Earlier today, at New York City’s famed Jack Demsey’s Bar and Restaurant, DiBella Entertainment hosted the final press conference for their upcoming Broadway Boxing card this Thursday held at Roseland Ballroom.
Gracing the presser was main event participant and DBE’s red-hot undefeated super middleweight contender Thomas “Tommy Gun” Oosthuizen (19-0-1, 13 KO’s), all the way from South Africa. He will square off against Florida’s Rowland Bryant (16-1, 11KO’s) in a 12-round clash in defense of his International Boxing Organization (IBO) title.
Also present was “Irish” Seanie Monaghan (14-0, 9 KO’s), of Long Beach, NY, who will look to keep his perfect record intact when he takes on the always-tough George Armenta (14-9, 11 KO’s) in a 10-round light heavyweight co-feature bout. Undercard participants Floriano “L’Italiano” Pagliara (13-4-1, 7 KO’s) and former New York amateur standout Zach Ochoa (1-0, 1KO) also attended.
Director of Public Relations for DBE, Kevin Rooney Jr. kicked off the presser thanking everyone for coming out to show their support for what is one of the most anticipated Broadway Boxing cards in the company’s history. He also took time to acknowledge the events sponsors, welcoming in new partners, Newlio, the Manfredi Auto Group, and Fight Now TV.
Below are highlights from the presser:
KEVIN ROONEY JR.
“This is our fourth Broadway Boxing card this year, the third at Roseland Ballroom. The main event for this one is one of the best main events Broadway Boxing has ever produced. You have Thomas ‘Tommy Gun’ Oosthuizen taking on Rowland Bryant. This is a matchup that could easily be on ‘ShoBox’ or even HBO’s ‘Boxing After Dark’ and we’re putting it on our Broadway Boxing series. We’re very excited about it. This is Tommy’s New York debut. For those of you who haven’t seen Tommy fight, he really is something special and he’s going to start making some serious noise in the super middleweight division.
“In the co-feature, we have ‘Irish’ Seanie Monaghan. If you’re from New York or if you follow the New York boxing scene, Seanie is the biggest thing out there right now. He continues to pack the house each and every time he steps into the ring. He continues to impress and he continues to improve. It’s a pleasure working with Seanie and his team, trainer Joe Higgins and manager PJ Kavanagh. We look forward to continue working with Seanie, watching him climb the light heavyweight rankings and march toward a world title shot.”
“For a long time Lou DiBella has wanted to broadcast Broadway Boxing live and now this is our first card where we’re able to do that with Fight Now TV.”
THOMAS OOSTHUIZEN
“We were working hard in training, Johnny Muller, Harold Volbrecht, everybody came together perfectly. I can’t complain about anything. We’re ready to fight. If you’ve trained as hard as I have, the actual fighting is the easy work, and I’m looking forward to the easy work on Thursday night. I just want to shine and show you people what I have and what I have in store for you.”
HAROLD VOLBRECHT (Oosthuizen trainer)
I would like to thank DiBella Entertainment for getting us on this big show. We’re taking this fight very seriously. We’ve been here in the States now for almost a month. We set up training camp in Pleasantville, New Jersey, and we brought very good sparring with us in Johnny Muller, a light heavyweight, a strong guy and good fighter. We had a tremendous training camp, Tommy’s weight is looking good now. Tommy is so talented. He’s improving with every fight. Every fighter fights different with different styles. He’s got good hand speed, good power, he’s the whole package. We’re ready to fight anybody in the world now. He’s an exciting fighter and the more fans see him on television, the more they’re going to want him and to see him.”
SEANIE MONAGHAN
“I want to thank DiBella Entertainment for putting me on again. Everyone keeps going back to my early days as a pro, but I’m really just getting started. I’m flying so high right now with my confidence and conditioning. It’s going to be a lot of fun in the ring on Thursday night because I am more than ready to take care of business and I am a completely different fighter now than I was even from the last fight. I had a long, hard training camp, in the heat, on the track. Here I am, I’m ready to go and Thursday night you’re going to see the new and improved Sean Monaghan.”
JOE HIGGINS (Monaghan trainer)
“Some folks might consider Seanie a work in progress and that might have been true early on, he’s a fire-breathing prospect right now. It’s a testimony to his conditioning. As all trainers know, when a fighter makes your job easy, you can really get into a fighter’s head, so Sean, as a professional, trains three times a day half the week, and two times a day the other half of the week. He only receives one day off. From the last fight to this bout, he was given a month off. He took one week off, he said, ‘Let’s get back in the gym.’ He doesn’t want to miss one step of improvement. Show me one boxer in this New York area whose first fight to 14th fight who has improved as well as Sean has, I really don’t think there is one. We are purposely choosing opponents that are going to makes us work. We are not picking the guys who are looking to get knocked out because he’s got the power to knock guys right out. What good would that do us when he’s got things to work on? Sean has improved on those things and that’s what makes him a fire-breathing prospect. He will win impressively on Thursday night like he did in that last fight. I do believe it will be a stoppage, but we are prepared to go 10 full, hard rounds if need be. With Seanie Monaghan, you have the total package and I predict he will be a world champion.”
FLORIANO PAGLIARA
“Thank you to DiBella Entertainment for this opportunity. My life has definitely changed since coming to the United States and turning pro. My English is getting better. I’ve fought already three times this year and now I am so happy to have a great team around me. Thank you to Richie Komissar, Tommy Gallagher and DiBella Entertainment. I look forward in the near future to one day fight for the Italian championship.”
ZACH OCHOA
“Thank you for coming out supporting us. I’m looking forward to Thursday and I want you guys to know that I am training real hard. I’ve been training hard since my pro debut. I’m staying in the gym, I’m ready to go, I’m ready to fight and I’m going to put on a great show for everybody.”
DOUG JACOBS (Fight Now TV)
“It’s great to be working with DiBella Entertainment. I’ve known Lou a long time and it’s great to finally do a show with him. For those of you who don’t know, Fight Now TV is a 24/7 sports channel that recently launched. Fight fans know that there’s no better time to market a dedicated fight channel for combat sports. Right now we just launched on Cablevision with the Sports Pack, channel 464, so this fight will be live starting at 10 PM ET on August 2, on Fight Now TV. All you have to do is upgrade to the Sports and Entertainment Pack and on channel 464 the show will be on live. Outside the New York area, those who want to see the show, we also have a dedicated U-stream channel for Fight Now TV, so for $4.95 pay-per-view, you’re getting a live show starting at 10 PM ET, which will be available worldwide on U-stream. Fight Now TV is your source for MMA, boxing, live news, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.”
