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.
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.
