[Roe]

Richard Abril vs Sharif Bogere
vacant WBA Lightweight
2nd Mar, 2013 - Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, The Joint, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA

With the original main event canceled because of an injury, Golden Boy Promotions on Thursday moved its March 2 Showtime card from the Apollo Theater in New York to the Hard Rock Resort and Casino in Las Vegas.

The card was originally supposed to be headlined by featherweight titlist Daniel Ponce De Leon of Mexico making his first title defense against Jayson Velez, a fighter from Puerto Rico, who would have drawn the bulk of the ticket buyers.

However, Velez injured his ankle on Monday and the bout was canceled. Golden Boy and Showtime decided to go ahead with the rest of the card, including the two other bouts scheduled for the televised part of the card.

In the new main event, interim lightweight titlist Richard Abril (17-3-1, 8 KOs), a Miami-based Cuban, will face Las Vegas-based Uganda native Sharif Bogere (23-0, 15 KOs) for a vacant lightweight world title and Washington, D.C., featherweight Gary Russell Jr. (21-0, 13 KOs), the 2011 ESPN.com prospect of the year, will meet Vyacheslav Gusev (20-2, 5 KOs) of Russia.

"Sharif Bogere is from Vegas and is very popular there, so for him fighting for his first world title, it makes sense to take it there," Golden Boy chief executive Richard Schaefer told ESPN.com. "The Apollo in Spanish Harlem, in the middle of the Mexican and Puerto Rican neighborhoods, made all the sense in the world for Ponce versus Velez, but with them off the card, it makes more sense to do it from Vegas."

Article by Dan Rafael at ESPN: http://espn.go.com/boxing/story/_/i...t-richard-abril-sharif-bogere-moved-las-vegas

 

[Roe]

 

[JamieC]

Abril finally gets his belt that he should already own

 

[Bryn]

Abril finally gets his belt that he should already own

:deal

 

[JamieC]

Plus I'd love to see him vs Broner, that would be a real test for Broner at lightweight, if he jumps up to light welterweight without fighting Vazquez, Burns or Abril then he really would be copying Floyd

 

[Wallet]

Ticket sales for this are going to be painful.

 

[Roe]

Abril wants Broner or Rios after Bogere

By Pablo Fletes, notifight.com

Cuba's Richard Abril (17-3-1, 8KOs) is putting the finishing touches on his training camp for the March 2nd clash with Sharif Bogere (23-0, 15KOs), for the vacant WBA lightweight championship. The fight will be televised on Showtime from the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas.

"I'm almost at the peak of my training. The work that I've done in he last few months has been good, including good sparring with Yoandris Salinas, Luis Franco, Emmanuel De La Rosa, among others. In short, the work has been very good thanks to God," Abril said.

"Bogere is a good fighter. I've seen several videos of his fights, he has ability. I think this is the biggest fight of my career. A win will give my career a boost. I want to show the public, my fans, that Richard Abril is ready for the big stage."

After Bogere, Abril wants to fight WBC champion Adrien Broner or he wants to avenge a controversial decision loss to Brandon Rios and he will go to 140-pounds to make that rematch possible.

"The result with Rios was controversial, but then I felt good because the public, including Mexicans, gave me their support and they told me I had won. After this fight, I would want to face Adrien Broner or get a rematch with Brandon Rios, regardless of him being at 140 pounds. I'll try to get permission from the WBA to jump in weight to face Rios, because I beat him a year ago and I know I can do it again. "

"Broner is a fighter who has resources, technical, resembles the style of Floyd Mayweather. But I'd like to fight him. I know I can connect on him just fine. Broner talks a lot and hopefully I can take that fight. "

http://www.boxingscene.com/richard-abril-bogere-i-want-broner-rios-next--62557

 

[Roe]