@2-0-Sixx
.. not sure if you saw this, but it's pretty cool. First card airs tonight.
____
Mike Tyson’s Iron Mike Productions is promoting two cards this month -- Friday and Nov. 21 -- and it has snagged a television deal for both, which will air live on beIN Sports on its English-language network.
In Friday’s main event at the CONSOL Energy Center in Pittsburgh, hometown welterweight Sammy Vasquez faces Alberto Mosquera. Vazquez is coming off a thrilling ninth-round knockout of previously undefeated James Stevenson in August at the same venue.
“This is another tough fight for Sammy but he really showed his mettle to the boxing world with his performance against Stevenson,” Tyson said. “The welterweight division is very hot right now and we believe Sammy can compete with any of the top names.”
Vasquez (16-0, 12 KOs) has been training at altitude in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where he trained with lightweight titlist Terence Crawford and Tyson-promoted junior middleweight prospect Erickson Lubin, who is also on the card. Vasquez said the Stevenson fight gave him great experience.
“The Stevenson win brought a lot out of me,” he said. “I was still able to outclass him even though it wasn’t an early stoppage as my last few fights had been. I’ve had people question my chin but Stevenson tagged me a few times. No problem there whatsoever.”
Mosquera (21-1-2, 14 KOs), a southpaw from Panama, is coming off a ninth-round knockout to Charlie Navarro in June in Panama City.
In the all-Pennsylvania co-feature, lightweight Monty Meza Clay (36-3, 22 KOs) takes on Rod Salka (19-4, 3 KOs) in a 10-rounder. Meza Clay is coming off a sensational slugfest that he won by 10th-round knockout of Alan Herrera on the same August card as Vasquez-Stevenson. Salka has returned to lightweight where he belongs after being destroyed in two rounds in August by junior welterweight champion Danny Garcia in such a bad mismatch that the sanctioning organizations would not approve it as a title fight.
The 19-year-old Lubin (7-0, 6 KOs), of Orlando, Florida, faces Mexican veteran Norberto Gonzalez (20-5, 13 KOs) in the opener.
Tyson, as do many in boxing, believes Lubin, a southpaw and a star amateur before turning pro in November 2013, has the potential to be a world champion.
“Erickson’s got the ‘it’ factor,” Tyson said. “Having been around the sport for over 30 years I can tell when a fighter is special. We were impressed with him coming out of the amateurs and in his six fights this year the fans have loved him.”
Tyson’s Nov. 21 card, which will take place at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Tulsa, Oklahoma, is headlined by welterweight Felix Diaz (15-0, 8 KOs), a 2008 Olympic gold medalist from the Dominican Republic, against Adrian Granados (13-2-2, 9 KOs) of Chicago.