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HBO
Championship Boxing
Mosley
vs. Wright II

November 20, 2004
Mandalay Bay Events Center - 6:45pm
Las Vegas, Nevada
Jr. Middleweight Title Bout
Champion Ronald "Winky"
Wright (47-3, 25 KOs) vs. "Sugar" Shane Mosley (39-3, 35
KOs)
Las Vegas – Gary Shaw
was proud to announce that WInky Wright, the
first undisputed super
welterweight champion in 29
years, would defend his title in a rematch against Sugar Shane
Mosley, one
of boxing's most exciting
stars, as they respectively try to repeat or rewrite their history
together, fighting
once again for the world super
welterweight title, Saturday, November
20, at Mandalay Bay Resort &
Casino
in Las Vegas, NV. The world
championship bout, promoted by Gary Shaw
Productions , LLC. ,
will be
televised live nationally on
HBO's “World Championship Boxing,”
beginning at 9:45 PM ET / 6:45
PM PT.
Tickets for this exciting
evening of boxing are priced at $600, $400, $200, $100 and $50 (sold out)
at the
Mandalay Bay Box Office and
all TicketMaster outlets. To order tickets by phone, call (702) 632-7580.
“The class of the super
welterweight division is encapsulated in this fight,” said Shaw. “In Sugar
Shane, you
have the only many to beat
Oscar De La Hoya -- TWICE. And in Winky, you have the first man to
ever unify
all three major belts in the
history of the super welterweight division. These two stepped up and made
history
when they first fought on
March 13. Now we will see if Winky will repeat history or if Sugar Shane
will rewrite
it. If it is one thing boxing
fans have learned from rematches, expect the unexpected and enjoy a great
fight!
This fight belongs at Mandalay
Bay, which has hosted the most memorable fights in the history of boxing,
including the first
Mosley-Wright fight. Tony Alamo deserves all the credit for
bringing the fight to this
magnificent property.”
Wright, 47-3 (25 KOs), a
native of Washington, D.C., now residing in St. Petersburg, FL, is in the
third year
of his second tour as world
champion. Forty percent, (20 to you non-math majors), of Wright's fights
have
been on foreign soil earning
the supremely self-confident champion the moniker
“International Man of Misery ”
(to his opponents!) .
Wright has fought professionally in eight
different countries on four different continents .
He captured his first world
title in 1996, defeating WBO jr. middleweight champion
Bronko McKart in
McKart's hometown. Wright then
traveled to England, successfully defending his title three times in
succession against the top
world-rated British contenders. Wright lost his title to South African
Harry
Simon via a
highly controversial majority decision in 1998. The fight, which took
place in South Africa, was
first announced a “Draw,” but
after a so-called “error” was discovered in the addition of one of the
scorecards,
Wright was informed in his
locker room that Simon was awarded the title via a recalculated majority
decision. After losing another
controversial majority decision to then-undefeated IBF jr. middleweight
champion Fernando
Vargas in 1999, a fight
the vast majority of the media and spectators alike thought
Wright won handily, Wright
regrouped and captured the IBF title vacated by Felix Trinidad in
2001. He
successfully defended it five
times, including his victory over Mosley.
“Shane Mosley and I made
boxing history and personal history on March 13,” said Wright. “Shane and
I were
the only two people in this
division man enough to risk it all to become the undisputed world
champion. Trust
me, I know. I offered the same
opportunity to De La Hoya and Vargas over and over and over again. Shane
gave me the opportunity to
fight for the undisputed title and I have no problem returning the favor
and making
my first title defense against
him. But mark my words, history WILL repeat itself and I will leave the
ring on
November 20 the same way I
came in – as the world super welterweight champion.”
Mosley, 39-3 (35 KOs), from
Pomona, CA, captured his third world title in as many different weight
classes,
September 13, 2003, in front
of a sellout crowd in Las Vegas, NV, when he overpowered WBC/WBA super
welterweight champion
Oscar De La Hoya en route to a
12-round unanimous decision in their long-awaited
rematch.
The fight, which was televised
by HBO Pay-Per-View, was the second-highest non-heavyweight pay-per-view
in history, with over 975,000
buys and $50.2 million in pay-per-view revenue. It was the second time
Mosley
had dethroned De la Hoya from
his world title perch, having beaten him in 2000 for the WBC welterweight
championship. Mosley held that
title for nearly two years, successfully defending it three times.
Mosley captured his first
world championship, the IBF lightweight title, in 1997. Mosley's
lightweight title
reign lasted two years through
eight successful defenses – all by
knockout -- before vacating to move up two
divisions to welterweight.
“I have accomplished a lot in
my career,” said Mosley. “No one has defeated De La Hoya twice and not
many can boast three world
titles in three different weight classes. Winky may have won the first
fight, but
he is not facing the same
Sugar Shane. My new trainer, Joe Goossen, has taken me to new
heights. Like
Sugar Ray Leonard did
in his rematch against Roberto Duran and Sugar Ray Robinson did in
his
rematches against Gene
Fullmer and Carmen Basilio, I am coming back to rewrite history
and reclaim
the world super welterweight
title. History is always a little sweeter when you add some Sugar to it.”
"This fight between two
world-class champions has all the elements of the classic rematches that
have
made this sport so great,"
said Tony Alamo, Sr . Vice
President of Mandalay Resort Group (Mandalay Bay's
parent company). "Mandalay Bay
is proud to host this world championship event as it represents what we
strive to deliver to our
customers above all else - Boxing at its Best."
Before Wright unified the
title in March, the last time the 154-pound division had an undisputed
world
champion was when
Koichi Wajima reclaimed
the title from Oscar Albarado via a 15-round decision,
January 21, 1975, before the
IBF was established, in Tokyo, Japan. Since then, the title has been
splintered
with only Terry Norris,
Felix Trinidad, and De La Hoya ever holding two of the
three belts simultaneously.
- Press Release issued by
Gary Shaw Productions (with a little editing from us)
Card subject to change
(11/19/04)
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