San Diego, CA -September 5, 2014–
Two title bouts will kick off a championship day as co-feature bouts to the highly anticipated rematch between IBF Super Bantamweight champion Kiko Martinez (31-4, 23 KO’s) taking on undefeated Carl Frampton (18-0, 13 KO’s)
The show can be seen live and exclusively in the United States in AWE- A Wealth of Entertainment beginning at 3:30 PM ET / 12:30 PM PT.
The show will take place in front of an expected rabid crowd of over 16,000 in an outdoor stadium at the Titanic Quarter in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
In a 12-round bout for the IBF Inter-Continental Middleweight title, Eamonn O’Kane will defend his title when he takes on Virgilijus Stapulionis.
In the bout that will precede the main event, Marco McCullough will defend the WBO European Featherweight title against former world champion Dmitry Kirillov.
“We are pleased to have these two title fights added to the card. The fights will get the crowd ready for the great fight between Martinez and Frampton. To have two Irishmen fighting for titles will only add to a great atmosphere which will make for terrific television,”said AWE President Charles Herring
McCollough (10-1, 6 KO’s) will be making the 1st defense of his crown that he won on June 20 when he scored a 10-round unanimous decision over Martin Parlagi (14-0) in Belfast. He has good wins over Valentin Marinov (4-1-1), Michael Kelly (8-2-1), Noel O’Brien (3-0). He won the Irish Featherweight title with a 9th round stoppage over former world title challenger Willie Casey (14-2).
Kirillov was a former IBF Bantamweight champion. He has had many quality wins in his career and will be looking for one more run at world glory.
Kirillov turned pro in 1998 and won his first twenty bouts as he won the WBC Youth Super Flyweight title with a win over Christopher Denicker (5-1-2). He made two defenses of the title which was highlighted by a 10-round unanimous decision over Junver Halog (15-1-1). Kirillov lost his first opportunity at a world title when he lost a close unanimous decision to Masamori Tokuyama in Japan. Kirillov won five in a row which included a 12-round unanimous decision over Renaldo Lopez (25-2-2) which put him in line for chance against IBF Bantamweight champion Luis Perez. Perez escaped with a split decision.
Perez had to vacate the title which set Kirillov up for his title winning opportunity against former U.S. Olympian Jose Navarro. He made one defense of the title with a draw with Cecililo Santos before losing the title to Vic Darchinyan.
Kirillov has won two straight which includes his last bout when scored 6-round unanimous decision over Andrey Kostin on September 19, 2013 in Saint Petersburg, Russia.
O’Kane of Northern, Ireland has a record of 12-1 with 6 knockouts and he will look to add the IBF Intercontinental belt to a collection that already has seen O’Kane win the coveted Prizefighter tournament with quality wins over Anthony Fitzgerald (13-2); Ryan Greene (5-0) and J.J McDonagh (6-1) in 2012.
O’Kane defeated Fitzgerald in the rematch to claim the Irish Middleweight title. He won the IBF Inter-Continental title with a 12-round unanimous decision over former European champion Kerry Hope. In his last bout, O’Kane won the EBC International Silver championship with a 1st round stoppage over Alvaro Garona (13-3) on April 4 in Belfast.
Stapulionis of Lithuania has a record of 23-3 with 16 knockouts. He is no stranger to fighting in the United Kingdom as this will be his 4th fight there. He has wins over undefeated Rinats Batertdinovs, Thomas Mazvydas, Richard Williams (21-4-1), Niko Jokinen (21-0), Jokinen (21-1) and his bout he scored a 1st-round stoppage over Zoltan Kiss Jr. in Lithuanaia on July 24.
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