DiBella Entertainment has announced a solid undercard supporting the Sergio Martinez vs. Matthew Macklin card, entitled “THE REAL Middleweight Championship – Get Your Irish Up”, on March 17 (St. Patrick’s Day), in The Theater at Madison Square Garden.
A battle of unbeaten heavyweights, Magomed “Mago” Abdusalamov (13-0, 13 KOs) and Jason Pettaway (11-0, 8 KOs), will provide chief support on the undercard in a 10/12 round fight for the vacant World Boxing Council (“WBC”) Silver Championship. The Russian-born Abdusalamov, who now lives and trains out of Oxnard, California, where Martinez is based, sports a perfect 13-fight pro record with 13 wins by knockout and is already rated No. 15 by the World Boxing Association (“WBA”).
WBA No. 6-rated junior middleweight Charlie Ota (19-1-1, 13 KOs), who is the reigning OPBF and Japanese 154-pound champion, will be fighting for the first time outside of Japan, ironically, in the city in which he was born.
Former world title challenger Argenis Mendez (19-2, 10 KOs), a Dominican junior lightweight, will be fighting close to his Brooklyn home in an eight-round bout. The 25-year-old is a past United States Boxing Association and WBA FEDALATIN super featherweight titleholder.
The remainder of the entertaining undercard finds a strong Irish flavor, starting with popular Irish-American light heavyweight Seanie Monaghan (12-0, 8 KOs), who faces his stiffest test to date against Eric Watkins (6-1) in an eight-rounder.
DiBella Entertainment’s hard-working publicist, popular Catskills middleweight Kevin Rooney (3-1, 1 KO), returns in a four-round bout. His father is former pro fighter and Mike Tyson’s trainer, Kevin Rooney Sr.
Fan favorite Danny “Little Mac” McDermott (9-3-2, 4 KOs) is scheduled to fight in an eight-round junior welterweight fight, while Yonkers, by way of Dublin, heavyweight Thomas Hardwick is matched against Blu Delong (0-3) in a four-round bout.
The 12-round main event features The Ring Magazine’s No. 3 pound-for-pound fighter, World Middleweight Champion Sergio “Maravilla” Martinez (48-2-2, 27 KOs), defending against rugged Irish challenger Matthew “Mack the Knife” Macklin (28-3, 19 KOs). In the 10-round “Bombs Away” co-feature, super middleweight Edwin “La Bomba” Rodriguez (20-0, 14 KOs) takes on Don “Da Bomb” George (22-1-1, 19 KOs) in an highly anticipated action-packed fight with possible future world title shot implications. Martinez-Macklin and Rodriguez-George will both air live on HBO’s “World Championship Boxing,” starting at 10 PM/ET 7 PM/PT.
Tickets, priced at $505, $355, $205, $125 and $65, are available to purchase through the Madison Square Garden Box Office, through Ticketmaster at Ticketmaster.com or by calling (866) 858-0008. Call DiBella Entertainment at (212) 947-2577, visit www.dbe1.com and @loudibella on Twitter for more information.
