Pro boxing returns to San Francisco in a very big way on Saturday night April 7th, as Hard Hitta Promotions announced today a new pro boxing series in downtown San Francisco at the historic five-star Fairmont Hotel. A six-bout pro boxing card will be staged in the 1,250 seat Fairmont Grand Ballroom featuring longtime contender and San Francisco native Karim Mayfield in the featured bout along with a host of other Bay area boxing prospects.
Presented by Mayfield’s Hard Hitta Promotions, in association with Humboldt Boxing Promotions, this event will be the first boxing show ever held at the historic five-star Fairmont, and to celebrate, fight fans will be treated to an action-packed six-fight card headlined by an eight-round welterweight showdown between Mayfield and Gaku Takahashi. “I really wanted to bring boxing back to San Francisco in a classy manner,” said Mayfield, “and you can’t get classier than the Fairmont.” And to ensure that this new boxing series will be the best to hit the Bay Area in years, Hard Hitta Promotions has retained long time fight promoter Roy Englebrecht as a show consultant. Englebrecht is best know for selling his company to Oscar De La Hoya in 2002 and forming Golden Boy Promotions where he served as COO the first three years. Englebrecht was also the promoter who launched the original Battle In The Ballroom shows at the Irvine Marriott starting in the 1990’s and running for 25 consecutive years.
Tickets for Battle in the Ballroom, priced at $80, $100, and $250, are available by ordering online at http://www.hardhittapromotions.com/
Doors open at 5pm and the first bell rings at 6pm.
A veteran of a dozen years in the pro game, Karim Mayfield (20-4-1, 11 KOs) is a proud native of San Francisco who has represented his city well on the international boxing scene despite starting late in the sport at the age of 20. But he has made up for lost time by winning the NABO junior welterweight title and beating some of the best fighters in his division, including Steve Forbes, Mauricio Herrera and Raymond Serrano. Fresh from an October win over previously unbeaten Miguel Dumas, the 37-year-old will now face off with Gaku Takahashi. A native of Hokkaido, Japan who now makes his home in Los Angeles, Takahashi (15-8-1, 7 KOs) is a gritty southpaw who always comes to fight, and he knows that a win over Mayfield would be a career-altering victory for him.
One of San Francisco’s top prospects, Willie Shaw Jr. (5-0, 4 KOs) has been living up to his nickname “The Thrill” since turning pro in 2017, and after a rookie year in which he went unbeaten and scored four knockouts, the 25-year-old will kick off year two in a six-round junior welterweight bout against an opponent to be named.
In lightweight action scheduled for four rounds, San Fran’s own Lennard David (1-1-3) takes on Tulare’s David Cruz Rivera (0-2).
Middleweight veterans Ricardo Pinnel (15-3-1, 8 KOs) and Enrique Gallegos (7-6-1) also get the call, as San Francisco’s Pinnel defends his home turf in a six-rounder against Medford, Oregon’s Gallegos.
Another local battler, Topie Pedro, will make her pro debut in a four-round junior featherweight bout against Novato’s Marquita Lee, and in the four-round cruiserweight opener, hometown favorite Roberto Andres Salas (1-0) fights for the second time against Ignacio Zambrano.
For more information on Hard Hitta Promotions and to purchase tickets online, visit http://www.hardhittapromotions.com/
