“When I came out of the womb, I was throwing punches… I love kicking butt.”
This Saturday At 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT On SHOWTIME
Photo Credit: SHOWTIME Sports
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WHAT: Days ahead of his 135-pound title unification showdown with Mikey Garcia (38-0, 30 KOs), IBF Lightweight World Champion Robert Easter Jr. (21-0, 14 KOs) reflects on the path that has led to the most important night of his career in a video feature released today by SHOWTIME Sports®.
Born and raised in Toledo, Ohio, Easter dreamt of one day accomplishing what his father, also a professional boxer, was never able to accomplish: becoming a world champion.
“My dad had a short career and I made a promise to myself that I would make him live out winning a world championship through me,” said the 27-year-old Easter. “Winning a world title was a life-changing experience for me. We both lived out our dreams at that moment.”
Easter, who has made three successful defenses since winning his world title in an exciting contest over Richard Commey in 2016, decided to make the move to conduct training camp with Kevin Cunningham in West Palm Beach ahead of Saturday night’s unification against the WBC Lightweight Champion Garcia. Cunningham has worked with former world champions Devon Alexander, Cory Spinks and Adrien Broner and recently spurred Gervonta Davis to a dominant knockout of Jesus Cuellar.
“Moving to West Palm Springs took me out of my comfort zone,” Easter said. “I knew Kevin Cunningham had a strong camp and there’s no slacking in his program. I can really focus on boxing and on me.”
Live coverage of the SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING telecast begins at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT and also features Cuban heavyweight slugger Luis Ortiz (28-1, 24 KOs) returning to action to face former world title challenger Razvan Cojanu (16-3, 9 KOs) and opens with unbeaten super lightweight contender Mario Barrios(21-0, 13 KOs) taking on hard-hitting Jose Roman (24-2-1, 16 KOs) in a 10-round showdown.