait for the fight. I wish it was today. I will win by a knockout. He’s in with a real fighter now. You could tell he was nervous.
“I’m going to beat him up tomorrow night.’’
ALEXANDER BRAND
“This is only the beginning. I will definitely be victorious tomorrow night. He talked too much before the fight. He never beat anyone, so why is he talking like a world champ?
“I’m going to shut his big mouth.”
