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HERNANDEZ TKOs ANCHONDO
WITH ‘CANNONBALL BLAST’;
CUBAN FRANCO OUTLASTS GAME
HILARIO
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Don’t Miss The Thrilling
Replay On Tuesday, Sept. 21, at 10 p.m. ET/PT on SHO 2
PRIMM, Nev.
(Sept. 17, 2010) –
World-ranked welterweight Freddy “El Riel’’ Hernandez is one step closer to a
future world title shot against Andre Berto following his convincing
fourth-round TKO victory over Mike Anchondo on ShoBox: The New Generation on
SHOWTIME® Friday night
from Buffalo Bills Resort & Casino.
A
poised and relaxed Hernandez controlled the entire scheduled 10-round
welterweight fight, registering an early fourth round-knockout with a
“cannonball blast,” right hand shot according to SHOWTIME’s expert analyst
Steve Farhood that all but ended the fight. “This was a sales job for
Hernandez,” Farhood added later. “He’ll probably be in line for a title shot
with Berto next.”
“It was the right call,” said SHOWITME play-by-play man Curt Menefee of the
stoppage at 1:38 in the fourth round. “You can see Anchodo not defending
himself.”
Hernandez of Lynwood, Calif., now 29-1, 1 NC (20 KOs), agreed. “If it wasn’t
that round it would have been the next,” he said. “He was hurt. I was getting
him in the face and the body.”
The former world champion Anchondo of La Puente, Calif. falls to 30-3 (19
KOs).
In the co-feature,
2004
Cuban Olympian Luis Franco (7-0, 5 KOs) of Miami, Fla., registered a unanimous
decision against Wilton “Pretty Warrior’’ Hilario (12-2-1, 9 KOs), of Saint
Louis Park, Minn., by way of Santa Domingo, Dominican Republic, in an
eight-round super featherweight bout. It was scored 80-71, 78-73 and 77-74. It
was the first time Franco went past the fifth round as a professional.
“I knew it would go a lot of
rounds because I saw tape and he’s not the best boxer but he’s a tough guy,”
Franco said. “So I thought it might go the distance.”
It wasn’t pretty, but Franco
got the job done against a game and offensive Hilario who Menefee at one point
described the pesky fighter, “like a bug in the summertime. He just keeps
following you.”
During the telecast, Farhood
commented on an exciting announcement of a two-round, single-elimination
tournament on SHOWTIME to determine the best fighter at 118 pounds on Dec. 11.
The fighters are IBF 118-pound champion Yonnhy “El Colombiano” Perez,
undefeated, world-ranked rising star Abner Mares, former IBF bantamweight
champion Joseph “King Kong’’ Agbeko, and two-division world champion Vic
“Raging Bull” Darchinyan.
“The
bantamweight division is my favorite,” Farhood said. “What I love about this
tournament is all these guys are fan favorites because they’ll fight anyone.
Who’s going to be in the final? Who cares. This is an excellent tournament for
this weight division and excellent for boxing fans everywhere.”
The
tournament will begin with two semifinal bouts live on SHOWTIME at 9 p.m.
ET/PT (delayed on the west coast) from Leon, Mexico. Each bout will be
scheduled for 12 rounds. The winners of each semifinal will clash in the final
in 2011 with the losing fighters competing in a consolation fight.
Farhood then
interviewed his fellow SHOWTIME analyst
Antonio Tarver, who announced he would be returning to the ring to
fight in the heavyweight division after a year-and-a-half layoff. Tarver
(27-6, 19 KOs) returns to the ring on
ShoBox on Oct. 15. The former WBC and IBF light heavyweight
champion will face Nagy Aguilera
(16-4, 11-0 KOs) in a 10-round heavyweight bout. “I just figured I walk around
at 215 pounds, I’m a young 41 so why not?” Tarver said. “I
feel like I still have something left to give to the boxing game and I want to
become the next heavyweight champion.”
He added:
“I’m eating properly and will have no stress of losing 25 pounds to make
weight. I can fight harder and smarter and possibly become the next
heavyweight champion of the world.”
The
doubleheader was promoted by Gary Shaw
Productions, LLC.
Friday’s fights will re-air
on SHO 2 on Tuesday, Sept. 21 at 10 p.m. ET/PT (delayed on the west coast).
The fights will be available On Demand from Sept. 20 until Oct. 3.
For
information on SHOWTIME Sports Programming, including exclusive
behind-the-scenes video and photo galleries, complete telecast information and
more, please go the new SHOWTIME Sports website at
http://www.sho.com/sports.
Boxing
returns to SHOWTIME on Oct. 1 when Tim
Coleman (17-1-1, 4 KOs) faces
Patrick Lopez (20-2, 12 KOs) in a 12-round welterweight main event
from the Chumash Casino Resort in Santa Ynez, Calif., at a new time of 11:45
p.m. ET/PT (delayed on the West Coast). In the co-feature,
Archie Ray Marquez (9-0, 6 KOs)
battles Juan Santiago (13-4-1,
8 KOs) in an eight-round lightweight affair.
On Nov. 6,
undefeated Juan Manuel Lopez
(29-0, 26 KOs) and Rafael Marquez
(39-5, 35 KOs) face off for the WBO featherweight title on
SHOWTIME Championship Boxing (10
p.m. ET/PT) from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nev.
In a special
SHOWTIME Pay Per View event, World Boxing Council 175-pound titleholder
Jean Pascal (26-1, 16 KOs) meets
former world light heavyweight and middleweight champion
Bernard Hopkins (51-5-1, 32 KOs)
for the WBC light heavyweight title on Dec. 18. SHOWTIME Sports will produce
and distribute the fight, and utilize its own announcers. The PPV event will
begin at 9 p.m. ET/PT. It is promoted by Golden Boy Promotions.
9-16-2010
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