NEWS CONFERENCE BRUNCH ANNOUNCING FERNANDO MONTIEL vs. NONITO DONAIRE WORLD BANTAMWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP COLLISION
Tomorrow! Monday, January 10 at 11 a.m. PT Mizuya Lounge at Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino
LAS VEGAS, NEV. (January 9, 2011) – World Bantamweight Champion FERNANDO “ Cochulito” MONTIEL and two-division world champion NONITO “The Filipino Flash” DONAIRE will host a News Conference Brunch announcing Las Vegas’ first world title fight of 2011. The news conference brunch will take place Tomorrow! Monday, January 10, at the Mizuya Lounge, located on the casino floor of Mandalay Bay.
Brunch will be served at 11:00 a.m. PT, with the news conference beginning at 11:30 a.m. PT. Joining the two Top-10 pound-for-pound fighters will be Hall of Fame promoter Bob Arum and Richard Sturm, president of Sports and Entertainment for MGM Resorts International. All participants will be available for one-on-one interviews.
Montiel defends his title against Donaire in “DYNAMITE!” — the latest chapter of the explosive México-Philippines rivalry, Saturday, February 19, at Mandalay Bay. Promoted by Top Rank, in association with Zanfer Promotions, the Montiel-Donaire world title tilt will be televised live on HBO Boxing After Dark, beginning at 9:45 p.m. ET/PT (delayed on the West Coast.)
The broadcast will open with undefeated NABO/NABA/WBC Continental Americas welterweight champion MIKE JONES defending his titles against Top-10 contender JESUS SOTO-KARASS in a rematch of their exciting battle which took place on November 13 on the Manny Pacquiao-Antonio Margarito pay-per-view
extravaganza.
Montiel (43-2-2, 33 KOs), of Los Mochis, Sinaloa, México, is only the fourth Méxican fighter to win world titles in three different weight divisions, joining Hall of Famer-elect Julio César Chávez and future Hall of Fame inductees Erik Morales and Marco Antonio Barrera. Undefeated since 2006, eight of Montiel’s last 10 victories (eight were world title fights) have been by stoppage.
Donaire (25-1, 17 KOs), a native of General Santos City, Philippines, now living in the Bay Area of San Leandro, Calif., enters this fight riding a nine-year, 24-bout winning streak, which includes an IBF/IBO flyweight title knockout victory over defending champion Vic Darchinyan, and a fourth-round blasting of former WBA bantamweight champion Wladimir Sidorenko in his last fight on December 4. Nine of Donaire’s last 10 victories have come by way of knockout.
Remaining tickets to Dynamite! — Montiel vs. Donaire, priced at $250, $125, $50 and $25, not including applicable service charges, can be purchased at all Ticketmaster locations (select Smith’s Food and Drug Centers and Ritmo Latino). Ticket sales are limited to eight (8) per person. To charge by phone wiTh a major credit card, call Mandalay Bay at (877) 632-7400 or Ticketmaster at (800) 745-3000. Tickets also will be available for purchase at _www.mandalaybay.com_ (http://www.mandalaybay.com/) or
_www.ticketmaster.com_ (http://www.ticketmaster.com/) .
As in September, I once again ran out of gas in the 10th & 11th championship rounds of October & November with this column, but I recovered to complete them and will unleash a few more flurries to close out the 12th and final round.
In the first week of October, Hassan N’Dam won a UD over Curtis Stevens in an eliminator for the right to challenge Jermaine Taylor who defeated aging Sam Soliman to regain the IBF Middleweight title. How Taylor even earned this title shot is another story altogether, but it is all irrelevant as he is now the champion. However he will not have too much time to savor his victory as he has assault and battery charges pending against him and an upcoming court fight that may turn out to be the toughest fight of his life, just when things started to look up for him in boxing, we wish him luck.
Should be an interesting fight!