Big Time Boxing Back To Chicago Featuring: Jessie Vargas, Jarrell Miller, Tomasz Adamek, Artur Beterbiev, Daniel Roman, Jessica McCaskill and Shawn Simpson
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By Rich “Lite It Up” Lopez
As you all may have heard by now, a big boxing card was announced on Wednesday by Eddie Hearn and Matchroom Boxing USA. This event will take place at the new Wintrust Arena in Chicago, Illinois and will be the first American show live on DAZN. DAZN is a new streaming service for live fight events. Fight fans from the Chicagoland have something to be excited about and it’s about time.
The event is themed as Worlds Collide and rightfully so as fighters from the USA, Puerto Rico, Poland, Russia, and the United Kingdom will be showcased.
The main event will feature former Junior Welterweight and Welterweight Champion Jessie Vargas. Vargas is a well-schooled boxer and has fought a lot of great fighters such as Manny Pacquiao, Timothy Bradley, Sadam Ali, and Antonio DeMarco. Vargas is coming back after a disputed draw against Adrien Broner back in April and looks to continue to show why he is one of the best fighters in the Welterweight division. Vargas is looking to fight some of the top Welterweights or maybe a possible rematch with Broner, but first he will face former World Super Lightweight title challenger Thomas Dulorme from Puerto Rico. Dulorme has also fought good fighters as well and will be coming off a year layoff to see if he can upset Vargas. With Vargas being of Mexican decent, this fight can fit in the category of the classic Mexico vs Puerto Rico rivalry.
On the undercard we will have two world title fights.
Knockout artist Artur Beterbiev from Russia, who has a record of 12-0, 12 KO’s, will be defending his IBF World Light Heavyweight title against Callum Johnson. Beterbiev is an outstanding amateur and has been fighting professionally for five years now. With all the buzz in the Light Heavyweight division lately on Russia’s Dmitry Bivol, Beterbiev would like to shift some of that attention towards himself. Beterbiev is making his second trip to Chicago as he fought here in 2015 with a knockout victory over Alexander Johnson. His opponent Callum Johnson, will be looking to derail Beterbiev’s plans and make a name for himself. Johnson is also undefeated with a record of 17-0, 12 KO’s and just came off a stoppage victory over Frank Buglioni. This should be a shootout.
The other championship fight on the card will feature current WBA World Super Bantamweight Champion Daniel Roman from Los Angeles, California. Roman has been on a good streak and has not lost a bout since 2013. He won the title in hostile territory in Japan last year when he stopped Shun Kubo in the 9th round. He followed this up with 2 successful title defenses this year. First he traveled to Japan again and beat Ryo Matsumoto by a unanimous decision. Then two months ago, he beat the undefeated Moises Flores by a unanimous decision. Now he looks to make his 3rd title defense against Gavin McDonnell from the United Kingdom. McDonnell, who is the twin brother of former World Bantamweight Champion Jaime McDonnell, will be fighting for his second title shot. McDonnell is tough and is expected to give Roman a hard fight.
Another fight on the undercard to look out for is in the Heavyweight division. It will feature top Heavyweight contender Jarrell “Big Baby” Miller who is undefeated and making some big noise in the division. He has been calling out the top heavyweights like Deontay Wilder, Anthony Joshua, and Dillian Whyte. Not too long ago I stated he should fight Luis Ortiz in the meantime, but it looks like that will have to wait for now. Miller will be facing one of the best fighters from Poland which is Tomasz Adamek. Tomasz Adamek has been around for a long time and is a former Light Heavyweight and Cruiserweight World Champion. At age 41, Adamek continues to fight and is hoping to pull an upset against Miller. This will be Adamek’s fourth appearance in Chicago and it’s good to see him back. Expect to see a lot of Polish fans in attendance rooting for Adamek come fight night.
At last but not least, we will have two local favorites being showcased on the card.
Lightweight female boxer Jessica McCaskill will be having her 8th professional fight and is looking to rebound from her lost she suffered last year against Katie Taylor in Taylor’s hometown of the United Kingdom. McCaskill who was a 2010 St. Louis Golden Gloves winner and two time Chicago Golden Gloves winner (2014 and 2015), is looking to showcase her skills in front of her hometown fans. An opponent for McCaskill has not been announced as of yet
Also on the card is local favorite Shawn Simpson and is an undefeated fighter with an 8-0 record with 3 KO’s. He was an outstanding amateur fighter and was a two time Chicago Golden Gloves winner (2011 and 2012). He also did win the National Golden Gloves in 2012. Simpson will be looking to make an impression in front of the Chicago fans and climb up the rankings in the Bantamweight division. An opponent for Simpson has not been announced yet.
A good move by Eddie Hearn and Matchroom Boxing USA to bring a big boxing card back to Chicago. I’m excited about this and the fans in the Chicagoland area should be too. If this turns out well, hopefully we can see another boost of big time boxing in Chicago.
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