BOXING HARD ROCK LAS VEGAS 13 AUGUST

The Bantamweight Tournament Final: Winner Takes All
Undercard Features Regional and National Title Championships
Plus Some of Boxing’s Top Undefeated Rising Stars In
Support of Main Event Featuring World Title Battle Between
Joseph King Kong Agbeko and Abner Mares On Saturday, Aug. 13
at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Las Vegas
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LAS VEGAS (Aug. 4, 2011) – Boxing promoters Don King Productions and Golden Boy Promotions will include a World Boxing Council United States heavyweight national championship, a World Boxing Association FEDECARIBE regional junior lightweight championship and a handful of boxing’s top undefeated rising stars on the non-televised undercard of the SHOWTIME® Bantamweight Tournament Final: Winner Takes All that pits International Boxing Federation bantamweight champion Joseph King Kong Agbeko against undefeated WBC silver bantamweight champion Abner Mares on Saturday, Aug. 13 at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas.

In a twelve round bout, WBC No. 12-ranked heavyweight contender Eric “Drummer Boy” Molina (17-1, 13 KO’s), from Lyford, Texas , will take on Warren “The Hit Man” Browning (14-1-1, 9 KO’s), from London , Ky. , for the WBC U.S. heavyweight national championship. The WBA FEDECARIBE super lightweight title will be on the line when undefeated Cuban-born Angelo “La Cobra” Santana (10-0, 7 KO’s), from Miami , Fl. squares off against Jesse Carradine (7-1-1, 3 KO’s), from Cincinnati , Ohio in a nine round fight.

Former interim World Boxing Organization Bantamweight Champion and former World Boxing Association Flyweight Champion Eric Morel (44-2, 22 KO’s), born in Puerto Rico but now fighting out of Madison, Wis., will be featured in a bantamweight attraction scheduled for 10 rounds against Daniel Quevedo (13-11-2, 8 KO’s) from Los Angeles, Calif.

Undefeated lightweight rising star Luis Ramos Jr. (19-0, 8 KO’s), from Santa Ana , Calif. , will risk his perfect record against “Dangerous” David Rodela (15-4-4, 6 KO’s), from the boxing hotbed of Oxnard , Calif. , in an battle slated for 10 rounds.

Also in action will be rising star Carlos Molina (14-0, 7 KO’s) of Norwalk , Calif. , who will put his unbeaten record on the line in an eight round junior welterweight bout against an opponent to be named.

Eric Molina is an intriguing heavyweight prospect. His dream is to become the first Mexican American heavyweight world champion, and he’s off to a good start. He’s a hard worker inside the gym and in life as evidenced by the fact he earned a bachelor’s degree in interdisciplinary studies from University of Texas at Brownsville and has volunteered to work with special needs children in his native Texas .

He’s a tall, rangy boxer at 6 foot 6 inches, but his Mexican toughness comes out in the ring as he is a busy heavyweight. Possessing an 84-inch full reach, he can cause problems for any opponent.

Molina will be tested by Warren Browning, a former Toughman champion, who fought undefeated cruiserweight Ryan Coyne last summer and was within striking distance of pulling an upset going into the ninth round before being caught with a punch on the ear that ended the fight.

Eric Morel is on a nine-fight winning streak that dates back to 2005. The 35-year-old, who turned professional in 1996, won the WBA flyweight world title in 2002 and made five successful defenses. He is coming off of a fourth-round technical knockout over former world title challenger Luis Maldonado on April 1. Morel will face the younger Quevedo, a 27-year-old on a three-fight win streak that includes two early knockouts in 2011.

Undefeated lightweight Angelo Santana has one of the most interesting back stories in boxing. Like so many Cubans before him, Santana jumped onto a makeshift raft with 27 others in the summer of 2007 and washed up in Miami three days later. Just 10 days later, a boxing manager brought him to the attention of Don King, who signed him immediately. Four months later, Santana’s first appearance as a professional came when he appeared at Madison Square Garden on the undercard of Felix Trinidad vs. Roy Jones Jr. He won that night and has won every night since.

Santana looks to maintain his perfect record against Jesse Carradine (7-1-1, 3 KOs) of Cincinnati . Carradine had a successful amateur career and is tall for his weight at 5 feet 10 inches. A skilled boxer, he excels when he can keep shorter opponents at a distance where he can ply his craft. Carradine also benefits from the wisdom and sage advice of trainer Donald Turner, who guided Evander Holyfield and other greats of the sport.

Rising lightweight star Luis Ramos Jr., is coming off the biggest win of his career against former world title challenger Francisco Lorenzo on June 3. The 23-year-old undefeated southpaw, a former amateur star who has also defeated respected veteran Walter Estrada, will face another tough test against David Rodela in the first 10-round fight of his career. The 29-year old Rodela has paid his dues with wins over Kevin Kelley, Julio Gamboa and Gamalier Rodriguez on his way to this all-Southern California showdown.

Also hailing from Southern California is Norwalk junior welterweight prospect Carlos Molina. A professional since 2007, the 25-year-old Molina has made steady progress through the competitive local circuit, drawing rave reviews along the way. In his most recent bout, Molina scored a near shutout win over John Figueroa last November and after a minor injury that sidelined for the first half of 2011, he is eager to get back in the ring and continue on his road to the top.

The Bantamweight Tournament Final: Winner Takes All is promoted by Don King Productions and Golden Boy Promotions and is sponsored by Corona .

Tickets, priced at $200, $100, $75, $50 and $25, along with a limited number of VIP suite seats priced at $150, are on sale now and may be purchased at the Hard Rock Hotel Box Office, all Ticketmaster locations, online at www.Ticketmaster.com or by phone at (800) 745-3000.

The highly anticipated 12-round world title match and Bantamweight Tournament Final between Joseph Agbeko (28-2, 22 KOs), from Accra, Ghana, and Abner Mares (21-0-1, 13 KOs) of Hawaiian Gardens, Calif., by way of Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico, was originally scheduled for April 23, but was postponed when Agbeko was injured moments after arrival at Los Angeles International Airport during fight week. Doctors at a nearby hospital diagnosed the champion with sudden onset sciatica, a back injury.

Agbeko, who had never previously missed a fight, was told by a Los Angeles physician to receive treatment and wait six weeks before resuming training after the April 23 postponement. He has resumed training and will be fully fit to face Mares on Aug. 13.

Agbeko will be making his first start since recapturing the IBF crown with an impressive 12-round unanimous decision win over then-unbeaten Yonnhy Perez in the bantamweight tournament semifinal on Dec. 11, 2010, in Tacoma , Wash. Agbeko convincingly won a thrilling give-and-take battle by the scores of 117-111, 116-112 and 115-113. Their exciting fight came in a rematch of a 2009 Halloween night slugfest that Perez won on points.

It will also be the first fight back for Mares since the semifinals in Tacoma, where he rallied dramatically to earn the most significant victory of his career, a 12-round split decision win over former two-division world champion Vic Darchinyan in a bloody, knockdown-laden affair. Mares recovered from a deep cut along his hairline in the opening round, the first knockdown of his career in the second round and a point-deduction in the fourth round to floor Darchinyan in the seventh round en route to a victory by scores of 115-111, 113-112 and 111-115.

For more information, visit www.donking.com or www.goldenboypromotions.com, become a fan on Facebook at www.facebook.com/GoldenBoyBoxing or follow the event on twitter at www.twitter.com/GoldenBoyBoxing or www.twitter.com/abnermares00.

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://sports.sho.com/.

About Don King Productions:

Don King Productions has promoted over 600 world championship fights with nearly 100 individual boxers having been paid $1 million or more. DKP also holds the distinction of having promoted or co-promoted seven of the 10 largest pay-per-view events in history, as gauged by total buys, including three of the top five: Holyfield vs. Tyson II, 1.99 million buys, June 1997; Tyson vs. Holyfield I, 1.6 million buys, November 1996; and Tyson vs. McNeeley, 1.58 million buys, August 1995.

DKP has promoted or co-promoted 11 of the top 20 highest-grossing live gates in the history of the state of Nevada including five of the top seven: Holyfield vs. Lewis II, paid attendance: 17,078, gross: $16,860,300 (NOTE: Also second-highest live-gate gross for any event in the history of the world.), date: Nov. 13, 1999; Holyfield vs. Tyson II, paid attendance: 16,279, gross: $14,277,200, date: June 28, 1997; Holyfield vs. Tyson I, paid attendance: 16,103, gross: $14,150,700, date: Nov. 9, 1996; Tyson vs. McNeeley, paid attendance: 16,113, gross: $13,965,600, date: Aug. 19, 1995; and Trinidad vs. De La Hoya, paid attendance: 11,184, gross: $12, 949, 500. Sept. 18, 1999.

About Golden Boy Promotions:

Los Angeles-based Golden Boy Promotions was established in 2002 by Oscar de la Hoya, the first Hispanic to own a national boxing promotional company. In 2007, in its fifth year of promoting, Golden Boy Promotions set a record by selling over 2.5 million in pay-per-view homes in a single night. Also in 2007, Golden Boy Promotions established the record for highest grossing pay-per-view homes in a single year with more than 4 million total. In 2009, the company broke records again by breaking the million mark in pay-per-view homes again with the return of Floyd Mayweather. Golden Boy Promotions is one of boxing’s most active and respected promoters, presenting shows in packed venues around the United States and the world on networks such as HBO, HBO Latino, HBO Plus, SHOWTIME, TeleFutura, Televisa, ESPN2 and Fox Sports Net.

Golden Boy Promotions currently has over 70 fighters under contract, from future Hall of Famer Bernard Hopkins to current world champions and superstars Saul Alvarez, Robert Guerrero, David Haye, Chris John, Amir Khan , Marcos Maidana, Anselmo Moreno and Victor Ortiz. Also included on the company’s roster are top contenders Librado Andrade, Erislandy Lara, Abner Mares, Daniel Ponce De Leon and Peter Quillin as well as highly regarded prospects Adrien Broner , Danny Garcia, Frankie Gomez, Seth Mitchell, Carlos Velasquez and Deontay Wilder.

About Showtime Networks Inc.:
Showtime Networks Inc. (SNI), a wholly-owned subsidiary of CBS Corporation, owns and operates the premium television networks SHOWTIME®, THE MOVIE CHANNEL™ and FLIX®, as well as the multiplex channels SHOWTIME 2™, SHOWTIME® SHOWCASE, SHOWTIME EXTREME®, SHOWTIME BEYOND®, SHOWTIME NEXT®, SHOWTIME WOMEN®, SHOWTIME FAMILY ZONE® and THE MOVIE CHANNEL™ XTRA. SNI also offers SHOWTIME HD™, SHOWTIME 2 HD™, THE MOVIE CHANNEL HD™, SHOWTIME ON DEMAND®, THE MOVIE CHANNEL ON DEMAND™ and FLIX ON DEMAND®. SNI also manages Smithsonian Channel™, a joint venture between SNI and the Smithsonian Institution. All SNI feeds provide enhanced sound using Dolby Digital 5.1. SNI markets and distributes sports and entertainment events for exhibition to subscribers on a pay-per-view basis through SHOWTIME PPV®.

About Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Las Vegas:

Hard Rock Hotel & Casino is a premier destination entertainment resort in Las Vegas, owned by Brookfield Real Estate Finance Fund II, a division of Brookfield Asset Management (NYSE: BAM) and managed by WG-Harmon, LLC, a subsidiary of Warner Gaming, LLC. Built in 1995, the property completed a $750 million expansion in 2010. Hard Rock Hotel & Casino offers an energetic entertainment and gaming experience with the services and amenities associated with a boutique luxury resort hotel. The property is known for its innovative nightlife and music scene where acts such as The Rolling Stones, Bon Jovi, Paul McCartney, Incubus, Linkin Park , Foo Fighters and The Killers have all performed. Features of the property include an 11-story Hard Rock Hotel tower with 640 guest rooms, 17-story Paradise Tower with 490 rooms and suites and the all-suite HRH Tower with 359 suites, eight spa villas and seven penthouse suites; 72,000 square feet of casino space; 80,000 square feet of flexible meeting and convention space; the luxurious Vanity Nightclub; Reliquary Water Sanctuary & Spa; Reliquary Salon; 4.8 acres of tropical pool paradise; REHAB, the trendsetting Sunday afternoon pool party; The Joint concert venue; Hart & Huntington Tattoo Co.; restaurants including Rare 120 steakhouse, the Tuscan-style Italian eatery AGO, world-renowned Nobu, Johnny Smalls, Pink Taco and Mr. Lucky’s 24/7 diner; numerous cocktail lounges; several retail stores; and a state-of-the-art Fitness Center. For room availability and additional information call 800.HRD.ROCK (800.473.7625) or visit www.hardrockhotel.com.
CONTACTS: Alan Hopper, Don King Productions: (954) 418-5839