News

World Championship Boxing Saturday on HBO: Bradley vs Rios & Lomachenko vs Koasicha‏

One of the sport’s best fighters returns to the ring to battle one of the game’s most popular sluggers when WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING: TIMOTHY BRADLEY JR. VS. BRANDON RIOS AND VASYL LOMACHENKO VS. ROMULO KOASICHA is presented SATURDAY, NOV. 7 at 9:30 p.m. (live ET/tape-delayed PT) from the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, exclusively on HBO. The HBO Sports team will be ringside to call all the action, which will be available in HDTV, closed-captioned for the hearing-impaired and presented in Spanish on HBO Latino.

Other HBO playdates: Nov. 8 (9:30 a.m.) and 9 (11:45 p.m.)

HBO2 playdate: Nov. 10 (11:00 p.m.)

Timothy Bradley Jr. (32-1-1, 12 KOs), from Palm Springs, Cal., takes on hard-hitting Brandon Rios (33-2-1, 23 KOs) of Oxnard, Cal., in a scheduled 12-round welterweight championship contest. One of the sport’s most accomplished pros, Bradley, 32, has earned acclaim for his willingness to take on any challenge. His sterling record includes two Manny Pacquiao fights and notable wars with Juan Manuel Marquez and Ruslan Provodnikov. Bradley began his 2015 season with a victory over Jessie Vargas in June, when he claimed a 147-pound title belt. He returns to Las Vegas with veteran Teddy Atlas as his new trainer.

Brandon Rios, 29, trains with Robert Garcia in the boxing hotbed of Oxnard, Cal., and looks to secure a second world title in as many weight divisions. He became one of the top attractions in the 140-pound weight class by brawling and slugging his way to signature wins, including two over archrival Mike Alvarado. The contrasting styles of Bradley and Rios have experts and fans anticipating an all-action affair.

Opening the telecast, world featherweight titleholder Vasyl Lomachenko (4-1, 2 KOs) of Odessa, Ukraine, meets challenger Romulo Koasicha (25-4, 14 KOs) of San Luis Potosi, Mexico in a 12-round, 126-pound clash. Koasicha, 24, has a huge advantage in professional experience, but Lomachenko, 27, is widely regarded as one of the top amateur boxers ever, having captured gold medals in the 2008 and 2012 Summer Olympic Games. Although he has had only five pro bouts, Lomachenko should prove a fearless competitor.

Immediately following the live boxing coverage, HBO presents episode #1 of 24/7 Cotto/Canelo at 11:45 p.m. (ET/PT).

Follow HBO boxing news at hbo.com/boxing, on Facebook at facebook.com/hboboxing and on Twitter at twitter.com/hboboxing.

All HBO boxing events are presented in HDTV. HBO viewers must have access to the HBO HDTV channel to watch HBO programming in high definition.

The executive producer of WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING is Rick Bernstein; producer, Jon Crystal; director, Johnathan Evans.

® WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING is a registered service mark of Home Box Office, Inc.

Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *


News

Ricky Hatton: Zhakiyanov is a bit of an animal

Ricky Hatton is predicting an explosive ending to Zhanat Zhakiyanov’s interim WBA bantamweight title fight with Yonfrez Parejo this weekend.

The teak tough Kazakh challenges for the crown at glitzy Salles des Étoiles venue in Monte Carlo on Saturday night (November 7) and ‘The Hitman’ believe his charge will put in a show-stopping performance.

“Zhanat is one of those fighters that makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand on end because he’s got such raw power,” Hatton said.

“I’ve been training him for about two-and-a-half years now and he’s seemed to get stronger and stronger each day since.

“He’s knocked his last 12 opponents out and I believe he’ll make it 13 on Saturday night.

“Obviously, Parejo is going to be a very tough opponent. He’s won the interim belt and scored some good knockouts of his own, but Zhanat is a bit of an animal and I think he’s going to be too much for Parejo.”

Victory on Saturday would make Zhakiyanov the first fighter from Hatton’s stable to win a version of a world title.

“I don’t do anything in half measures so when I started training and promoting, I set out to take a boxer all the way to the top,” he said.

“Zhanat will make me very, very proud if he wins this WBA title on Saturday, but we won’t be stopping there.

“Winning this will put him in line for a shot at the full title and that could mean a big fight with Jamie McDonnell.

“Jamie is one of the nicest you’ll ever meet and I’ve never met anyone with a bad word to say about him, but boxing’s a business and we’d jump at the chance to face him.

“I suspect Jamie might vacate and move up a weight at some point soon and if that’s the case then great. Zhanat’s always ready to fight and he’ll be willing to take on whoever is put in front of him for the vacant title. Before we can think about that, though, we’ve got to concentrate fully on beating Parejo.”

Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

The Latest

To Top