Tomorrow night, Kings Promotions returns to the SugarHouse
Casino with a stacked card that will feature a former three-time Olympian in
the main event. Throughout the past
several years, it has been noted that Kings Promotions, which is ran by boxing
lifer Marshall Kauffman, has continued to put on entertaining shows for local
crowds throughout Pennsylvania. With his
base of operations being in the Northeast part of the state, Kauffman has also
established his promotional company along with other companies as a reliable
source of competitive fights. From the
looks of the latest offering, on paper, tomorrow night's action looks to be no
different.
Highlighting the card will be the aforementioned three-time
Olympian Anvar Yunusov (6-0)(3 KOs).
When speaking to Kauffman about the upside of Yunusov, the southpaw
boxer-puncher from Tajikistan, he understands time is not really on the side of
his fighter. Yunusov, is already 32
years old, but like other former amateur standout stars from Eastern Europe,
the hope is that all his international experience along with a lifetime in the
sport will translate into a professional glory.
“He has the skills and the ability to be a World Champion, and after
sparring with Tevin (Farmer), he got to see that he can compete with the best,”
states Kauffman. “I hope to see him fight for a world title within the next
year.”
What Kauffman is speaking about is the fact that recently
the current IBF Super Featherweight champion Tevin Farmer was preparing for his
world title defense against Anthony Carroll also a southpaw from Ireland. Yunusov was a key member of the camp as he
got Famer prepared for the challenge of Carroll. Yunusov did such a great job, that during the
post-fight press conference, Farmer pointed at him and mentioned to all the
members of the media that he played an important part in Famer's success that
night.
Yunusov has relocated to the Philadelphia area, creating a
new home base in the Northeast section of the city, which has a large Russian
and Eastern European population. He
spends his time with his Russian manager, who likes to go by the name Russian
Bill. Yunusov knows limited English, so
it’s Bill that tells the stories of how Yunusov loves to train and enjoys his
mornings chopping wood and running through the woods. If you listen to Bill enough, you get the
sense that his fighter is ready to challenge anyone in the world, and that it’s
a matter of time before he does just that.
Currently, Yunusov works with the same team that
he always has, except for the addition of Rashiem Jefferson as an assistant
trainer. Jefferson works closely with
many young amateur fighters and was himself a hot prospect after a celebrated
amateur career. Jefferson is a great
addition to the team as he has gained plenty of training experience working
closely with Raul “Chino” Rivas out of TKO Fitness in Cherry Hill, New
Jersey. Along with getting accustomed to
the professional world of prize fighting, Yunusov is working hard on getting
his children to join him in America.
While that personal situation gets sorted out, Yunusov will continue to
develop as a professional fighter, with fights like tomorrow against Carlos
Colon of Puerto Rico. Once his personal
life can truly be in order, with continued success, Kauffman’s idea of a world
title fight may not be that far off for the super featherweight.
As for the rest of the card, Brandon Robinson (11-2)(8 KOs) returns for the first time since losing late last year. It was a tremendous fight, that has since
gone on to win fight of the year honors for the Briscoe Awards (which is a
local award ceremony for the Philadelphia fight scene). Robinson is always in an entertaining fight,
which can also be said about jr. welterweight Anthony Mercado of Puerto
Rico. Both fighters will fight in an eight
round contest. Mercado, like Robinson, had a great fight against Victor Vazquez of Yonkers New York, winning a close
decision. Undefeated Philadelphian Mark
Dawson (5-0-1)(3 KOs) also will be in action in a welterweight fight.
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