This Friday, October 13, marks the 99th and final boxing event that will take place at the arena on Dana Shores Drive in Tampa that once went by the name of Egypt Shrine Temple and is now called A La Carte Event Pavilion. The arena that showcased world champion boxers such as John “The Beast” Mugabi, James “Bonecrusher” Smith, Frankie “The Surgeon” Randall, Nate “The Galaxy Warrior” Campbell and Keith “One Time” Thurman, was recently sold and faces December demolition.

All Star boxing promoted it’s first show at A La Carte in 2010 and Friday’s event will be it’s 19th there

“Many promoters have done shows in this building, I remember when Brad Jacobs back in the 80’s was doing boxing shows in that I building. I feel privileged and honored for All Star Boxing, Inc and the Telemundo Network to bid farewell to such an iconic building for boxing fans in Tampa, Florida” said Tuto Zabala, President of All Star Boxing, Inc

Thursday’s OFFICIAL WEIGH-IN will take place on Thursday at 4 pm at the Tampa Stadium Hotel at 4732 North Dale Mabry, Tampa, FL 33614.

On Friday, DOORS OPEN at 7 pm and FIRST BOUT is at 8 pm.

Egypt Shrine Temple hosted it’s first of twenty-seven boxing events on October 24, 1982 and the last on November 13, 1998. The first of seventy one boxing events under the present name of A La Carte Event Pavilion took place on April 13, 2002.

The main event Friday will be a ten-round super bantamweight bout between Daniel Lozano (14-4, 11 KOs) from Bowling Green, Florida against Ricardo Rodriguez (16-4, 5 KOs) from Mexico City, Mexico now residing in Los Angeles, California. Both fighters have a history of fighting at A La Carte. Lozano made his A La Carte debut on August 13, 2010 and has fought there ten times total (7-3, 4 KOs). This will be Rodriguez’ sixth fight at A La Carte and he has 5 wins with 1 KO there.

In the co-feature, 2016 US Olympian and six-time US National Champion Teofimo Lopez (6-0, 5 KOs) from Brooklyn, NY now residing in Davie, Florida will battle Angel Sarinana (7-7, 3 KOs) in a lightweight bout.

EGYPT SHRINE TEMPLE / A LA CARTE EVENT PAVILION FACTS:
47 boxers made their professional debuts at Egypt Shrine Temple / A La Carte
On November 4, 1983, Egypt Shrine Temple hosted it’s second boxing event which featured future World Heavyweight Champion James “Bonecrusher” Smith, in his 13th professional fight
On August 5, 1984, future world champion John “The Beast” Mugabi won by TKO against Frank “The Animal” Fletcher.
On September 11, 1984, future world champion Frankie Randall, 17-0 at the time, fought for the first of six times at Egypt Shrine Temple – he was 6-0 with 5 KO’s there.
Tampa’s own Don “Cowboy” Shiver, 22-1, 12 KOs over a four-year career, with his only loss against Olympic Gold Medalist Mark Breland, was undefeated in six fights at Egypt Shrine Temple
On June 20, 1985, Tampa native Joe “Jo Jo” Harris made his professional debut at Egypt Shrine Temple with a knockout win. He fought there again three weeks later winning again by TKO. Harris then lost 25 of his next 28 fights to finish his career at 5-25, 4 KOs
On March 25, 2004, Wauchula native Edner Cherry fought the first of 15 fights at A La Carte finishing 15-0 with 15 KOs at the Pavilion
October 7, 2005 Chevelle Lynette Hallback became the first woman boxer to fight at A La Carte – she would soon become WBC WBO WBA World Featherweight champ
On January 19, 2007, Tampa’s Ahsandi Gibbs made his professional debut at A La Carte and would fight there ten times winning eight.
Jacksonville’s Nate Campbell, future six-time world champion fought at A La Carte on March 2, 2007
Following in her father’s footsteps, Jenna “Cowgirl” Shiver made her A La Carte debut on May 4, 2007 – she would fight there twelve times in her career, winning ten with two knockouts
On November 9, 2007, St. Pete’s Keith Thurman made his professional debut at A La Carte. Keith fought seven of his first pro fights there and is currently 28-0, 22 KO’s and world welterweight champion.

NEW YORK (July 7, 2016) – Widely acknowledged as the preeminent Mexican-born fighter in history and one of the greatest prizefighters of all time, Julio Cesar Chavez will be honored as SHOWTIME Sports® airs classic Chavez fights in continuation of its year-long celebration of 30 years of SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING.

The month will be highlighted by four of the incomparable Chavez’ most memorable fights – against Hector “Macho” Camacho, Pernell “Sweet Pea” Whitaker, the second of three fights with Frankie Randall and the rematch with Meldrick Taylor. All four fights will air Thursdays at 10 p.m. ET/PT on SHOWTIME EXTREME (full schedule below).

For years, the revered ring legend was considered the world’s best pound-for-pound fighter. In an amazing 25-year-career (1980-2005), Chavez fought 115 times (107-6-2 with 88 knockouts). At the highest level, he competed in four weight classes – 130 pounds to 147 pounds – and was a six-time world champion in three divisions.

He holds records for the most world title successful defenses (27), most title fight victories (31), most title fights (37) and the second-most title defenses won by knockout (21, after Joe Louis with 23). Chavez was 31-4-2 with 21 KOs in world title fights. A multiple Fighter of the Year winner, Chavez was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2011.

The fights will air on “Throwback Thursday” during the month of July at 10 p.m. ET/PT on SHOWTIME EXTREME® and are available on SHOWTIME ON DEMAND®, SHOWTIME ANYTIME® and via the network’s online streaming service.

Below is the schedule of SHOWTIME EXTREME premieres for the month of July:
TONIGHT/Thursday, July 7: Chavez vs. Camacho
Thursday, July 14: Chavez vs. Whitaker
Thursday, July 21: Chavez Randal II
Thursday, July 28: Chavez vs. Taylor II

“Throwback Thursday” Tidbits
WBC super featherweight champion Chavez (81-0) and his WBO counterpart, Camacho, fought on Sept. 12, 1992, in Las Vegas. JCC turned back a determined bid by “Macho” to take a unanimous 12-round decision.

Chavez had an 87-fight winning streak end when he and WBC welterweight champion Whitaker fought to a highly controversial 12-round majority draw in Sept. 10, 1993, at the Alamodome in San Antonio. One judge scored it for “Sweet Pea” by 115-113; the others had it 115-115.

Chavez was dealt his initial defeat on a 12-round split decision to nemesis Randall on Jan. 29, 1994. In the rematch the following May 7, Chavez won a razor-thin, split eight-round technical decision after the fight was stopped because of a large cut over Chavez’ eyebrow. Chavez and Randall would fight a third time, with Chavez taking the rubber match on a clear, unanimous 10-round decision on May 22, 2004.

Chavez went 2-0 against Taylor, winning by eighth-round knockout in a rematch on Sept. 17, 1994. In their initial fight four-and-a-half years earlier, Chavez rallied to win by 12th-round stoppage.
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About Showtime Networks:
Showtime Networks Inc. (SNI), a wholly-owned subsidiary of CBS Corporation, owns and operates the premium television networks SHOWTIME®, THE MOVIE CHANNEL™ and FLIX®, and also offers SHOWTIME ON DEMAND®, THE MOVIE CHANNEL™ ON DEMAND and FLIX ON DEMAND®, and the network’s authentication service SHOWTIME ANYTIME®. Showtime Digital Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of SNI, operates the stand-alone streaming service SHOWTIME®. SHOWTIME is currently available to subscribers via cable, DBS and telco providers, and as a stand-alone streaming service through Apple®, Roku®, Amazon and Google. Consumers can also subscribe to SHOWTIME via Hulu, Sony PlayStation® Vue and Amazon Prime Video. SNI also manages Smithsonian Networks™, a joint venture between SNI and the Smithsonian Institution, which offers Smithsonian Channel™, and offers Smithsonian Earth™ through SN Digital LLC. SNI markets and distributes sports and entertainment events for exhibition to subscribers on a pay-per-view basis through SHOWTIME PPV. For more information, go to www.SHO.com.