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Two Hopkins vs. Taylor Larios vs. McCullough Montiel vs. Morel
July 16, 2005 MGM Grand Garden Arena Las Vegas, Nevada On PPV at 9pm ET / 6pm PT
Undisputed Middleweight Title Bout (12 Rds) Champ Bernard Hopkins (46-2-1, 32 KOs) vs. Jermain Taylor (23-0, 17 KOs)
WBC Super Bantamweight Title Bout (12 Rds) Champ Oscar Larios (55-3-1, 35 KOs) vs. Wayne McCullough (27-5, 18 KOs)
WBO Super Flyweight Title Bout (12 Rds) Champ Fernando Montiel (30-1-1, 24 KOs) vs. Eric Morel (35-2, 18 KOs)
Jr. Middleweight Bout (10 Rds) Vernon Forrest (35-2, 26 KOs) vs. TBA
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LAS VEGAS - Undisputed middleweight champion Bernard Hopkins will face undefeated middleweight heir apparent Jermain Taylor in a fight being billed as “NeXt in Line” Saturday, July 16 from the MGM Grand Garden Arena. The championship card will be presented by Golden Boy Promotions in association with DiBella Entertainment. The event will be televised and distributed live on HBO Pay-Per-View beginning at 9 p.m. EST/6 p.m. PST.
Tickets priced at $650, $450, $250, $150 and $75, not including applicable service charges, went on sale Saturday, May 7th at noon and are available at the MGM Grand Garden Arena box office. Tickets also will be sold at all Las Vegas Ticketmaster locations (Tower Records/WOW!, Smith’s Food and Drug Centers, Robinsons-May stores and Ritmo Latino). Ticket sales are limited to eight (8) per person. To charge by phone with a major credit card, call Ticketmaster at (702) 474-4000. Tickets also are available for purchase at www.mgmgrand.com or www.ticketmaster.com.
Oscar De La Hoya, President of Golden Boy Promotions, said, “Bernard Hopkins has always done things his own way, and this fight is no exception. At a time when most champions would waltz into retirement against easier opponents, Bernard is taking on the toughest available challengers and making the final fights of his career the most meaningful.”
This is a classic boxing match-up. Hopkins, the veteran warrior blessed with experience and skills that have led to a record-setting 20 consecutive title defenses, battles Taylor, the enthusiastic, upstart fighter who many boxing insiders believe is heir apparent to Hopkins’ throne.
Mark Taffet, HBO Senior Vice President of Sports Operations and Pay-Per-View stated, “Hopkins-Taylor is a significant crossroads fight between an undisputed world champion determined to cement his legacy and a rising star who is ready to challenge for the throne. Boxing fans will not want to miss this important event.”
For Hopkins, Taylor is simply next, next in a long line of pugilists who have tried and failed to dethrone the champion. Hopkins said, “Jermain Taylor has the skill and talent to become middleweight champion of the world one day. It’s just that the day won’t be July 16.” The young Taylor views it differently. “Yes I am next. The next undisputed middleweight champion of the world.”
Hopkins (46-2-1, 32 KOs) is already assured a place in the Boxing Hall of Fame thanks to his amazing record and 10-year reign atop the middleweight division. An old-school warrior who is the epitome of a Philadelphia fighter, the 40-year-old “Executioner” is one of the rare fighters who gets better and better with age. In his last bout February 19, Hopkins scored a dominating 12 round decision win over highly ranked British contender Howard Eastman.
Hopkins, who has publicly stated he will retire on his 41st birthday next Jan., is ready for a hectic career finale that begins with Taylor. “I give credit to Jermain for accepting this challenge,” said Hopkins. “Unfortunately for him, he will not stop me from finishing out my career the way I’ve always done things, my way.”
Jermain “Bad Intentions” Taylor (23-0, 17 KOs) is a 2000 U.S. Olympic Bronze Medalist who has carried that success with him into the professional ranks. A versatile boxer with a stiff jab and thudding power, the 26- year-old resident of Little Rock, Ark. has defeated former world champions Raul Marquez and William Joppy. His spectacular victory over previously unbeaten Daniel Edouard at the Staples Center in Los Angeles last February made him the most logical contender for Hopkins’ WBC, WBA, IBF and WBO titles.
Taylor stated, “Bernard Hopkins is a great champion and I have a lot of respect for him but I will not respect him once the bell rings. I have waited for this moment my entire life and I won’t be denied on July 16. If Bernard won’t pass the torch, I’ll just take it from him.”
A world-class undercard for “NeXt in Line” will be announced in the near future.
The Hopkins vs. Taylor telecast will be distributed by HBO Pay-Per-View and will be available to more than 50 million pay-per-view homes. HBO Pay-Per-View is the leading supplier of event programming to the pay- per-view industry. For more event information log onto www.HBOPPV.com.
For room availability and event ticket information about the MGM Grand, call (800) 929-1111 or (702) 891- 7777 or log onto the World Wide Web at www.mgmgrand.com.
The MGM Grand Garden Arena is home to concerts, championship boxing and premier sporting and special events. The Arena offers comfortable seating for as many as 16,800 with excellent sightlines and state-of- the-art acoustics, lighting and sound. Prominent events to date have included world championship fights between Evander Holyfield and Mike Tyson as well as Oscar De La Hoya vs. Bernard Hopkins and George Foreman vs. Michael Moorer; and concerts by The Rolling Stones, Madonna, Elton John, Bruce Springsteen, Paul McCartney, Bette Midler, Gloria Estefan, Janet Jackson, Phil Collins, Billy Joel, Backstreet Boys, ‘N Sync, Sting, Jimmy Buffett and the Barbra Streisand Millennium Concert. The MGM Grand Garden Arena is also home to the annual FOX Billboard Music Awards, the annual Andre Agassi Grand Slam for Children Benefit and the VH1 Divas Las Vegas shows.
- Press Release issued by MGM Grand with a little editing from us (color, highlights, etc...)
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All-Star Lineup Added To Hopkins-Taylor Undercard: Larios-McCullough,Montiel-Morel, And The Return Of Vernon Forrest Highlight July 16 HBO Pay-Per-View Card
LOS ANGELES – It’s rare when every bout on a major a pay-per-view broadcast brings interest and excitement on its own, but the undercard of the highly-anticipated undisputed middleweight championship clash between Bernard Hopkins and Jermain Taylor does just that. The July 16th telecast will feature two world championship matches and the return of a former welterweight world champion.
Next in Line – Hopkins vs. Taylor, will be televised by HBO Pay-Per-View live from the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada, beginning at 9pm ET / 6pm PT.
A night to remember just got more memorable.
In a 12 round WBC super bantamweight championship bout, Oscar ‘Chololo’ Larios and Wayne ‘The Pocket Rocket’ McCullough will revisit their epic war from February of this year, a bout that is already an early Fight of the Year candidate for its non-stop action and gritty performances by both warriors.
Newly crowned WBO junior bantamweight champion Fernando ‘Cochulito’ Montiel will put his title on the line against former flyweight world champion Eric ‘Little Hands of Steel’ Morel in a 12 rounder that will recall the classic Mexico vs. Puerto Rico battles of the past.
Former welterweight champion Vernon Forrest will return to the ring for the first time since being sidelined by a shoulder injury when he battles an opponent to be announced shortly in a 10 round junior middleweight bout.
All bouts are presented by Golden Boy Promotions. Hopkins-Taylor is presented in association with DiBella Entertainment.
Considered to be the premier 122-pound fighter in the world, WBC super bantamweight champion Oscar Larios (55-3-1, 35 KOs) proudly bears the responsibility of being one of this generation’s top Mexican warriors. With eight title defenses already under his belt, ‘Chololo’ has his sights set on unifying the title and cleaning out the super bantamweight division, but he will have a tough foe to vanquish in McCullough, who gave Larios one of the toughest fights of his career on February 10.
In that 12 round war, Larios and McCullough stood toe-to-toe for most of the bout as each tried to break the other’s resolve. It didn’t happen. And though Larios scored the decision victory, boxing fans have clamored for a rematch, eager to see these two 122-pounders do it again.
A native of Belfast, Ireland who now makes his home in Ireland, Wayne McCullough (27-5, 18 KOs) is a former WBC bantamweight champion who has faced down some of the hardest punchers in boxing (Erik Morales, Naseem Hamed, Scott Harrison) without batting an eye. An all-action fighter who has never been in a bad fight, McCullough is determined to set up a rubber match with Larios by beating him on July 16. One of boxing’s most accomplished champions despite being only 26-years-old, Fernando Montiel (30-1-1, 24 KOs) added a third world title to his trophy case on April 9 when he easily dismantled previously unbeaten Ivan Hernandez in seven rounds. In doing so, the talented Los Mochis native became a WBO 115- ound champion for the second time (Montiel had also won the WBO flyweight title), and he plans on a long reign at the top.
San Juan’s Eric Morel (35-2, 18 KOs) had a very impressive run himself at the top of the flyweight division, reigning for over four years from 2000 to 2004. Now he has his sights set on a world championship at 115 pounds, and his ‘Little Hands of Steel’ are firmly pointed in the direction of Fernando Montiel.
Opening up the pay-per-view portion of the show on July 16 will be former welterweight champion Vernon Forrest (35-2, 26 KOs), who will make his triumphant return to the ring for the first time in over two years. The pride of Georgia, who is known for his classy demeanor in and out of the ring, has been sidelined by injuries, but reports from his training camp are pointing to him returning to the form that had him on top of the pound for pound lists after his back-to-back victories over Shane Mosley in 2002.
Tickets for NeXt in Line, priced at $75, $150, $250, $450, and $650, are available at the MGM Grand Garden Arena box office outlet. Tickets also are sold at all Las Vegas TicketMaster locations (Tower Records/WOW!, Smith's Food and Drug Centers, Robinsons-May stores and Ritmo Latino). Ticket sales are limited to eight (8) per person. To charge by phone with a major credit card, call TicketMaster at (702) 474-
000. Tickets also will be
available for purchase at
www.mgmgrand.com or
www.ticketmaster.com.
(702) 891-7777 or log onto the
World Wide Web at
www.mgmgrand.com. HBO Pay-Per-View and will be available to over 50 million pay-per-view homes. HBO Pay-Per-View is the leading supplier of event programming to the pay-per-view industry.
For more event information log
onto www.HBOPPV.com.
- Press Release issued by Golden Boy Promotions with a little editing from us (color, highlights, etc...)
Subject to Change
(6/10/05)
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