ATLANTIC CITY, March 21, 2024. — South Jersey’s own Thomas “Cornflake” LaManna will fight for the World Boxing Association (WBA) Gold Middleweight World Title against Venezuelan Johan “Chelo Manotas” Gonzalez in the main event in a twelve-round bout on Saturday, June 8 at Bally’s Atlantic City.
This World Championship Boxing Event is being promoted by Main Events in association with LaManna’s Rising Star Promotions. Ticket info will be released soon.
“I am definitely excited to fight in another world title fight I was down and out after the first try but now I’m back in the mix fighting for the WBA Gold against a very experienced opponent from Venezuela,” said LaManna. “Gonzalez rated at 154 and despite coming up to 160, he’s explosive and powerful and has a master trainer in Ismael Salas and this would be my first win against him. I made my pro debut at Bally’s and now I’m going to be fighting for a world title there and being able to accomplish both that would be amazing. Atlantic City is my backyard, so it is going to be fire that night, and on that night and I don’t think there will be anyone that can beat me.
“Working with Main Events is a real honor,” continued LaManna. “We’ve been talking about a fight like this for months, almost a year. Thankfully Main Events can see my mission and they can see my drive between fighting and promoting and I’m glad they got behind mean they are taking a chance with me and I’m looking forward to continuing with them in the future.”
“I admire Thomas for the way he has taken charge of his career and become a successful promoter in his own right,” said Kathy Duva. “Now that he has an opportunity to challenge for the world title, Main Events is happy to step in and help so LaManna can focus exclusively on preparing for the biggest fight of his career. Main Events has a long history promoting boxing in Atlantic City. And a great deal of those fights were promoted in association with Bally’s. We are looking forward to a great promotion.”
LaManna quote:
“The dream for any boxer is to become a champion, so I am very happy for this opportunity,” said Johan. “LaManna has a lot experience and very well-known boxer in the business and that means I need to work harder to get the win. This is boxing and nothing is easy in this sport. Atlantic City is like his home, a knockout could come, but for sure we will have a great camp, training to get the W, by decision or by KO. Atlantic City is place with good boxing history, now is time to write my own.”
“Bally’s Atlantic City is thrilled for the return of boxing. We look forward to hosting this thrilling event and providing memorable experiences for boxing enthusiasts and our guests,” said Michael Monty, General Manager at Bally’s Atlantic City.
Thomas “Cornflake” LaManna (37-5, 16 KOs) born and raised in Millville, NJ, just down the road from Atlantic City, is on a seven fight win streak that propelled him onto the world stage. He is undefeated in Atlantic City, 21 wins, no losses and one draw overall and seven wins with no losses at Bally’s. He made his professional debut in 2011 and has an impressive collection of belts, including the New Jersey State Welterweight Title, World Boxing Council (WBC) FECARBOX title, WBA Fedecentro title, WBA Fedecaribe title and the WBA Fedalatin title. He has won two titles in AC and made two successful defenses. His string of seven wins began after his 2021 world title fight defeat to Erislandy Lara.
Johan Gonzalez (34-2, 33 KOs) is a Venezuelan fighting out of Las Vegas, NV and has knocked out all but three of his thirty-six opponents. The thirty-two-year-old made his pro debut in June of 2017 and fought ten times in the first 5 months and one day of his career. He the had ten more bouts in 2018. He became Venezuelan Welterweight Champion and IBA Intercontinental Champion in 2018. In 2021, Johan won the WBA Fedalatin welterweight title in March and eight months later the WBA Fedalatin super welterweight title. In 2022 he collected the NABA Super Welterweight title with a knockout win in Panama City. His first thirty-three of his career fights took place in either Venezuela or Panama – and those three were in his last four fights.
ABOUT MAIN EVENTS
Main Events has been promoting fights in Atlantic City since 1982. Their first was a WBC light heavyweight title fight between Dwight Muhammad Qawi and Eddie Davis. Their first event at Bally’s AC was in April of ‘95 with Gatti in the co-feature of an IBF Super Featherweight World Title fight between Eddie Hopson and Moises Pedroza. Since then they have promoted bouts with many notable world champions, including Evander “Real Deal” Holyfield, Lennox Lewis, Pernell “Sweet Pea” Whitaker, Arturo “Thunder” Gatti, Mark Breland, Meldrick Taylor, Sergei Kovalev and Dmitri Bivol. Amongst the most notable fights promoted by Main Events in Atlantic City include, “The Battle of the Ages,” Holyfield-Foreman for the World Heavyweight Championship, which was the first TVKO (HBO PPV) event; Bivol-Smith which was the last HBO fight to take place in Atlantic City, Kovalev-Hopkins—the last World Championship fight at Boardwalk Hall; Gatti-Ward II & III and Gatti-Mayweather.
ABOUT BALLY’S CORPORATION
Bally’s Corporation is a global casino-entertainment company with a growing omni-channel presence of Online Sports Betting and iGaming offerings. It currently owns and manages 16 casinos across 10 states, a golf course in New York, a horse racetrack in Colorado, and has access to OSB licenses in 18 states. It also owns Bally’s Interactive International, formerly Gamesys Group, a leading, global, online gaming operator, Bally Bet, a first-in-class sports betting platform, and Bally Casino, a growing iCasino platform. With 10,500 employees, the Company’s casino operations include approximately 15,000 slot machines, 600 table games and 5,300 hotel rooms. Upon completing the construction of a permanent casino facility in Chicago, IL, and a land-based casino near the Nittany Mall in State College, PA, Bally’s will own and/or manage 17 casinos across 11 states. Its shares trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol “BALY”.
