As if the main event, featuring former WBC Welterweight Champion, Andre Berto looking to regain a piece of the welterweight crown when he challenges current IBF Champion, Jan Zaveck, at the Beau Rivage Resort and Casino in Biloxi, Mississippi, wasn’t intriguing enough for the fans in Mississippi, DiBella Entertainment (DBE) has put together an undercard loaded with undefeated prospects and future stars.
In addition to undefeated 2008 U.S. Olympian, Gary Russell Jr. (17-0, 10KO’s), who will see action in the live televised co-feature against Mexico’s hard-hitting, Leonilo Miranda (32-3, 30KO’s), fighting in separate bouts on the un-televised portion of the card will be DBE prospects Thomas Oosthuizen (15-0-1, 11KO’s), Luis Del Valle (13-0, 10KO’s), and Ivan Redkach (7-0, 6KO’s). Also scheduled on the card is DBE’s IBF #2 rated welterweight contender, Randall Bailey, as he takes on Yoryi Estrella in a 10-round welterweight match-up. Bailey is the mandatory challenger to the winner of Zaveck-Berto. All the participants for tomorrow night’s show will weigh-in today at 3PM in the Azalea Ballroom in the Beau Rivage.
For Oosthuizen, who will be defending his IBO Super Middleweight belt, it will be his first fight under the DBE banner and first outside of his native South Africa. Oosthuizen is scheduled to take on fellow DBE fighter Aaron Pryor Jr. (16-3, 11KO’s) in a 12-round super middleweight showdown. President of DiBella Entertainment, Lou DiBella, is very high on the rangy 6’4″ southpaw prospect and knows that an impressive performance against Pryor, who is coming off the biggest win of his career, a decision victory over three-time world title challenger Librado Andrade, will throw him into the mix with the rest of the top super middleweights in the world.
Fresh off his impressive and dominate decision win over Dat Nguyen in June, Puerto Rican native, Luis “Orlandito” Del Valle, will take on Florida’s Anthony Napunyi (14-10, 7KO’s). The bout is scheduled for eight rounds with a 124lb. weight limit. After spending much of his career fighting at featherweight and above, the 24-year-old Del Valle, who is ranked in the top 10 in the WBA featherweight rankings, plans to move down to the junior featherweight division (122lbs) and immediately start making some noise, beginning with the bout against Napunyi on Saturday night.
Ivan Redkach, who originally hails from the Ukraine but now lives and fights out of Los Angeles, California, is scheduled to meet North Carolina’s Vernon Alston (4-1, 4KO’s) in a six-round lightweight match-up. Redkach made his DBE debut in June, scoring a sixth-round TKO over Alberto Amaro on the undercard of Carl Froch’s super middleweight title defense against Glen Johnson at the Boardwalk Hall in Altantic City, NJ.
Opening up the card is SES Boxing’s undefeated Sergio Vartanov (9-0, 6KO’s) as he takes on North Carolina’s Gerald Jordan (7-5-1, 5KO’s) in a six-round welterweight match-up.
Battle in Biloxi: Berto vs. Zaveck is presented by DiBella Entertainment in association with SES Boxing and sponsored by AZAD watches, The Underground Clown, and HBO PPV: Mayweather vs. Ortiz. The show will be aired live on HBO’s Boxing After Dark®, beginning at 10:30 PM ET/PT.
Tickets are priced at $150, $100, and $50, and are available online at Ticketmaster.com, by phone at 1-800-745-3000, at any Ticketmaster retail outlet, or in person at the Beau Rivage Theatre box office.
