PHOENIX (July 14, 2017) – What’s hotter than Phoenix in July? Roy Jones Jr. Boxing and the FIGHTNIGHT LIVE Facebook series will answer that question this Saturday, July 15, at 7:30 p.m. PT (10:30 p.m. ET) when the tech-forward, fan-friendly broadcast platform delivers once again – this time with a stacked fight card featuring championship action live from the desert.
Promoted by Roy Jones Jr. and Keith Veltre, Saturday’s event will bring fans back-to-back championship action. The event will showcase a main attraction featuring NABA Super Welterweight Champion John “The Phenom” Vera Jr. (16-0, 10 KOs) as he takes on the former WBO Latino Champion Daniel Rosario (11-2, 10 KOs) in a 10-round contest live from in Chandler, Ariz. Super bantamweight standout and former WBA World Champion Rico Ramos (25-5, 13 KOs) will go toe-to-toe with Tony Lopez (12-2, 4 KOs) for the vacant NABA Super Bantamweight title as part of a stacked fight card filled with Arizona-area heroes.
“Roy and I have always felt that live streaming would take the place of the old platforms of delivering fights,” stated Veltre, CEO and Co-Founder of Roy Jones Jr. Boxing Promotions. “To partner up with Linacre Media and showcase our talent live with Facebook is years ahead of anyone else in the industry. This will give us the ability to reach millions of boxing fans around the world and enable us to deliver our sponsors triple the exposure we would normally get from traditional TV. Mark Fratto, the brains behind this envisioning series, is giving fighters the opportunity to showcase their talent to the world and gain a fan base. We are thrilled that his vision lines exactly where Roy Jones Jr. Boxing Promotions wants to be.”
Vera, of Fort Worth, Texas, has a perfect mark of 16-0 with ten knockouts, and is ranked No. 7 by the WBA and No. 14 by the WBO.
The 28 year-old southpaw has built that mark on the strength of beating good competition. He has defeated Alberto Robles (3-0) and Radmir Akhmediyev (7-0). He won the NABA title with a sixth-round stoppage over Joey Rueles (10-1-1). He has defended the title successfully twice with a second-round stoppage over Milorad Zizc (12-1), and in his last bout when he won a 10-round split decision over Salim Larbi on January 27 in Phoenix.
Rosario, of Caguas, Puerto Rico, has a record of 11-2 with 10 knockouts. Like Vera, the 29 year-old Rosario has built his record with impressive victories over Carlos Ramos (1-0), Jordan Wisenfeld (4-0-2), Alphonso Black (8-1-1), and won the WBO Latino Super Welterweight title with a second-round stoppage over Aaron Garcia (14-3-1). Rosario is coming off an eight-round split decision loss to Norberto Gonzalez on November 18, 2016, in Las Vegas.
Ramos, of Watts, Calif., has a record of 27-5 with 13 knockouts. The 30 year-old won the WBA Super Bantamweight title with a seventh-round stoppage over Akifumi Shimoda in 2011. After losing the title, he fought for the world championship again, but lost to Jesus Cuellar. Ramos is on a three-fight win streak with his latest victory coming via a 10-round unanimous decision over Erik Ruiz on March 11 in Las Vegas.
Lopez, of Fort Worth, Texas, has a record of 12-2 with four knockouts. Lopez has defeated three undefeated fighters; included in that is a win over highly regarded Jerren Cochran (11-0). Lopez is coming off a fifth-round technical decision over Ranel Suco this past April 27 in Dallas.
The stacked undercard includes an eight-round welterweight clash between Abel Ramos (17-2, 12 KOs) of Phoenix battling Emmanuel Robles (15-2, 4 KOs). Four more undercard fights will start the bill off with fights featuring undefeated bantamweight Max Ornelas (8-0-1, 3 KOs) rematching fellow undefeated warrior, Leopoldo Martinez (6-0-1, 3 KOs) – their last bout ended in a technical draw following a headbutt. Super featherweight Randy Moreno (8-1, 7 KOs) takes on local favorite Ivan De La Madrid (3-1) and welterweight Vernon Brown (4-0, 3 KOs) of Chicago puts his undefeated slate on the line against fellow unbeaten battler Daniel Castro Jr. (2-0, 2 KOs) of Durango, Mexico.
Fights and fighters are subject to change; limited tickets are still available at
www.WinGilaRiver.com. A tape-delayed version of the live show will air on BeIN Sports one week after the live show on Facebook.
Supporters of the Sweet Science can take advantage of the multi-camera FIGHTNIGHT LIVE broadcast on Facebook – completely free wherever Facebook is available – and also check out all of the action in ULTRACAST 360˚ or ULTRACAST VR by downloading the ULTRACAST app and subscribing to the PPV feed for only $.99. Available for IOS and Android, fans simply need to download the ULTRACAST app in the App store or by visiting
www.ultracast.com/app.
“We’re excited to be able to capitalize on cutting-edge technology to give the Roy Jones Jr. Boxing audience a ringside seat, live from the greater Phoenix area,” said Mark Fratto, Principal of Linacre Media. “Our Facebook Live series continues to keep fight fans at the forefront, now with not just one – but three – high-quality viewing experiences available.”
The numbers on the FIGHTNIGHT LIVE series have showed promise and potential for the new platform. The May “Slugfest at the Sun” from Mohegan Sun and the June “Rosemont Rumble” from Chicago drew audiences of 44,000 and 31,000, respectively, with more than 3,000 of hours of LIVE video consumed by Facebook users. In addition to the raw viewership numbers, the fully-interactive, fan-friendly productions have seen more than 15,000 collective live post engagements, including more than 9,000 “likes” or “loves,” more than 5,000 comments and 800-plus shares.
Facebook FIGHTNIGHT LIVE has been delivered to fans absolutely free since its May 2017 launch courtesy of corporate partners like Barbour One 9, Talent Management and Entertainment Production (
www.barbourone9.com) and Northeastern Fine Jewelry (
www.nefj.com).
On Saturday night, July 15, live from Wild Horse Pass Casino in Chandler, Ariz., fans can expect a high-impact, multi-camera streaming experience – now also available in ULTRACAST 360˚ and ULTRACAST VR – complete with graphics, animations, replays, interviews and an announce team anchored by blow-by-blow announcer Miguel Flores of Premier Boxing Champions and analyst Michael Woods of the TalkBox Podcast, NYFights.com and The Ring. Joining the broadcast team once again will be world-ranked light heavyweight Mike Lee. University of Notre Dame alum Lee (19-0, 10 KOs) is ranked No. 12 by the WBO, No. 12 by the IBF, No. 13 by the WBA and No. 14 by the WBC, and will be ringside with Flores and Woods to provide expert analysis. To provide spectators with a fully-interactive ringside experience, commentators will ask and respond to questions from the Facebook audience throughout the broadcast.
Created and produced by Linacre Media out of New York City, the FIGHTNIGHT LIVE series features multiple camera angles, graphics, replays and behind-the-scenes access and interviews. The streamed shows are available globally wherever Facebook is available. The initiative not only enables fans from around the world to tune in, but also gives up-and-coming fighters a global platform to showcase their abilities, gives promoters an accessible “broadcast” solution and gives sponsors the ability to reach a mass audience via branded content.
FIGHTNIGHT LIVE strap season continues on Saturday, July 29, in Raleigh, N.C., as Tar Heel State undefeated super flyweight Dewayne Beamon competes for the IBO Inter-Continental and UBF World Junior Bantamweight titles. More FIGHTNIGHT LIVE dates will be officially announced in the coming weeks.
Follow all the action via social media at FaceFIGHTNIGHTLIVE on Facebook, @FaceFIGHTNIGHTLIVE on Instagram and @FIGHTNIGHTLIVE_ on Twitter, or by using the hashtag #FIGHTNIGHTLIVE. For the latest Linacre Media events and broadcast schedule, follow @LinacreMedia across all social platforms or use the tags #LinacreMediaEvents or #LinacreMediaOnTV. Follow Roy Jones Jr. Boxing on Instagram at @RoyJonesJrBoxing and on Twitter at @RoyJonesJrFA.
