| |
|
|
Promising Bantamweight Chris
Avalos
Faces Fellow Unbeaten Chris Martin
In ShoBox Main Event, Friday, Aug. 6
Undefeated Cruiserweight Lateef “Power’’ Kayode Meets
Alfredo Escalera Jr.
In ShoBox Co-Feature; Live on SHOWTIME® at 11 p.m. ET/PT
From Grand Casino Hinckley, Hinckley, Minnesota
Four dedicated, determined fighters with a combined 64 wins
with 41 knockouts will be featured when ShoBox: The New
Generation returns Friday, Aug. 6, on SHOWTIME® (11 p.m.
ET/PT, delayed on the West Coast).
In yet another ShoBox battle of unbeatens, world-ranked
bantamweight Chris Avalos (16-0, 13 KOs), of Lancaster,
Calif., by way of San Diego, will face California state
featherweight and junior featherweight champion Chris “The
San Diego Kid” Martin (18-0-2, 5 KOs), of Chula Vista,
Calif., in an excellent 10-round main event.
Undefeated, hard-hitting cruiserweight Lateef “Power’’
Kayode (12-0, 11 KOs), of Nigeria, will seek his 12th
consecutive knockout when he makes his ShoBox debut against
Puerto Rico’s Alfredo Escalera, Jr. (18-2-1, 12 KOs), the
son and namesake of the former world champion, in the
eight-round co-feature at Grand Casino Hinckley, in
Hinckley, Minn. The doubleheader is promoted by Gary Shaw
Productions, LLC.
Avalos, who’ll be making his fourth appearance on ShoBox and
second in a main event, has been steadily ascending through
the ranks and is currently rated No. 5 by the World Boxing
Organization (WBO) and No. 11 by the World Boxing
Association (WBA).
“With names like Fernando Montiel, Yonnhy Perez and Abner
Mares, bantamweight is a very exciting and competitive
division,” said Gordon Hall, Executive Producer of ShoBox,
“It’s good to see these upcoming guys, like Avalos and
Martin, putting their unbeaten records on the line to prove
themselves as legitimate prospects and near future
contenders.”
“As long as I keep doing my job and winning and getting the
type of exposure I’m getting on SHOWTIME, I should keep
moving up,’’ said the 5-foot-7, 20-year-old Avalos, who has
won three straight by knockout and seven of his last eight.
“But there’s still a lot of work to do. The more I step up,
the tougher the opposition. I definitely expect a good fight
against Martin.’’
Named by several publications in 2009 as a Prospect to Watch
in 2010, the promising youngster has done his part so far
with an extremely active schedule. He turned pro on Feb. 1,
2008, fought eight times that year and six times in ‘09.
This will be this third outing in 2010.
An aggressive, crowd-pleasing fighter with solid two-fisted
punching power, Avalos tends to get reckless on occasion and
forgets to play defense, but it’s his all-out style that
makes him that much more entertaining to watch. In his most
recent start, he blew away John Molina in two rounds last
April 24 in Ontario, Calif.
Avalos, who is managed by Mike Criscio and is a stablemate
of unbeaten two-time light heavyweight world champion and
ShoBox alumnus Chad Dawson and junior middleweight contender
Alfredo Angulo, won his main event debut with an impressive
fourth-round TKO over Jose Nieves last Jan. 29 in
Albuquerque, N.M., on ShoBox.
“I’m beyond happy, but I didn’t think it would end that
quickly,” said Avalos after the Nieves fight. “I thought it
would go into the sixth round. He was a good fighter. I was
just the better fighter tonight.”
Five outings ago, in the co-feature on ShoBox, Avalos scored
a thrilling fourth-round knockout over Giovanni Caro in a
slugfest on Sept. 18, 2009, at Santa Ynez, Calif. Avalos
registered a second-round TKO over Andre Wilson in his
ShoBox debut on July 31, 2009, at Temecula, Calif.
On the July 16 ShoBox telecast, expert analyst Steve Farhood
previewed the Aug. 6 bout by stating, “You want to see some
power punching, you watch Chris Avalos.” Fellow analyst
Antonio Tarver seconded Farhood’s notion by adding, “I
thought Chris Avalos had star potential from day one. He’s
not afraid of taking chances and has a knack for bringing
the unexpected to a fight.”
A winner of eight in a row, the slick-boxing, 5-foot-6,
24-year-old Martin captured the California State 126-pound
title in his last outing with a convincing, lopsided yet
entertaining eight-round decision over Adolfo Landeros on
June 11, 2010, in San Diego.
“That was a good win for me,” said Martin, who has fought
nearly half his fights in the San Diego area. “I feel I’m
ready to fight some name opponents. I’m OK with whoever they
place in front of me. In all my fights, I give it my all and
never leave anything in the ring.’’
Martin won the California State 122-pound crown with a
seventh-round knockout over Eduardo Arcos on Nov. 12, 2009.
Martin retained the crown with a sixth-round knockout over
Ruben Lopez on April 8, 2010.
Durable and disciplined, the confident, well-conditioned,
non-stop punching Martin will try to utilize his excellent
jab and movement against the aggressive-minded Avalos, who
had difficulty with the skilled boxer Nieves, until Avalos
turned around the fight with one punch.
Martin, who started boxing at 14, excelled as an amateur,
winning the 2005 Ringside World Championship and a
California State Golden Gloves Championship. After turning
pro in July 2006, Martin went 4-0 before fighting the first
of his two draws. He trains out of the Alliance Training
Center in Chula Vista.
Kayode currently resides in Hollywood, Calif. He’s promoted
by Shaw and trained by the famed Freddie Roach at the Wild
Card Gym. An imposing figure with chiseled hands, Kayode has
won his last 11 fights by knockout – all inside four rounds
-- since winning by decision in his pro debut in August
2008. He is coming off a second-round knockout over Jose
Herrera last May 14 at Santa Ynez, Calif.
The 6-foot-2, 27-year-old Nigerian, whose goal is to become
a cruiserweight world champion, turned to boxing in 1988
after growing up on the tough streets of the Surulere
district of Lagos.
“It seemed like every day one of the guys in the local gangs
would demand that I buy them something at the store, or just
demand I hand over my money to them,’’ he said. “If I said
no, they’d beat me up. If you bought them things, it only
made them want to keep coming back to you. That’s why I
needed to learn how to fight.
“And once they learned I knew how to fight, they stopped
bothering me. That’s how I got my nickname, because my power
came from the streets.”
Kayode would become the top Nigerian amateur heavyweight,
winning gold medals in Pan-African competitions in Ghana,
Morocco and Algeria. After arriving in the United States to
pursue his dream, he went to Chicago to try and qualify for
the 2008 Olympic Games.
But his flight was delayed. “By the time I got there, the
tournament had already started,” he said. So, the boxer
turned pro. “The Nigerian Air Force wanted me to join, but
it wasn’t for me,’’ Kayode said. “ I knew I wanted to be a
professional boxer.’’
Kayode campaigned as a heavyweight for his first 10 fights.
This will be his third start at cruiserweight.
Escalera, whose father was a former World Boxing Council
(WBC) super featherweight champion, turned pro in April 2005
and won his initial 14 fights, 11 by knockout. He’s won his
last two starts and three out of four. In his last fight, he
registered a six-round decision victory over Hilario Guzman
on July 3, 2009.
In 2008, Escalera joined the fourth season of The Contender.
He won his first fight against Jon Schneider via unanimous
decision before Akinyemi "A.K." Laleye knocked him out in
the fifth round of their quarterfinal matchup.
The six-foot, 30-year-old split his time growing up in San
Juan and Orlando, Fla., where his mother resides. Besides
his father, he also had a brother, uncle and a couple of
cousins who also boxed.
“I sort of got interested in boxing because of my dad, but
because I didn’t live with him I took up football and
wrestling,’’ he said. “I wrestled for five years. I played
13 years of football. But whenever I was on the island, I
would train in the gyms with my dad. Right after I got out
of high school, I decided I had been fighting in the streets
so much that I just said ‘let me go ahead and make it legal’
and I got in the ring.’’
Escalera, who possesses good skills and movement, started
boxing at the age of 19. He compiled a record of 21-3 in the
amateurs. He fights out of Florida; 15 of his fights have
emanated from the Sunshine State.
Curt Menefee will call the action from ringside with Farhood
and Tarver serving as expert analysts. Hall is the executive
producer of ShoBox with Richard Gaughan producing and Rick
Phillips directing.
For information on SHOWTIME Sports Programming, including
exclusive behind-the-scenes video and photo galleries,
complete telecast information and more, please go the new
SHOWTIME Sports website at
http://www.sho.com/sports.
|
|
|
