Beibut Shumenov vs. Danny Santiago Featured On Tomorrow’s TeleFutura‘s ‘Sólo Boxeo Tecate’ Broadcast From South Point Hotel Casino In Las Vegas
LAS VEGAS – One of professional boxing’s most driven world champions is World Boxing Association (“WBA”) and International Boxing Association (“IBA”) light heavyweight king, Beibut Shumenov, who takes the next step on his mercurial rise in the sweet science on July 29, headlining “Fire & Fury” against two-time world title challenger Danny “The Bronx Bomber” Santiago, on TeleFutura’s “Sólo Boxeo Tecate” broadcast live from South Point Hotel Casino in Las Vegas, Nev.
“What really drives Beibut is to be better in every single fight,” commented Shumenov’s head trainer, 1984 Olympic Silver Medalist Kevin Barry. “He sets very high standards and goals. You can’t tell Beibut he can’t do something; he’ll do it, just to make a point, and what he has already accomplished in boxing is unprecedented.”
“Beibut has the fan-friendly style to become a major star in boxing,” continued Barry. “Beibut is a tremendous athlete who would have been a star in any professional sport he chose. In my 25 years in boxing, I have never seen anybody as driven as Beibut.”
“Fire & Fury” is promoted by KZ Event Productions (Shumenov and his brother, Chingis, own and operate the Las Vegas-based KZ Event Productions) in association with Golden Boy Promotions, Don Chargin Productions, Guilty Boxing and South Point Hotel Casino and is sponsored by Cerveza Tecate and AT&T. Doors open at 5:30 PM PT, the first bout at 6:00 PM PT and the TeleFutura broadcast begins at 11:30 PM ET / PT (10:30 PM CT).
Tickets, starting at just $25, are available for purchase at South Point’s box office, online at www.SouthPointEventCenter.com/
Fans at home can also be part of the action by participating in Cinturón Tecate and voting for the fighter in the main event who displays the most character in the ring by sending a text message to 55333. Voting will be open through the end of the weekend.
Shumenov (11-1, 7 KO’s), who lives and fights out of Las Vegas, first represented his native Kazakhstan in the 2004 Olympic Games. Then, he set a light heavyweight record by capturing a world title in the fewest career fights, 10, when he won a 12-round decision against Gabriel Campillo on January 29, 2010 in Las Vegas. Now, he is driven to unify the 175-pound division world championships and eventually become the undisputed light heavyweight champion of the world.
In a pair of world title defenses, Shumenov won a unanimous 12-round unanimous decision versus No. 1 mandatory challenger and previously undefeated Viacheslav Uzelkov, followed by a six-round knockout over Three-Time World Champion William Joppy.
In just 11 professional fights, Beibut has defeated four current and former world champions (Campillo, Joppy, Byron Mitchell and Montell Griffin), as well as two world title challengers (Uzelkov and Epifanio Mendoza). “My brother chose a path in boxing unlike most fighters,” Chingis Shumenov explained. “He always challenged himself instead of fighting easy opponents just to build-up his record. Beibut wanted to fight world champions, practically right from the start of his professional career. His overall development is due to him learning from each fight because he’s fought so many experienced, quality opponents. He has greatly improved in a relatively short time and his ultimate goal is unifying all of the world titles at 175 pounds.”
Despite being on a journey to unify the light heavyweight titles, Shumenov remains fully focused on the task at hand, which is to successfully defend his WBA and IBA world titles on July 29 against WBA #15 ranked Santiago (31-4-1, 19 KO’s), who was featured on the third season of The Contender reality television series.
The stacked card features two other champion KZ Event Productions fighters in fellow unbeatens WBA FEDALATIN Welterweight Champion Ravshan Hudaynazarov and WBA International Light Heavyweight titlist Gayrat Ahmedov, who will defend their titles in separate bouts.
WBA # 9 rated Hudaynazarov (14-0, 12 KO’s) faces former USNBC titlist Hector “The Hurricane” Munoz (19-5-1, 12 KO’s) in a ten round fight, while WBA #2 Ahmedov (16-0-1, 11 KO’s) takes on veteran Bill Bailey (11-11, 4 KO’s) in an eight round fight.
In what promises to be an exciting fight, popular Las Vegas junior lightweight “Lightning” Lonnie Smith (13-2-2, 9 KO’s) squares off against Tijuana’s Eduardo “Lalo” Arcos (16-4-1, 13 KO’s) in a four round junior lightweight battle.
Also featured will be Las Vegas fan favorite Ramon Montano (17-9-2, 2 KO’s) facing welterweight Juan Suazo (7-4-3, 5 KOs) in a six-round fight. Also on the card is Freddie Roach-trained, unbeaten junior lightweight prospect Joel Diaz (4-0, 3 KO’s) squaring off against Denver’s Esteban Nichol (3-1, 3KO’s) in a four round tilt, as well as undefeated Russian cruiserweight Medzhid Bektemirov (5-0, 5 KO’s) of Houston who faces Chad Davis (3-8) of Phoenix in a four-round bout. All fights and fighters are subject to change.
For additional information about “Fire & Fury,” Shumenov or any of KZ Event Productions’ fighters, visit www.KZEventProductions.com. For more information on Golden Boy Promotions, visit www.goldenboypromotions.com, follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/
