Christmas will come early for fight fans in San Antonio, Texas, as Golden Boy Promotions and Leija-Battah Promotions are pleased to announce that 2012 United States Olympian Joseph “JoJo” Diaz Jr., unbeaten Mexican star Ivan “Nino Maravilla” Morales and Fort Worth’s Jose “Loco” Hernandez will headline a stacked card of Texan talent at Cowboys Dancehall on Monday, December 8.
“Christmas in the Ring” will arrive in San Antonio on December 8 when Golden Boy Promotions & Leija Battah Promotions present an explosive night of professional boxing. Gloves will fly as boxers take on opponents for the final time in 2014. This is going to be a cannot miss night. Even better it is FREE to Texas boxing fans and professional fighters with the donation of a toy and will benefit the Children’s Shelter of San Antonio and St. PJ’s Children’s Home to give to the abused and neglected children from “Santa Clause.” Bring a toy to the Leija Battah offices at 4310 West Ave. between 9am – 6pm Monday thru Friday and receive your free ticket. This event is sponsored by Mexico – Live It To Believe It!, O’Reilly Auto Parts Dewalt, Nike Boxing, Red M’Combs Toyota, Everlast, and Lowe’s.
Legendary Hall of Fame, Founder & President of Golden Boy Promotions Oscar De La Hoya, Texas Promoter Mike Battah and legendary former World Champion and Promoter Jesse James Leija want to give back to fans by giving them an early Christmas Present to show our appreciation for all of the support that has been given to us over the past three years.
In the main event, scheduled for 10 rounds in the junior featherweight division, rising star Diaz Jr. will face his most experienced foe to date in 69-fight veteran Jose Angel Beranza. The 22-year-old southpaw from South El Monte has had a spectacular 2014 thus far, winning all five of his bouts, three by knockout. 38-year-old Mexico City native Beranza (36-31-2, 28 KOs) has seen it all over the course of his career, and after facing a series of five opponents in his most recent bouts who had a combined 82-2-1 record, he’ll look to get back on track against Diaz.
The co-main event will see Fort Worth’s Hernandez (14-8-1, 6 KOs) attempt to return to the win column after a controversial split decision loss to Keandre Gibson in August when he takes on San Antonio’s Justo Vallecillo (6-17, 3 KOs) in an eight-round junior welterweight matchup. Unbeaten in four of his last seven, including an eighth-round technical knockout of 15-0 Tony Luis, the popular Hernandez always gives the fans an exciting performance and against the dangerous Vallecillo, he expects to deliver another bout to remember.
Currently ranked seventh in the world by the WBC, the 23-year-old Morales (26-0, 15 KOs) is excited to be back in San Antonio, where he defeated Raul Hidalgo back in April of 2013. Since then, the talented southpaw has won five straight matches, most recently stopping Cesar Canchila in six rounds in August. On December 8, he will meet up with Kyrgyzstan native Timur Shailezov (17-8-1, 4 KOs) in a 10-round bantamweight bout.
That’s not all though, as eight more fights featuring some of Texas’ rising fighters will be contested at Cowboys Dancehall. First off, the unbeaten San Antonio stars Javier Rodriguez (11-0-1, 1 KO) and Joseph Rodriguez (7-0, 2 KOs) will be challenged in separate junior featherweight 6-round bouts against opponents to be determined. Junior welterweights Jairo Castaneda (6-0, 2 KOs) and Albert Espinoza (2-4) will face off in a 4-round fight. San Antonio’s Cresencio Ramos (1-0, 1 KO) will go up against Cooperas Cove’s Jaime Hernandez (1-2) in a 4-round junior lightweight battle. Newcomers, Christian Santbanez (0-2) will go up against Daniel Arriaga (0-1-1) and David Ruiz (0-2) will fight Erick Loera (2-1, 1 KO), in separate 4-round lightweight matches. Light heavyweight Adam Franklin is making his professional debut against San Marcos’ Kevin Conrad (0-2) in a 4-round bout, and opening up this exciting night, Brownsville’s Juan Tapia (2-0, 1 KO) and Robert Ledesma (0-3) from San Antonio will go against each other in a junior featherweight 4-round fight.
