Showtime closes out a full night of boxing with a WBC World Featherweight title fight between Gary Russell Jr. (26-1, 15 KOs) and Patrick Hyland (31-1, 15 KOs) in Mashantucket, Conn.
In the primary undercard Jose Pedraza (21-0, 12 KOs) puts his IBF World Super Featherweight belt on the line against Stephen Smith (23-1, 13 KOs).
Scroll on down for the live blog. Keep reading for the press release from Showtime.
MASHANTUCKET, CT (March 15, 2016) – Gary Russell Jr. will return to the ring to defend his WBC Featherweight World Title against Irish contender Patrick Hyland on Saturday, April 16, live on SHOWTIME® (11 p.m. ET/8 p.m. PT) from Foxwoods Resort Casino in Mashantucket, CT.
In the SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING co-feature, undefeated IBF Super Featherweight World Champion Jose Pedraza will defend against mandatory challenger Stephen Smith.
Russell Jr. (26-1, 15 KOs) will be making the first defense of his featherweight world title that he earned after stopping defending champion Jhonny Gonzalez in the fourth-round last March. He was set to defend last November, but was forced to withdraw due to a training injury. If he can get by the extremely motivated Hyland (31-1, 15 KOs), Russell Jr. is in line for big fights with fellow champions and top contenders such as Leo Santa Cruz, Lee Selby, Abner Mares and Carl Frampton.
Pedraza (21-0, 12 KOs) won his 130-pound world title last June when he dominated Andrey Klimov to capture the vacant belt, and he successfully defended it last October in an exciting battle against Edner Cherry. Both bouts aired on SHOWTIME. Now he faces the mandatory challenger in Smith (23-1, 13 KOs), who has won 11 straight bouts and may present the toughest challenge of Pedraza’s burgeoning career.
Tickets for the live event, which is promoted by DiBella Entertainment, are priced at $150, $90 and $45 not including applicable service charges and taxes and are on sale now. Tickets are available at www.ticketmaster.com and www.foxwoods.com or by visiting the Foxwoods’ Box Office. To charge by phone call Ticketmaster at (800) 745-3000. The Pedraza vs. Smith bout is promoted in association with Gary Shaw Productions, Universal Promotions and Matchroom Boxing.
A speedy and supremely talented boxer, Russell Jr., was impressive in his fourth-round stoppage of the battle-tested Gonzalez last March. The 2008 U.S. Olympian had scored important victories over Vyacheslav Gusev, Juan Ruiz, and Miguel Tamayo before losing a majority decision to Vasyl Lomachenko for the WBO 126-pound title in June 2014. The southpaw, of Capitol Heights, Md., was able to return to his winning ways with a unanimous decision over Christopher Martin that December prior to his coronation against Gonzalez, whom he dropped three times en route to capturing the title.
Leading into his last fight on Oct. 10, in Lowell, Mass., Ireland’s Hyland was dealing with heavy emotions following the death of his beloved father and longtime trainer, and the birth of his first son. The 32-year-old remained steadfast, fighting in memory of his father to stop David Martinez in the eighth round. It was his fourth consecutive victory since suffering his lone defeat, a close and competitive loss to the unbeaten Javier Fortuna for the interim WBA World Featherweight Title in December 2012. Now, presented with another world title opportunity, Hyland seeks to honor his father’s legacy by bringing the championship back home.
The show is on Showtime at 11 p.m. Let’s watch.
