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“KNOCKOUT KINGS” ADDS WELTERWEIGHT SLUGFEST

WITH MARCOS MAIDANA & JESUS SOTO KARASS SET FOR

BATTLE ON UNPARALELLED QUADRUPLE-HEADER

ON MEXICAN INDEPENDENCE DAY WEEKEND

SEPTEMBER 15 AT MGM GRAND & LIVE ON SHOWTIME^®

LOS ANGELES (July 17, 2012) – The stacked September 15 “Knockout Kings” quadruple-header at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nev. just got another shot of pugilistic adrenaline, with the addition of former Super Lightweight World Champion Marcos “El Chino” Maidana.  The champion continues his quest for a second world title at 147 pounds in what promises to be an action-packed showdown against Mexico’s Jesus Soto Karass.

 This 12-round special attraction is the third fight announced for what is shaping up to be the most exciting boxing event of 2012, with the fourth fight scheduled to be announced in the near future.

 “Knockout Kings,” headlined by Canelo Alvarez defending his WBC Super Welterweight World Championship against Josesito Lopez, is presented by Golden Boy Promotions and Canelo Promotions in association with Goossen Tutor Promotions and Thompson Boxing Promotions and sponsored by Corona, DeWalt Tools and AT&T.  In the co-featured attractions, WBC Featherweight World Champion Jhonny Gonzalez defends his crown against former World Champion Daniel Ponce De Leon in fight presented in association with Promociones Del Pueblo and former World Champion Marcos Maidana faces perennial contender Jesus Soto Karass in a fight presented in association with Universum Box-Promotion.  The Saturday, Sept. 15 quadruple-header, packed with Mexican pride and power, will take place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nev. and will be televised live on SHOWTIME.

 SHOWTIME Sports will produce a new edition of its ALL ACESS sports documentary series.  ALL ACCESS: Canelo vs. Lopez will premiere on SHOWTIME with multiple replays on additional SHOWTIME and CBS platforms.  The exhibition schedule also will be announced shortly.

“This fight is a great match-up which has ‘Fight of the Year’ written all over it,” said Oscar de la Hoya, president of Golden Boy Promotions.  “Both of these fighters hit with power, have great chins and fight one way…coming forward.  Mix in the fact that it’s a must win fight for each of them and you have the recipe for a classic.”

 “I always appreciate the opportunity to fight on the big time boxing event like this one,” said Maidana.  “Throughout my career I have always heard I fight like the great Mexican fighters and that Mexican fans love to watch me fight.  I will give them something to cheer about on September 15 when I win the fight and move one step closer to getting another world title.”

 “I am very fortunate to be fighting on this card alongside my fellow countrymen Canelo, Daniel and Jhonny,” said Soto Karass. “We are going to represent Mexico well that night and I plan to be victorious against Maidana.  I have worked hard my whole career to have my dream of being a world champion come true and I feel that with each fight, I get closer to it.”   

 Buenos Aires, Argentina’s Marcos “El Chino” Maidana (31-3, 28 KOs) has been a worthy member of his country’s fighting fraternity, but one look at his style in the ring will make it evident that he is not satisfied with one world championship.  Maidana held the WBA Interim Super Lightweight and WBA Super Lightweight World Championships from 2009 to 2010, a span during which he stopped “Vicious” Victor Ortiz and defended the belt three times before losing it to Amir “King” Khan in 2010′s Fight of the Year.  Maidana reclaimed the belt in 2011 with another classic against Erik “El Terrible” Morales, but after one defense, he moved up in weight to 147 pounds. After a loss to Devon Alexander “The Great” in February, the 29-year-old will seek his first welterweight victory on September 15.

 Coming off one of his career-best performances on July 7, a blistering fifth round stoppage of Euri Gonzalez, 29-year-old Jesus Soto Karass (26-7-3, 17 KOs) looks like he has started the march to his well-deserved first world title shot.  An 11-year professional who has collected an overflowing pile of regional titles, the native of Los Mochis, Sinaloa, Mexico has bounced back from a recent cold spell to defeat hot prospect Said El Harrak and Gonzalez in consecutive 2012 fights.  The next mountain to climb is taking on former World Champion Maidana and Soto Karass has every intention of keeping “El Chino” winless at 147 pounds.

  Tickets priced at $400, $300, $200, $100, $50 and $25, not including applicable service charges and taxes, go on sale Friday, July 20 at Noon PT.  Ticket sales are limited to ten (10) per person.  To charge by phone with a major credit card, call Ticketmaster at (800) 745-3000.  Tickets also are available for purchase at www.mgmgrand.com or www.ticketmaster.com.

Entering the ring to the sound of Ghostbusters, Scott Sigmon
could have used some help from Bill Murray and friends as Kelly “The Ghost”
Pavlik beat the 25 year old to a bloody pulp.  After conferring with the fight doctor, referee Jay Nady mercifully stopped the contest after the 7^th round.
Pavlik, the former middleweight champion of the world look sharp and never appeared to be hurt while Sigmon was bleeding profusely from his nose and a cut over his eye.

Carlos Valcarel vs Jessie Magdaleno

Super Bantamweight southpaw Jessie Magdaleno ran his undefeated record to 10-0 with another impressive first round TKO over challenger Carlos Valcarel. Magdaleno, trained in Las Vegas by Pat Barry and Augie Sanchez of Barry’s Boxing landed several hard combinations followed by a big left that floored Valcarel. After an eight count Magdaleno continued his barrage of unanswered punches before the action was halted by referee Tony Weeks.

Disclosure: Ornelas is my wife’s cousin. From the opening bell Shumenov completely dominated the fight. Almost at will the WBA Light Heavyweight Champion was able to connect with body shots, combinations and
uppercuts.  Most of the fight resembled a sparring session with Ornelas against the ropes his hands covering his face and Shumenov doing damage to the body and the head. Ornelas showing more heart than speed never showed any signs of quitting, but ultimately Shumenov proved much quicker and was clearly the effective aggressor. The judges scorecards were Burt Clemens 120-108 Dick Houck 120-108 and Robert Hoyle 120-108.

Daquan Arnett vs Yosmani Abreu

Arnett won a unanimous decision over Abreu in a four round fight. Arnett dropped Abreu in the second round with a quick left hook. The judges
scorecards were Bob Bennett 40-35 Jerry Roth 39-36 and Ricardo Ocasio 40-35

Joseph Elegele vs Lanard Lane

Joseph Elegele  won a controversial majority decision over Lanard Lane. Elegele, a southpaw, came out strong in the early rounds using his height advantage over the shorter Lane to land jabs and left hooks. In the third round Lane was bleeding from a cut over the right eye. With a sudden sense of urgency Lane came out firing and had a strong fourth round. However, in the fifth round Lane went down on a controversial knockdown call when Elegele seemingly pushed Lane in the back of the head that forced the referee to give a standing eight count. In Rounds 6, 7 and 8 Lane dominated nearly dropping Elegele several times but in the end came up just short on the judges’ scorecards which read Bob Bennett 76-75, Lisa Giampa 77-74 and CJ Ross 76-76.

Ravshan Hudaynazarov vs Euri Gonzalez

Hudaynazarov out boxed and outpaced Gonzalez to win a unanimous decision. Hudaynazarov landed several strong combinations throughout
the fight and never appeared to be hurt. Gonzalez fought a strong fight but was
not able to keep up with the speedy Hudaynaraz. All three judeges scored the
bout 79-73.

Shumenov vs.Ornelas is promoted by Golden Boy Promotions and KZ Event Productions and
sponsored by Corona and DeWalt Tools.  The FOX Sports Net and FOX Deportes bilingual simulcast
will air live at 10:00 p.m. ET/7:00 p.m. PT.  FUEL TV will rebroadcast the fight on Sunday, July 1, at 12:00 p.m. ET/9:00 a.m. PT.

Tickets, priced at $100, $60, $30, $25, along with a limited number of VIP suite seats
priced at $125, may be purchased at the Hard Rock Hotel Box Office, all
Ticketmaster locations, online at www.ticketmaster.com or
by phone at (800) 745-3000.

“I’m looking forward to defending my world title belt, especially on a nationally televised
show once again,” Shumenov said from his Las Vegas home.”

A unique boxing world champion, at least in terms of his background, Shumenov has
growing international appeal.  The chiseled 2008 Kazakhstan
Olympian is a lawyer and boxing promoter who, along with his brother Chingis
Shumenov, owns and operates KZ Event Productions out of Las Vegas.

Two-and-a-half years ago, also at The Joint at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas,
Shumenov captured the WBA World Title in just his 10^th professional bout with a 12-round unanimous decision victory over former World Champion Gabriel Campillo.  The win established a new record for a fighter winning a major light heavyweight world championship in the fewest professional fights.

Shumenov was scheduled for a unification fight on Jan. 8, 2011 against World Boxing
Organization (WBO) World Champion Juergen Braehmer in Shymkent, Kazakhstan, but
Braehner pulled out of the fight just a few days prior to the scheduled
event.  To avoid cancelling the show in the capital city of his
native country, Shumenov fought former World Champion William Joppy, who was
slated to face another fighter on the same card.

Since capturing his WBA World title belt, Shumenov has successfully defended against undefeated,
mandatory challenger Vyacheslav Uzelkov (DEC 12), Joppy (KO 6) and most recently
Danny Santiago (TKO 9) this past July.  The 28-year-old Shumenov
has defeated four world champions – Campillo, Byron Mitchell, Joppy and Montell
Griffin – as well as former world title challengers Epifanio Mendoza, Uzelkov
and Santiago in only 13 professional bouts.

“My goal has always been and remains to fight the best and unify the world light heavyweight
title.” Shumenov noted.  “To do that I need to keep practicing and
improving with each and every fight.  Someday, I hope one of the
other world champions will put his belt on the line against mine.
Until then, though, I am only focused on defending my world
title belt against the toughest possible challengers like Ornelas.”

Some present and former world champions have made overtures about fighting Shumenov, but they
have demanded that the fight be held in their respective hometowns.
To his credit, Shumenov hasn’t made a Kazakhstan showdown a mandatory
demand, despite attracting more than 30,000 fans there for a fight against
Griffin in 2008.

“All fighters dream of fighting in the boxing capital of the world, Las Vegas,” Shumenov
remarked.  “I’d love to fight again in Kazakhstan and intend to do
that again someday, but Las Vegas is a perfect, neutral site.”

Hall of Fame promoter Don Chargin, who serves as Shumenov’s advisor, has been frustrated by
biased media reports about major fights for Shumenov.   “I had
discussions with representatives for a title fight
with (Jean) Pascal and unification with (Nathan) Cleverly,” Chargin explained.
“They wanted to fight in Canada and England, but we preferred Las Vegas or
Kazakhstan.  Beibut’s the world champion and I didn’t believe those options to
fight in Canada or England were in his best interest.  Discussions never got any
further because neither of them were really serious about fighting us.
Meanwhile, time had passed.  Beibut’s layoff was no fault of his own; he wanted
to fight all along and patiently waited. Making either of those fights, though,
was out of his control.  If things go right June 2, we’ll try again to make a
unification fight.”

Shumenov understands that, first, he has to get past a tough, hungry challenger in
Guanajuato, Mexico’s Ornelas, who has moved up to the light heavyweight division
after an impressive run at 168 pounds, where he owned the NABF title and proved
to be a strong challenger for Robert Stieglitz’ WBO title in 2010.

For more information on Golden Boy Promotions, visit www.goldenboypromotions.com, follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/GoldenBoyBoxing or visit us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/GoldenBoyBoxing.

For more information on KZ Event Productions and Shumenov, visit www.kzeventproductions.com or visit us on Facebook
at www.facebook.com/KZEventProductions.