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"Night of the Undisputed:
Back-to-Back-to-Back" Official Release.
Undisputed Pay-per-View blockbuster
features Bernard Hopkins facing Williiam Joppy, Ricardo Mayorga battling
Cory Spinks and Hasim Rahman wages war against John Ruiz at the Boardwalk
Hall in Atlantic City.
Note: Ticket are almost sold out for
this weekend's event!
November 1, 2003 -- Saturday, December 13 will be an “Undisputed -- Back-to-Back-to Back” -- a blockbuster pay-per-view event. This unprecedented night of champions will feature
IBF/WBC Middleweight Champion and WBA Super Champion Bernard “The Executioner” Hopkins against 3-time and current WBA Middleweight Champion William
Joppy. The title parade will continue when WBA/WBC Welterweight Champion Ricardo “El Matador” Mayorga battles IBF Welterweight Champion Cory Spinks and Hasim Rahman fights John Ruiz for the WBA Interim Heavyweight Championship. And it doesn’t stop
there…WBO Jr. Welterweight Champion Zab “Super” Judah, WBA Super Welterweight Champion Alejandro “Terra” Garcia and IBF Jr. Flyweight Champion Victor Burgos will all defend their world titles. The world championship extravaganza will begin at 8:00 PM ET, live on pay-per-view.
“This is world championship boxing at its best and a must see for the boxing fan,” said Don King. “Hopkins is a middleweight institution facing a three time world champion William Joppy for the undisputed crown. Mayorga has emerged as a super-star and he’s meeting young Spinks for another undisputed title. I’m also very happy to be back with Park Place Entertainment’s Wally Barr and Ken Condon. I can’t wait to see this one.”
"It's been years since Atlantic City has hosted a boxing card of such a magnitude that it warrants a pay-per-view audience," said Ken Condon, President of Bally's Atlantic City. "Caesars and Bally's are thrilled to bring to Atlantic City a fight card that has everything – champions versus champions, great matchmaking and extreme showmanship."
"With Hopkins, Mayorga and Rahman fighting back-to-back-to-back, December 13th figures to be an extravaganza for pay-per-view boxing fans," said Mark
Taffet, HBO Sports Senior Vice President of Sports Operations & Pay-Per-View. "Don King has put together one of the most exciting boxing cards top-to-bottom in years."
The event will be held at Atlantic City’s Boardwalk Hall and will be promoted by Don King Productions in association with Caesars Atlantic City, Bally’s Atlantic City and
CMXchange. It will be distributed domestically by HBO Pay-Per-View and internationally by DK International Sales carried on
KingVision.
Hopkins (42-2-1, 31 KOs), the long-reigning middleweight champion from Philadelphia, Pa., has the
IBF, WBC 160-pound belts, and is recognized as the Super Champion by the
WBA. He is making a record 18th defense of the middleweight crown he won on April 29, 1995 by stopping Segundo Mercado in the 7th round in Landover, Md. His last defense was a lopsided 8th round stoppage of his mandatory challenger, outclassed European Champion Morrade Hakkar of France, in Philadelphia. His greatest triumph, however, remains his dominant victory over the legendary Felix “Tito” Trinidad on September 29, 2001 in front of a packed Madison Square Garden in New York to win the World Middleweight Championship Series
(WMCS). The victory over a great champion was his finest hour.
Joppy (34-2-1, 25 KOs), from Silver Spring, Md., is a three-time WBA Middleweight Champion. He first won the title in Yokohama, Japan, where he stopped Shinji Takehara to capture the crown via a 9th round TKO. He then successfully defended the title twice, before losing a controversial decision in Madison Square Garden in New York to Dominican Julio Cesar Green on Aug. 23, 1997. He regained the belt from Green January 31, 1998 in Tampa, Fla. with a unanimous decision. He then made 4-straight defenses of the title only to lose it to Felix “Tito” Trinidad in Madison Square Garden in the
WMCS, getting stopped in the 5th round.
The smooth boxing Joppy then took advantage of an opportunity when Hopkins was declared the WBA Super Champion. The WBA title became vacant and he fought the leading contender Howard Eastman of Great Britain to gain the crown for a 3rd time on November 17, 2001 in Las Vegas, NV. He successfully defended the belt on October 10, 2002 against Naotaka Hozumi in Tokyo, Japan, stopping the strong challenger in the 10th round.
The “all out” emerging super-star Mayorga (25-3-1, 22 KOs), from Managua, Nicaragua, the
WBA/WBC Champion, is fast becoming a Latino hero. He’s won his last three successive title-fights, besting highly regarded champions beginning with Andrew “Six Heads” Lewis on March 30, 2002 to win the WBA belt. On January 25, 2003 he added the WBC welterweight title in spectacular and devastating style by knocking out the previously undefeated 2002 boxer of the year Vernon Forrest, who had just come off two successive victories over “Sugar” Shane Mosley, with a TKO 3. He then, in very impressive fashion, defeated Forrest, again as the underdog, on July 12, 2003 in Las Vegas, NV.
The mischievous “bad boy” image he has established, smoking a cigar or cigarette from time to time or enjoying a beer and fast cars, only adds to his growing celebrity. He just signed multi-fight agreements to meet De La Hoya, Mosley,
Margarito, Vargas, and Bernard Hopkins. He has also agreed to go over to Iraq and perform an exhibition for the troops with his promoter Don King. Most importantly – he always comes to fight!
Spinks (31-2, 10 KOs), from St. Louis, Mo., is the son of former world heavyweight champion Leon
Spinks. He is a talented southpaw-boxing master who won the IBF Welterweight Championship on March 22, 2003 in Campione
D’Italia, Italy with a solid unanimous decision over Italian world champion Michele
Piccirillo. It was sweet revenge for Spinks, who lost to Piccirillo for the vacant title, via a controversial decision, in the same ring the previous year.
Zab “Super” Judah (29-1, 21 KOs) from Brooklyn, NY made his pro debut as a 19-year old on September 20, 1996 with a send-round TKO. On June 7, 1998, he won the USBA junior welterweight title against Micky Ward (W-12) and two years later, on February 12, 2000 won the IBF junior lightweight title. After winning that USBA title, Judah ran off a string of eleven victories, including ten inside the distance. He defended the IBF title six times, five of which were KOs. Then, on November 3, 2001, in a unification bout against Kostya
Tszyu, Judah lost (TKO-2) in a bout he thought was stopped prematurely. Judah has rebounded with back-to-back wins, the second being the WBO jr. welterweight title against Demarcus Corley on July 12, 2003.
Alejandro “Terra” Garcia (22-0, 21 KOs) from Tijuana, Mexico made his pro debut at 169-pounds on February 4, 2000. He had eleven bouts that year, six of which didn’t make it outside of the first round and only one of them going the distance. In 2001, Garcia had seven fights and seven TKO’s and won the NABO jr. middleweight title on December 17. On March 1, 2003 in Garcia’s first world title fight, he knocked Santiago Samaniego out in the third round to win the WBA super welterweight title. On September 20, 2003, he defended made a successful defense against Roshii Wells (TKO-10)
Tickets for “BACK-to-BACK-to-BACK,” priced at $600, $400, $250, $150, $100 and $50, are available at the Atlantic City Boardwalk Hall Box Office, by calling DKP Tickets at 1-800-589-4860, TicketMaster at 1-800-736-1420 or by visiting
www.ticketmaster.com.
The “BACK-to-BACK-to-BACK” pay-per-view telecast on December 13th is being distributed by HBO Pay-Per-View and will be available to over 48 million pay-per-view homes. The “BACK-to-BACK-to-BACK” pay-per-view telecast begins at 8pm ET/5 pm PT. HBO Pay-Per-View is the leading supplier of event programming to the pay-per-view industry.
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