Abraham-Marquez world title fight
Broadcast live Nov. 8 from Germany
HOBOKEN, N.J. (October 16, 2008) – Integrated Sports will distribute the long awaited November 8th showdown between unbeaten International Boxing Federation middleweight champion “King” Arthur Abraham and top contender Raul “El Diamente” Marquez, in the United States and Canada, live from Germany.
Abraham-Marquez, originally scheduled October 4, was postponed due to Abraham’s sudden illness on the day of the fight and rescheduled for Nov. 8 at the same site, Jako Arena, in Bamberg, Germany.
Abraham-Marquez is promoted by Wilfried Sauerland, presented by Sauerland Event and its Managing Director, Christian Meyer, in association with Seminole Warriors Boxing. The broadcast is being distributed in the United States and Canada by Integrated Sports for live viewing at 3 PM/ET – 12 PM/PT on both cable and satellite pay-per-view via iN Demand, TVN, DISH Network,Viewer’s Choice Canada, and Bell ExpressVue, for a suggested retail price of only $24.95. iN Demand will show a replay the following day (Sunday, Nov. 9) at 2 PM/ET. Al Bernstein and Nick Charles will call the action.
Abraham (27-0, 22 KOs), rated No. 1 by The Ring and ESPN, is coming off of his first fight in the United States (Hollywood, FL), stopping Edison Miranda (30-2) in the second round of their June 21st non-title fight in explosive fashion. Abraham, however, remains somewhat of a curiosity factor in North America in terms of being a serious threat for Kelly Pavlik in a potential unification bout.
“King” Arthur captured the IBF middleweight title nearly three years ago by way of a fifth-round knockout of Kingsley Ikeke (23-1). Seven successful title defenses have followed against Miranda, Shannon Taylor, Kofi Jantuah, Sebastian Demers, Khoren Gevor, Wayne Elcock and Elvin Ayala.
The 37-year-old Marquez (41-3-1, 29 KOs), rated No. 2 by the IBF as well as No. 8 by The Ring and ESPN, earned his title shot against Abraham by defeating previously unbeaten No. 1 contender Giovanni Lorenzo (26-0) in their IBF title eliminator on the June 21st Abraham-Miranda card. Marquez, fighting out of Houston, was a 1992 U.S. Olympian who was the IBF junior middleweight title-holder in 1997.
Despite taking off 1 ½ years to work as a broadcaster for HBO’s boxing telecasts in Spanish, Raul is more experienced in the ring than Abraham – 269 to 161 in rounds fought – having been in against world champions Jermain Taylor, Shane Mosley, Fernando Vargas and Yori Boy Campas.
The 10-round co-feature on the PPV show from Germany has former NABO champion Otis “Triple OG” Griffin (19-3-2, 7 KOs), of Sacramento, taking on Yugoslavian-born Enad Licina (14-1, 8 KOs), now living in Germany, for the vacant IBF Intercontinental cruiserweight belt. Additional undercard bouts to be part of the PPV card will soon be announced.
For more information about the Abraham-Marguez PPV go to www.integratedsportsnet.com or www.warriorsboxing.com