WORLD CHAMPION BEIBUT SHUMENOV DEVELOPING INTERNATIONAL STAR APPEAL

LAS VEGAS (May 17, 2012) – Unable to secure a unification title fight against the other
175-pound world champions, World Boxing Association (WBA) Light Heavyweight
World Champion Beibut Shumenov returns on June 2 to make his fourth title
defense against former super middleweight world title challenger Enrique Ornelas
(33-7, 21 KO’s) at The Joint at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, Nev.
in a fight that will be televised live on FOX Sports Net and FIX Deportes and
will be televised on a delayed basis on FUEL TV.

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 10th 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.

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