Wales’ Lee Selby stoked to be defending his title in ‘mecca of boxing’

Aron Martinez

Lee Selby/Photo courtesy of Premier Boxing Champions

 

All eyes Jan. 28 figure to be on the main event between Leo Santa Cruz of Lincoln Heights and Carl Frampton of Northern Ireland when they square off in a rematch for Frampton’s featherweight world title at MGM Grand in Las Vegas (on Showtime). But there is plenty going on with the undercard, and another featherweight champion – Lee Selby of Wales – is stoked to be part of it.

Selby (23-1, 8 KOs) will defend his title against former champion Jonathan Barros (41-4-1, 22 KOs) of Argentina (on Showtime Extreme).

“It’s been a dream of mine since I was a young kid to box in a world-title fight in Las Vegas, the mecca of boxing,” said the 29-year-old Selby, who will be making his Las Vegas debut and will be fighting in the U.S. for just the second time. “I’ve seen UK fighters like Lennox Lewis, Ricky Hatton, Joe Calzaghe and Amir Khan box in Las Vegas and I always knew that’s where I wanted to fight.”

Barros, 29, plans on spoiling Selby’s fun. Barros said, in part, “Selby has never faced anyone as dangerous as me and I plan on making it a long night for him.”

Santa Cruz (32-1-1, 18 KOs) and Frampton (23-0, 14 KOs) tangled July 30 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, with Frampton winning a majority decision and taking Santa Cruz’s title.

 

 

 

Twitter Facebook Pinterest Reddit Tumblr Email Snailmail

Showtime’s replays of ‘Britain’s Best’ good way to spend a Thursday night

Nigel Benn/Photo courtesy of BoxRec.com

 

Showtime Championship Boxing this month will continue its 30th anniversary celebration with a series of Thursday-night replays entitled “Britain’s Best” that will air on Showtime Extreme.

A total of five fights will be shown, the first of which will be the rematch between Nigel Benn and Chris Eubank that took place in October 1993 in England. It was a super middleweight title bout that ended in a draw and took place in front of about 42,000. They first tangled in a middleweight title fight in November 1990, Benn stopping Eubank in the ninth round in England.

That will air Sept. 1.

The other four fights are Prince Naseem HamedTom “Boom Boom” Johnson (Sept. 8), Ricky HattonKostya Tszyu (Sept. 18), Joe CalzagheJeff Lacy (Sept. 25) and Carl FrochJermain Taylor (Sept. 29).

 

Twitter Facebook Pinterest Reddit Tumblr Email Snailmail