Pittsburgh Boxing: Sammy Vasquez, Jr. Vs. Wale Omotoso At MGM Grand
By Larry Snyder
After his first 10-round unanimous decision victory over Emmanuel Lartey on Friday, Feb. 20 at Consol Energy Center, Sammy Vasquez, Jr. returns to the ring this Sunday, June 21 in Las Vegas to take on Nigerian boxer Wale Omotoso.
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The welterweight bout will mark the Premier Boxing Champions debut for both combatants, and it will air on CBS at 4 p.m. ET. The main event at the Grand Garden Arena, part of the MGM Grand, will feature Cuba’s Rances Barthelemy (22-0, 13 KOs) against Mexico’s Antonio DeMarco (34-4-1, 23 KOs) in junior welterweight action.
Vasquez Jr. is ranked 15th by the World Boxing Organization. The Monessen, Penna. native is 5-foot-10 with a 71 inch reach. The 29-year-old southpaw served two tours of duty in Iraq as a member of the National Guard.
“If his power overpowers mine, then I’m going to outbox him, easy,” Vasquez told Jason Bracelin on premierboxingchampions.com. “I don’t think he’s been hit as hard as I can hit him, so that’s something that I’m going to be looking for, to see how he reacts to certain things. I don’t think he’s fought anybody as fast as me with that power at the same time.”
The bout on Sunday marks the fourth time that Vasquez Jr. has fought outside the Keystone State. The first time was April 2012 against Damon Antonie at Mountaineer Casino Racetrack and Resort in Chester, West Virginia. It was his first win by unanimous decision in a four round bout.
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The next was a second-round TKO of Leandro Damian Albornoz in March 2013 at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. The last came on Friday, June 6, 2014 when the “Who Can Mexican” put up a third-round TKO over Jay Krupp at the Turning Stone Resort and Casino in Verona, New York.
The 30-year-old Omotoso comes into the bout at 5-foot-10 1/2 with a 67 1/2 inch reach. He is ranked 15th by the International Boxing Federation. The Lagos, Nigeria native owns a 25-1 record with 21 KOs and has not been in the ring since Thursday, Nov. 20, 2014 when he knocked out Mexico’s Abraham Alvarez in the second round. Omotoso’s only defeat came at the hands of current world champion Jessie Vargas in March 2013 when he lost a 10-round unanimous decision for the vacant WBC Continental Americas title.
From The Clipboard: Completing the undercard is a super middleweight encounter between J’Leon Love (19-1, 10 KOs) and Jason Escalera (15-3-1, 12 KOs); a junior welterweight clash among Lydell Rhodes (23-0, 11 KOs) and Jared Robinson (15-2, seven KOs); a confrontation of cruiserweights with Andrew Tabiti (9-0, nine KOs) and Thomas Hanshaw (6-5, four KOs); Ronald Gavril (12-1, nine KOs) battling Jessie Nicklow (24-6-3, eight KOs) in a super middleweight session; and Lanell Bellows (12-1-1, seven KOs) hooking up with Marcus Upshaw (16-13-4, seven KOs) in a meeeting of super middleweights. The doors at the arena open at noon.
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