It will be a battle of the Boxcino champions when former title challengers Willie Monroe Jr. and John Thompson square off in a 10-round middleweight bout in the main event of a Sho Extreme telecast on Saturday, June 11, live 7 p.m. ET from The Turning Stone Resort Casino in Verona, N.Y.
In the SHO EXTREME co-feature, Boxcino 2015 heavyweight champion Andrey Fedosov (28-3, 23 KOs) will face Mario Heredia (11-1, 9 KOs, 1-2 in WSB) in a 10-round heavyweight bout.
The bouts will precede a Showtime tripleheader that will feature Ruslan Provodnikov taking on John Molina Jr. in what should be an action-packed junior welterweight bout for as long as it lasts.
Monroe Jr., of nearby Rochester, N.Y., and Thompson, of Newark, N.J., have near identical records. Monroe is 19-2 with six knockouts, Thompson’s 17-2 with six knockouts.
The 29 year-old Monroe won the 2014 Boxcino Middleweight Tournament with victories over Donatas Bondorovas (18-4-1), Vitaly Kopylenko (23-0) and Brandon Adams (14-0). He followed Boxcino up with an impressive 10-round unanimous decision over perennial contender Brian Vera last January.
Monroe’s win streak set up an opportunity on May 16, 2015, to fight middleweight kingpin Gennady Golovkin. Monroe put up a solid effort and gave Golovkin his toughest test to date, but came up short in his title opportunity.
“I am glad to be back, and I look forward to fighting in front of my loyal fans who will come from Rochester to see me fight,” Monroe said.
The 27 year-old Thompson won the 2015 Boxcino Junior Middleweight tournament with wins over Ricardo Pinell (10-1-1), Stanyslav Skorokhod (9-0) and Brandon Adams (17-1).
Following the 2015 Boxcino tournament, Thompson traveled to Manchester, England to fight undefeated Liam Smith for the WBO Junior Middleweight title on Oct. 10, 2015. Thompson was impressive and was ahead on the scorecards before being stopped in the seventh round.
“I have been training hard, and I look forward to fighting another Boxcino champion like Willie Monroe,” Thompson said. “It should make for a great fight.”
Since winning the Boxcino tournament, when he stopped Donovan Dennis in the eighth round on May 22, 2015, Fedosov has been out of the ring with lingering injuries. Now he is back training at the famed Wild Card Gym in Los Angeles readying for his ring return.
“I am glad that I will finally be getting back in the ring,” Fedosov said. “I got some time to rest and now I feel better and stronger than ever. I just want to get in that ring on June 11. I am looking forward to putting on a great show as I look for a major fight.”
Heredia, of Merida, Mexico, will be looking for a signature victory to catapult his career and become a player in the suddenly open heavyweight division.
“This is a big opportunity for me,” he said. “I was scheduled to be in the Boxcino tournament, but I had an injury, and I feel I would have won it. Now to be able to face and beat the champion will prove what I thought all along.”
