LAS VEGAS, NEV. (October 16, 2012) – Thanksgiving arrives early
when knockout artists top-rated super welterweight contenders VANES “The Nightmare” MARTIROSYAN and ERISLANDY “El Oro del Guantanamo”
LARA and undefeated No. 1 featherweight contender MIGUEL “Mikey” GARCIA and former World
Featherweight Champion JONATHAN “Yoni”
BARROS, look to knock the stuffing out of each other on an explosive card
that will take place Saturday, November
10, in the Lafite Ballroom at Wynn
Las Vegas. Both fights will be
televised live on HBO Boxing After
Dark®, beginning at 10:00 p.m. ET/PT (delayed on the West
Coast.) Martirosyan and Lara will battle in a 12-round World Boxing Council
(WBC) super welterweight title elimination bout with the winner being declared
the division’s mandatory challenger. Garcia and Rojas will open the HBO telecast in 10-round featherweight
rumble. The undercard will feature undefeated contenders, Las Vegas native JESSIE MAGDALENO, and Philadelphia
fireball JESSE HART, son of the
great middleweight contender Eugene
“Cyclone” Hart, in separate super bantamweight and super middleweight bouts,
respectively.
These six warriors boast a combined record of 126-4-2 (84 KOs), -- a
winning percentage of 95% with victory by knockout ratio of
67%.
Promoted by Top Rank®, in association with
Tecate and Wynn Las Vegas, tickets to this all-action event go on sale Today! Tuesday, October 16 at 10:00 a.m.
PT. Tickets are priced at $125, $75 and $40, plus a $3 service
fee, and are inclusive of applicable taxes. Tickets can be purchased by calling
(702) 770-7118, through the website wynnlasvegas.com or by visiting the Wynn
Ticket Office (Friday-Tuesday: 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. PT / Wednesday-Thursday: 10
a.m. - 6 p.m. PT) or the Wynn Concierge (Daily: 10 a.m. - 9 p.m.
PT.)
"This
card will be a treat for fight fans who will be able to watch great fight action
in the elegant environment of the Wynn Resort,” said Hall of Fame promoter Bob
Arum.
Martirosyan (32-0, 20
KOs), a native of Armenia who fights out of Glendale, Calif., is one of the super welterweight
division’s most promising contenders. A member of the 2004 U.S. Olympic team,
Martirosyan’s amateur resume boasts victories over future world champions
Timothy Bradley, Jr., Austin Trout and Andre Berto. Trained by Hall of Fame trainer Freddie
Roach, Martirosyan captured his first title in 2009, knocking out defending
NABA/NABO champion Willie Lee. He
successfully defended the title in his next fight, in 2010, a 10-round unanimous
decision victory over former IBF junior middleweight champion Kassim Ouma. He added the NABF title to his trophy
case with another 10-round unanimous decision later that same year, at Yankee
Stadium, this time over previously undefeated Joe Greene, serving up the Bronx
bomber his first loss in 33 professional fights. Martirosyan captured the World Boxing
Council (WBC) Silver super welterweight title in 2011, via a seventh-round TKO
of Saul Roman. Currently
world-rated No. 2 by the WBC, Martirosyan returns to the ring fresh from
knocking out Troy Lowery, his sixth knockout victim in his last nine
fights.
Lara (17-1-1, 11 KOs), a former international standout and a native of
Cuba, is now fighting out of Houston under the tutelage of world-renowned
trainer Ronnie Shields. A five-year
veteran of the powerhouse Cuban national amateur team which included, Yuriorkis
Gamboa, Guillermo Rigondeaux and Odlanier Solis, Lara was a gold medalist in the
2005 World Championships, the 2006 Central American Games and the 2007 Pan
American Games Qualifier. After turning professional in 2008, Lara was fighting
in 10-rounders in only his ninth bout. The only blemish on his professional ledger, a disputed 12-round majority
decision loss, in Atlantic City, to former world champion Paul Williams in 2011,
was considered so heinous that New Jersey officials suspended all three judges
for their scorecards, an unprecedented move. Since the Williams fight, Lara has
scored a first-round knockout of Ronald Hearns and a 10-round unanimous decision
over veteran Freddy Hernandez, both this year, en route to becoming the WBC’;s
No. 1-rated super welterweight contender.
Garcia (29-0, 25 KOs), of
Oxnard, Calif., returns to a Las Vegas ring for the first time in four years, having won 13 of
his past 14 bouts by knockout. Considered to be one of boxing’s top young
prospects, Garcia, 24, had a career-best year in 2011, knocking out previously
undefeated contender Matt Remillard in the 10th round in March to capture his NABF and NABO title
belts. He followed that with four-round knockout title defense victories of
Rafael Guzman and Juan Carlos Martinez in June and October, respectively. Guzman
and Martinez had a combined record of 47-14-1 when they fought Garcia. This year
he continued his winning ways, knocking out one-time world title challenger
Bernabe Concepcion and former world champion Mauricio Pastrana, in the seventh
and second rounds, respectively. Trained by his father Eduardo Garcia and
co-managed by his brother Robert Garcia, the former IBF junior lightweight
champion, Garcia is currently the World Boxing Organization’s (WBO) No. 1-rated
featherweight contender.
Barros (34-3-1, 17 KOs),
Mendoza, Argentina, brings his own brand of excitement into the ring. He captured the vacant World Boxing
Association (WBA) featherweight title in 2010, knocking out Irving Berry in the
seventh round. Barros successfully
defended the title two times, via 12-round decisions over Miguel Roman and
Celestino Caballero, before losing the title in a rematch to Caballero the
following year. Barros returns to
the ring after unsuccessfully challenging Juan Salgado for the International
(IBF) junior lightweight title in August.
Magdaleno (11-0, 8 KOs), of
Las Vegas, NV., was an accomplished amateur fighter, having won gold medals at
the 2009 U.S. National Championships and the 2009 National Golden Gloves
Championships en route to a 120-16 record. He enters this fight having won his last three fights by knockout.
Hart
(3-0, 3 KOs), of Philadelphia, PA, is the son of Eugene “Cyclone” Hart, a highly-rated middleweight contender
in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s who in 2003 was named to the The
Ring’s list of 100 greatest punchers of all time. Hart,
22, compiled an amateur record of 85-11, highlighted by a stellar 2011 which
included winning the National Golden Gloves at 165 lbs., the USA National
Tournament at 178 lbs and going undefeated at the double elimination USA Olympic
Trials box-offs.
For fight updates go to www.toprank.com or www.hbo.com/boxing.
