Next Wednesday, February 17th, DiBella Entertainment’s Broadway Boxing is back again at the famed B.B. King Blues Club and Grill in midtown Manhattan. Headlining the card will be Brooklyn’s two-time world champion Amanda Serrano (26-1-1, 19KO’s) as she looks to claim her third world title when she takes on Canada’s Olivia Gerula (17-15-2, 3KO’s) for the vacant WBO featherweight championship.
In the eight-round co-feature, IBF #11-rated middleweight Avtandil Khurtsidze (31-2-2, 20KO’s) will seek to continue on his path toward challenging for another piece of the middleweight crown when he squares off against three-time world title challenger Giovanni Lorenzo (34-7, 26KO’s).
Khurtsidze is currently riding an eight-bout win streak since dropping a highly questionable decision to Hassan N’Dam N’Jikam way back in 2010 for the interim WBA middleweight title. In 2011, Khurtsidze claimed the vacant WBC silver middleweight title, but was then out of action for two-and-a-half years before signing with DBE in the summer of 2014. Khurtsidze has since reeled off four consecutive knockout victories and earned himself a rematch against N’Dam in France in November for the #2 spot in the IBF rankings. However, the day that Khurtsidze was scheduled to fly to France was the same day that the tragic terrorist attacks took place in Paris, and the bout was subsequently cancelled. Khurtsidze is hoping to set himself up for a major fight in the 160lb. division sometime this year, but he must first get by Lorenzo.
Also seeing action, in an eight-round feature bout, will be Brooklyn’s undefeated super middleweight contender Lennox Allen (20-0-1, 13KO’s) as he strives to keep his unbeaten record intact when he faces Martin Verdin (21-19-2, 11KO’s).
Jonathan Alonso (7-0, 4KO’s), a 2012 Olympian and one of the truly bright young stars on the loaded DBE roster, will also be on the card as he makes his 2016 debut against Ricardo Maldonado (5-4) in a six-round junior welterweight matchup.
Irish National champion Noel Murphy (5-0, 2KO’s), living and training out of Yonkers, NY, is quickly becoming one of the more popular young fighters on the New York boxing circuit and the welterweight prospect is determined to impress when he challenges Donald Sanchez (2-2, 1KO) in their scheduled six-rounder.
Five-time NY Golden Gloves champion Shemuel Pagan (6-0, 3KO’s) will also see action on the card when he competes against Oscar Santana (4-3-1, 2KO’s) in a scheduled six-round junior welterweight matchup.
Decorated Ukrainian amateur and 2012 Olympian Pavlo Ischenko (2-0, 2KO’s), now living and training in Brooklyn, is set to make his New York debut when he takes on Puerto Rico’s Rafael Vazquez. The bout is scheduled for six rounds in the junior lightweight division.
Rounding out the card will be Dauren Yeleussinov (4-0, 3KO’s) as he battles against Bernard Thomas (5-2, 3KO’s) in an eight-round super middleweight matchup.
