FORMER CHAMPIONS TO CLASH ON SOLO BOXEO

PRESS RELEASE: The super bantamweight division may be in for a shakeup on Friday, May 16, as four of the division’s most exciting battlers will be in action in pivotal bouts on TeleFutura’s ‘Solo Boxeo’ from the Morongo Casino Resort & Spa in Cabazon, California.

 

Headlining the card, which is presented by Golden Boy Promotions, is a ten-round clash between former World Champions Jhonny Gonzalez and Mauricio Pastrana.  In the ten-round co-feature, hot prospect Antonio Escalante squares off against David Martinez.

 

Tickets, priced at $125, $75 and $35, can be purchased at the Morongo Casino Resort & Spa Box Office at (951) 755-5391 or online at www.ticketmaster.com.  Doors open at 4pm and the first bell rings at 4:30pm.

 

The TeleFutura ‘Solo Boxeo’ broadcast begins at 8pm ET / PT (delayed on the west coast).

 

Perhaps the hardest punching lower weight fighters in the world today is Mexico City’s Jhonny Gonzalez (37-6, 31 KOs), who has specialized in the art of the knockout for years.  A former WBO Bantamweight World Champion who owns wins over former World Champions Mark ‘Too Sharp’ Johnson and Ratanachai Sor Vorapin as well as current World Champion Fernando Montiel, the 26-year-old Gonzalez is currently on a three-fight winning streak that he hopes to extend on May 16.  Standing in his way is former World Champion Mauricio Pastrana (34-8-2, 22 KOs), a warrior who is battle-tested at the highest levels of the game.  Two fights removed from a huge 8th round TKO win over Antonio Escalante, Pastrana knows that a win over Gonzalez will put him right back in the super bantamweight title picture. 

 

Twenty-two-year-old super bantamweight Antonio Escalante (17-2, 10 KOs) has earned a well-deserved reputation as a fighter that will one day wear a championship belt around his waist.  Winner of three in a row since an upset loss to former two-division world champion Mauricio Pastrana in January of 2007, Escalante is closing in on his first world title shot which he hopes will come later in 2008.  Before that happens, he has to get by Albuquerque’s always tough David Martinez (18-3-1, 3 KOs), a former WBC Youth and WBC Intercontinental Mundo Hispano titleholder.

 

In undercard action, Mexico City’s Eduardo Escobedo (20-3, 14 KOs) will see action in an eight round featherweight bout; knockout artist Javier Castro (15-2, 13 KOs) takes on an opponent to be determined in a six round junior welterweight fight; undefeated heavyweights Ashanti Jordan (3-0, 3 KOs) and Hildo Silva (4-0, 1 KO) clash in what promises to be a six-round war; unbeaten lightweight prospect and local favorite Michael Franco risks his clean record (10-0, 7 KOs) in a six round bout against Jaime Gutierrez (3-1) of Los Mochis, Sinaloa, Mexico; and Riverside flyweight Anthony Villareal (7-2, 4 KOs) will face Culiacan, Sinaloa, Mexico native Cesar Grajeda (4-0) in a four rounder.

 

For more information visit www.goldenboypromotions.com or www.morongocasinoresort.com. 

 

About Golden Boy Promotions:

Los Angeles-based Golden Boy Promotions was established in 2001 by Oscar de la Hoya, the first Hispanic to own a national boxing promotional company.  In 2007, in its sixth year of promoting, Golden Boy Promotions set a record by selling over 2.5 million in pay-per-view homes in a single night.  Also in 2007, Golden Boy Promotions established the record for pay-per-view sales by one promotional company in a single year selling events to more than 4 million homes total.  Golden Boy Promotions is one of boxing’s most active and respected promoters, presenting shows in packed venues around the United States on networks such as HBO, HBO Latino, TeleFutura, SHOWTIME and ESPN.