Tonight on HBO: Lightweight and Super
Middleweight Showdowns
Photo/release: HBO
(MAR 22) HBO's late-night boxing series
presents a hot lightweight showdown when HBO Boxing After Dark: Joel
Casamayor vs. Michael Katsidis and Librado Andrade vs. Robert Stieglitz is
seen Saturday, March 22 (10:05 P.M. ET/PT) from the Morongo Casino Resort
and Spa in Cabazon, Cal., exclusively on HBO. The HBO Sports team of Bob
Papa, Max Kellerman and Lennox Lewis will be ringside for the event, which
will be available in HDTV, closed-captioned for the hearing-impaired and
presented in Spanish on HBO Latino.
Other HBO playdate: March 23 (9:00 a.m.)
HBO2 playdates: March 23 (4:00 p.m.) and 25 (11:00 p.m.)
In the main event, former lightweight and former junior lightweight champion
Joel "El Cepillo" Casamayor (35-3-1, 21 KOs), from Miramar, Fla., by way of
Guantanamo, Cuba, takes on top-rated lightweight contender Michael Katsidis
(23-0, 20 KOs), from Toowoomba, Australia, in a scheduled 12-round contest.
A crafty 12-year ring veteran, the 36-year old Casamayor has stood
toe-to-toe with the best the lightweight division has to offer, including
Acelino Freitas, Jose Luis Castillo and Diego Corrales; in October 2006,
Casamayor defeated Corrales by split decision to earn the lightweight title.
Michael Katsidis, is an exciting, all-action fighter - with 20 knockouts in
23 bouts, he's forged a reputation as one of the biggest, most relentless
punchers in the lightweight division. Following a unanimous decision victory
over Czar Amonsot in July 2007, Katsidis looks to overcome Casamayor at 135
pounds and catapult himself to stardom.
The evening's co-feature event is a super middleweight bout between
ambitious contenders, as Librado Andrade (26-1, 20 KOs), from La Habra, Ca.
squares off against Robert Stieglitz (31-1, 19 KOs) of Magdeburg, Germany.
Scheduled for 12 rounds at the 168-pound limit, this title eliminator
showdown is a showcase opportunity in a fluid division.
