SHOWTIME
EXTREME® TO AIR LIVE PRELIMINARY
BOUTS FROM APRIL 21 ABNER MARES VS. ERIC
MOREL EVENT FROM
UTEP'S
DON HASKINS CENTER IN EL PASO, TEXAS
SUPER
MIDDLEWEIGHT CONTENDER
LIBRADO
ANDRADE VS. ROWLAND BRYANT,
2008
MEXICAN OLYMPIAN FRANCISCO VARGAS VS. RAFAEL LORA AND
UNDEFEATED PROSPECT CHRIS PEARSON
TO BE
FEATURE FEATURED
HOT
PROSPECT LUIS RAMOS JR. AND EL PASO
FAVORITE
ANTONIO
ESCALANTE ROUND OUT THE UNDERCARD
LOS
ANGELES, April 17 - On Saturday, April 21, fight fans
around the country will get the chance to see more of
boxing's stars as Golden Boy Promotions and
SHOWTIME® are excited to announce that
additional bouts from the undercard of the highly
anticipated world championship showdown between former
World Champs Abner Mares and Eric Morel, will be
televised. SHOWTIME EXTREME® will
televise preliminary fights live from UTEP's Don
Haskins Center in El Paso, Texas featuring longtime
super middleweight contender Librado Andrade against
once-beaten Floridian Rowland Bryant in a 10 round
battle and 2008 Mexican Olympian Francisco Vargas
introduces himself to SHOWTIME viewers with an eight
round junior lightweight contest against New Jersey's
Rafael Lora. Also featured (time permitting)
will be unbeaten junior middleweight phenom Chris
Pearson.
Barry
Tompkins will call the action on SHOWTIME EXTREME from
ringside with Steve Farhood serving as expert
analyst.
Also,
highly-regarded lightweight prospect Luis Ramos Jr.
and local El Paso favorite Antonio Escalante are
slated for non-televised action on the undercard.
"Mares
vs. Morel: Battle on the Border" is a 12-round fight for the vacant WBC Super
Bantamweight World Championship set for Saturday,
April 21 at UTEP's Don Haskins Center in El Paso,
Texas. The co-featured fights will see Anselmo
"Chemito" Moreno vs. David de la Mora in a 12-round
fight for Moreno's WBA Bantamweight Super
Championship. The event is presented by Golden
Boy Promotions and sponsored by Corona and
AT&T. The SHOWTIME Championship Boxing
doubleheader airs live at 9:30 p.m. ET/PT (delayed on
the West Coast). Just prior to the action on
SHOWTIME, preliminary bouts will air live on SHOWTIME
EXTREME® beginning at 7:00 p.m. ET/PT
(delayed on the West Coast).
Tickets,
priced at $25, $50, $75 and $150, are available for
purchase at the UTEP Ticket Office, all Ticketmaster
locations or by phone at (800) 745-3000. Tickets
may also be purchased online at
www.ticketmaster.com. For more information,
please call: (915) 747-5234.
Ultra-popular
around the world for his fierce fighting style in the
ring and his gentlemanly nature outside of it, Librado
Andrade (30-4, 23 KO's) has long been a top super
middleweight contender, with exciting fights against
Lucian Bute, Robert Stieglitz, Mikkel Kessler, Yusaf
Mack and Eric Lucas to prove it. In search of
his first world title, the 33-year-old from La Habra,
California by way of Jesus del Monte, Guanajuato,
Mexico is coming off of a third round technical
knockout over Matt O'Brien for the WBC Continental
Americas belt in August of 2011.
Looking
to derail Andrade's march towards a world championship
is 32-year-old Florida native Rowland Bryant (15-1, 10
KO's). A nine-year professional who knows the
time is now to make his move, the hard-hitting Bryant
has everything to gain with a win over the
well-respected Andrade on April 21.
One
of the newest additions to the Golden Boy Promotions
roster, Mexico City's Francisco Vargas (9-0-1, 7 KO's)
will battle Irvington, New Jersey's Rafael Lora (11-7,
5 KO's) in an eight-round junior lightweight fight.
A 2008 Olympian for Mexico, the 27-year-old
Vargas has knocked out his last six opponents, making
him a tough hill to climb for any opponent.
Nicknamed
"The Dominican Man," 26-year-old Lora proudly
represents his native Dominican Republic and with four
first round knockouts on his record, one punch from
him can change the direction of a fight
immediately. A fearless battler who will take on
all comers, Lora's last six opponents, including World
Champion Adrien Broner, had a combined 85-2
record.
A
highly accomplished amateur with multiple titles and
nearly 100 wins to his name, Chris "Sweet" Pearson
(6-0, 3 KO's) has started to take the professional
game by storm with his incredible talent and exciting
style. Just 21 years old, Pearson has scored two
first round knockouts thus far in his young career and
will jump right back into the ring for his third fight
of 2012 in a four/six round junior middleweight fight
against Phoenix's Jose Martell (2-1-1, 2 KO's).
23-year-old
Luis Ramos Jr. (21-0, 9 KO's) is well on his way to
big things in the lightweight division as proven by
his recent three-fight string of wins over Francisco
Lorenzo (W8), David Rodela (KO5) and Raymundo Beltran
(W10). Ramos will face an opponent to be named
in a 10-round fight.
El
Paso's favorite fighting son Antonio Escalante (25-4,
17 KO's) is 8-0 in his adopted hometown and the Juarez
native has no intentions of seeing that run end on
April 21. Escalante scored knockouts over Pipino
Cuevas Jr. and Rynell Griffin in 2011 and the former
NABO super bantamweight champion will be looking to
make a statement at 130 pounds when he takes on
Matamoros, Mexico's Francisco Camacho (10-1, 3 KO's)
in an eight-round matchup.
For
more information, visit www.goldenboypromotions.com, follow
us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/GoldenBoyBoxing, www.twitter.com/abnermares00, or visit us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/GoldenBoyBoxing.
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information on SHOWTIME Sports, including exclusive
behind-the-scenes video and photo galleries, complete
telecast information and more, please visit http://sports.SHO.com,
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