On Friday, June 3, Broadway Boxing returns to the beautiful Resorts World Casino in Queens, NY, with an exciting 10-bout card presented by DiBella Entertainment. Featured on the card, in separate bouts, will be former champions Richar Abril and Yuri Foreman.
Abril (19-3-1, 8KO’s), making his much anticipated return and DiBella Entertainment (DBE) debut, will take on the always-tough Jerry Belmontes (21-8, 6KO’s) in a 10-round junior welterweight showdown. Foreman (33-2, 9KO’s), fighting for the first time in 2016, is set to take on Jason Davis, of Vancouver, WA, in an eight-round junior middleweight matchup.
A gifted boxer with exceptional hand speed and movement, Abril will be returning to the ring for the first time in over a year and a half. Following his world title defense against previously unbeaten Edis Tatli (23-0) in September 2014, Abril was stricken with dengue fever that he contracted from a mosquito bite while training in Cuba to defend his title against Derry Matthews in early 2015. Abril was forced to vacate his title as he battled through the illness.
Now back and 100 percent healthy, Abril will look to quickly regain his world championship under the DiBella Entertainment banner. The 33-year-old Cuban Abril’s three losses are highly debatable having all come via split decision against then-undefeated contenders Hank Lundy and Breidis Prescott, with the last defeat coming at the hands of Brandon Rios for the vacant WBA world title. Following the controversial loss to Rios, who failed to make weight for the bout, Abril, then the interim WBA champion, was elevated to regular champion.
Abril twice defended his title, first against 23-0 Sharif Bogere in March of 2013, before traveling to Finland where he defeated the aforementioned Tatli. In Belmontes, Abril will get no pushover. Belmontes began his career at a perfect 17-0, and challenged Omar Figueroa for the WBC world lightweight title in 2014, dropping a close split decision. Belmontes is coming off back-to-back victories, including an upset unanimous decision over previously undefeated Valentyn Golovko in his most recent outing in January of this year.
The bout on June 3 will be Foreman’s first since December 2015. Foreman, the former WBA welterweight world champion and now ordained rabbi, stepped away from the ring in 2011 following back-to-back losses, to focus on his studies. He then returned in 2012 and reeled off four consecutive victories before once again stepping away to finally finish his rabbinical studies. Determined to remain active in 2016, Foreman hopes to make another run at capturing a piece of the junior middleweight crown.
Additional bouts on the card will be announced shortly.
