LOS ANGELES, April 17 – On Saturday, April 21, fight fans around the country will get the chance to see more of boxing’s stars as Golden Boy Promotions and SHOWTIME® are excited to announce that additional bouts from the undercard of the highly anticipated world championship showdown between former World Champs Abner Mares and Eric Morel, will be televised. SHOWTIME EXTREME® will televise preliminary fights live from UTEP’s Don Haskins Center in El Paso, Texas featuring longtime super middleweight contender Librado Andrade against once-beaten Floridian Rowland Bryant in a 10 round battle and 2008 Mexican Olympian Francisco Vargas introduces himself to SHOWTIME viewers with an eight round junior lightweight contest against New Jersey’s Rafael Lora. Also featured (time permitting) will be unbeaten junior middleweight phenom Chris Pearson.
Barry Tompkins will call the action on SHOWTIME EXTREME from ringside with Steve Farhood serving as expert analyst.
Also, highly-regarded lightweight prospect Luis Ramos Jr. and local El Paso favorite Antonio Escalante are slated for non-televised action on the undercard.
“Mares vs. Morel: Battle on the Border” is a 12-round fight for the vacant WBC Super Bantamweight World Championship set for Saturday, April 21 at UTEP’s Don Haskins Center in El Paso, Texas. The co-featured fights will see Anselmo “Chemito” Moreno vs. David de la Mora in a 12-round fight for Moreno’s WBA Bantamweight Super Championship. The event is presented by Golden Boy Promotions and sponsored by Corona and AT&T. The SHOWTIME Championship Boxing doubleheader airs live at 9:30 p.m. ET/PT (delayed on the West Coast). Just prior to the action on SHOWTIME, preliminary bouts will air live on SHOWTIME EXTREME® beginning at 7:00 p.m. ET/PT (delayed on the West Coast).
Tickets, priced at $25, $50, $75 and $150, are available for purchase at the UTEP Ticket Office, all Ticketmaster locations or by phone at (800) 745-3000. Tickets may also be purchased online at www.ticketmaster.com. For more information, please call: (915) 747-5234.
Ultra-popular around the world for his fierce fighting style in the ring and his gentlemanly nature outside of it, Librado Andrade (30-4, 23 KO’s) has long been a top super middleweight contender, with exciting fights against Lucian Bute, Robert Stieglitz, Mikkel Kessler, Yusaf Mack and Eric Lucas to prove it. In search of his first world title, the 33-year-old from La Habra, California by way of Jesus del Monte, Guanajuato, Mexico is coming off of a third round technical knockout over Matt O’Brien for the WBC Continental Americas belt in August of 2011.
Looking to derail Andrade’s march towards a world championship is 32-year-old Florida native Rowland Bryant (15-1, 10 KO’s). A nine-year professional who knows the time is now to make his move, the hard-hitting Bryant has everything to gain with a win over the well-respected Andrade on April 21.
One of the newest additions to the Golden Boy Promotions roster, Mexico City’s Francisco Vargas (9-0-1, 7 KO’s) will battle Irvington, New Jersey’s Rafael Lora (11-7, 5 KO’s) in an eight-round junior lightweight fight. A 2008 Olympian for Mexico, the 27-year-old Vargas has knocked out his last six opponents, making him a tough hill to climb for any opponent.
Nicknamed “The Dominican Man,” 26-year-old Lora proudly represents his native Dominican Republic and with four first round knockouts on his record, one punch from him can change the direction of a fight immediately. A fearless battler who will take on all comers, Lora’s last six opponents, including World Champion Adrien Broner, had a combined 85-2 record.
A highly accomplished amateur with multiple titles and nearly 100 wins to his name, Chris “Sweet” Pearson (6-0, 3 KO’s) has started to take the professional game by storm with his incredible talent and exciting style. Just 21 years old, Pearson has scored two first round knockouts thus far in his young career and will jump right back into the ring for his third fight of 2012 in a four/six round junior middleweight fight against Phoenix’s Jose Martell (2-1-1, 2 KO’s).
23-year-old Luis Ramos Jr. (21-0, 9 KO’s) is well on his way to big things in the lightweight division as proven by his recent three-fight string of wins over Francisco Lorenzo (W8), David Rodela (KO5) and Raymundo Beltran (W10). Ramos will face an opponent to be named in a 10-round fight.
El Paso’s favorite fighting son Antonio Escalante (25-4, 17 KO’s) is 8-0 in his adopted hometown and the Juarez native has no intentions of seeing that run end on April 21. Escalante scored knockouts over Pipino Cuevas Jr. and Rynell Griffin in 2011 and the former NABO super bantamweight champion will be looking to make a statement at 130 pounds when he takes on Matamoros, Mexico’s Francisco Camacho (10-1, 3 KO’s) in an eight-round matchup.
For more information, visit www.goldenboypromotions.com, follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/GoldenBoyBoxing, www.twitter.com/abnermares00, or visit us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/GoldenBoyBoxing.
For information on SHOWTIME Sports, including exclusive behind-the-scenes video and photo galleries, complete telecast information and more, please visit http://sports.SHO.com, follow www.twitter.com/shosports, and visit www.Facebook.com/SHOBoxing.
AS THE SNOW FLIES SNOWBOARDER HAS DOWNHILL DARING
Daily News (Los Angeles, CA) January 18, 1996 | Brett Pauly Daily News Staff Writer She pounds the slopes 150 times a year, but April Lawyer falls short of calling herself a snowboard bum. A half-pipe junkie, perhaps, but not a pauper. here smith goggles
“It’s a laid-back lifestyle, but I wouldn’t say I was a total bum,” said the down-to-earth professional snowboarder from Big Bear Lake. “I do have a lot of fun and it’s not very stressful, but I don’t want to say I’m poor. I rent a house. I have a car. And I don’t borrow money from my parents.” Actually, Lawyer is far richer than her bank account suggests.
Indeed, she is an unassuming queen among the throngs of snowboarders identified by baggy pants, oversized sweat shirts and duct-taped gloves – a very existence that would scream poverty if it weren’t for those expensive surfboards-turned-skis strapped to the soles of their feet.
Her royalty is defined by top finishes in international freestyle competitions, corporate sponsorships, a burgeoning celebrity and a paycheck that will allow her finally to save money instead of merely getting by.
“I’m having the best time of my life right now. My job is to go out there and promote myself and get photos taken and all that stuff,” said the 20-year-old former children’s ski instructor who crossed over to snowboarding three years ago because she found it far more diverse and challenging.
Lawyer, who signed with her first professional backer last year, marvels at the notion of getting paid to snowboard.
“My folks are actually really excited about it,” she said. “They say that as long as I’m young and I’m able to do what I can do and make money and have fun, I might as well; it won’t last forever.” A grab-the-bull-by-the-horns-kind of gal, Lawyer rarely backs down to a challenge. Her specialty on the women’s pro snowboarding circuit is the big-air competition. She won an exhibition event in Japan last year and has several local successes.
“I have a lot of guts,” Lawyer said. “I think what makes me stand out is that my fear factor is a little different. I’m not really scared of many things.
“For example, if there is a big jump that a lot of people don’t take, I usually will as long as I know I won’t kill myself. I think ambition is the big difference.” She can fly 50 feet and excels at 360s and method air – acrobatically grabbing and twisting the board.
Competitors also match skills with her in the half-pipe event (freestyle maneuvers performed in a shell of snow), slope-style (tricks delivered over a series of jumps) and boarder-cross (a first-to-the-finish obstacle course in which five racers scramble around flags, berms and each other).
She will defend her big-air title next month in Japan during a three-week sojourn that will include filming a snowboarding movie and promoting the products of her sponsors – Hub snowboards, Airwalk boots, Bombshell clothing, Smith goggles and GMC gloves. Similar stops in Lake Tahoe and Colorado are slated before and after the overseas excursion.
Lawyer, who has called the San Bernardino Mountains home since age 3 and resides a stone’s throw from Snow Summit, is a quick learner brimming with natural talent. Last year, for instance, she took up mountain biking, then began competing and climbed the tour ranks from beginner to expert. She will be racing as a pro this year. website smith goggles
It’s not all speed and derring-do for Lawyer, however. She does have her mellow moments – painting watercolors, riding horses and disco dancing.
And though she is becoming more recognizable with each sideways tail grab, this poster girl for product catalogs, magazine ads and greeting cards remains unaffected and sincere.
“I’m definitely not different,” said Lawyer, who hopes to pursue management work in the snowboard industry. “People have known me for a lot of years living up here, and they know it hasn’t changed me. Every morning I get up to go snowboarding, the thrill is still in me.” It’s an excitement that will no doubt contribute to a canvas that has seen only the first of several promising brush strokes.
Brett Pauly Daily News Staff Writer
