Uncasville, CT – CES Boxing stablemates Cassius Chaney of New London, CT, and Sicilian slugger Juiseppe Cusumano could move one step closer to a shot at heavyweight championship glory this Saturday as they return to the ring for Summer Heat live from to Mohegan Sun Arena.
Chaney (21-1, 14 KOs) headlines in a 10-round bout against Fullerton, CA, native Matt McKinney while Cusumano (20-4, 18 KOs) faces Dennis Ventura of Lynn, MA, in the eight-round co-main event.
Tickets are available online at CESFights.com, MoheganSun.com, or through the Mohegan Sun box office. Summer Heat also streams live on BXNG TV for $19.99 beginning at 7 pm ET with play-by-play from CES publicist Michael Parente (@michaelparente) alongside color commentator and New England boxing icon “Sucra” Ray Oliveira. BXNG TV is the new home for watching boxing’s next era of champions and is available worldwide through the VYRE app on Apple TV, Roku, Amazon Fire Stick, Android, iPhone, and Samsung TVs or on the web at bxngtv.com
The two heavyweight bouts are just the tip of the iceberg for Saturday’s event. Springfield, MA, welterweight Jalen Renaud puts his unbeaten record on the line in a six-round welterweight showdown against 31-fight vet Kenyan challenger Michael Ogundo, who now lives and trains in nearby Quincy.
Also appearing at Summer Heat, super featherweight sensation Alejandro Paulino, also of New London, battles dangerous Bronx, NY, vet Brandon Idrogo in a six-round bout; and welterweight Stevie Jane Coleman of nearby Columbia, CT, faces Jesenia Rivas of Denver in a four-round bout. James Maner of Providence, RI; and New York City super middleweight Jahvel Joseph also appear on the card in separate bouts.
Undefeated Irish super middleweight Francis Hogan of Weymouth, MA, faces Cleotis Pendarvis of Lancaster, CA, in six-round bout; Stoughton, MA, heavyweight Sean Bey puts his perfect record and knockout streak on the line against Dallas’ John Shipman in a four-round bout; lightweight Jonathan de Pina of Boston battles New York’s Christian Otero in a six-round bout; and rising welterweight prospect Gary Balletto III of Cranston, RI; faces Niagara Falls’ newcomer Jeremiah David Austin in a four-round bout.
Saturday’s top-tier heavyweight bouts feature two well-established sluggers in Chaney and Cusumano, who rank 11th and 17th, respectively, among United States heavyweights and among the top 75 in the world, no small feat during a time in which the heavyweight division has enjoyed a much-needed return to its glory days. The two have also combined for 32 knockouts, setting the stage for potential fireworks Saturday at Mohegan.
Former WBC champion Deontay Wilder’s rise to prominence gave hope to U.S. heavyweights who had grown weary during the era of the Klitschko brothers’ dominance; when Wilder beat Bermane Stiverne in 2015, he became the first American heavyweight champion since Shannon Briggs in 2006, ending nearly a decade of international dominance.
With Wilder, Andy Ruiz, and Trevor Bryan long since dethroned, the WBA, IBF, WBC, and WBO belts have once again landed on foreign soil in the hands of Ukrainian Oleksandr Usyk (IBF, WBA Super, and WBO) United Kingdom greats Tyson Fury (WBC) and Daniel Dubois (WBA), the latter of whom Cusumano faced a year ago in Cleveland before Dubois captured his first world title with a win over Bryan.
Wilder is still the top dog among American heavyweights despite the fact he hasn’t fought since October of 2021, but the gap between the rest of the field has tightened, opening up opportunities for either of CES’ top-rated contenders to land the opportunity of a lifetime. They just need to keep winning, a quest that resumes Saturday in CES’ first event at Mohegan in nearly seven years.
Both Cusumano and Chaney are facing different opponents than originally scheduled. Cusumano now battles Ventura (4-1), an upset-minded, 6-foot-3 slugger from Massachusetts, while Chaney steps into the ring opposite McKinney (9-5-3), a 6-foot-4 right-hander coming off a win in June who first appeared for CES in 2017, ironically against Cusumano.
Additional details for Summer Heat are available online. For more information, follow CES Boxing on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter at @CESBOXING.
INFORMATION
CES Boxing is one of the top promotions in the northeast and one of the few to successfully promote both mixed martial arts and professional boxing. Launched in 1992 by longtime boxing judge Jimmy Burchfield Sr., the promotion is the only in professional boxing to boast two reigning WBC Youth world champions in lightweight Jamaine Ortiz and featherweight Irvin Gonzalez. CES Boxing recently teamed with UFC FIGHT PASS, the world’s No. 1 streaming platform for combat sports, to showcase its events to a worldwide audience, and worked as a promotional consultant for the Mike Tyson-Roy Jones Jr. pay-per-view event in November of 2020.
Mohegan Sun Arena is one of the busiest Arenas in the United States and is ranked consistently among the top venues in the world according to Billboard Magazine, Pollstar and VenuesNow. Mohegan Sun Arena finished 2021 with its first “#1 Indoor Arena” ranking for its capacity in the world according to Pollstar and VenuesNow, ranked among the top 10 venues in the United States regardless of size based on ticket sales, and was named “2021 Innovator of the Year” by Celebrity Access for its ViacomCBS residency. In recent years, the award-winning venue has also been the “#1 Casino Venue in the World,” “#1 Social Media Venue in the World” and a seven-time national award winner for “Casino of the Year – Arena” by the Academy of Country Music. For more information on concerts and other great events, visit MoheganSun.com. For information on this week’s schedule, call the Entertainment and Special Events hotline at 1.888.226.7711.
