"You're Next" Card Preview!

By Dylon Silversey

Tomorrow evening, live from the Prudential Center in Newark, Zab “Super” Judah and knockout artist Lucas Matthysse headline what promises to be a night filled with action from end to end. Robert Guerrero and Vicente Escobedo will co-feature HBO’s Boxing After Dark program, another fight that contests two skilled boxers and should produce some fireworks.

Aside from the past champions on their way to reclaiming glory and relative unknowns getting ready to show casual boxing fans what they are all about, the great state of New Jersey will once again feature some of its best fighters. Along with many from the tri-state area.

The night will kick off at 6:00 with undefeated Ghanaian prospect Bastie Samir (5-0 5KO) squaring off against Damion Reed (2-3 1KO) from Reidsville, NC. Samir looks to start the fireworks early and continue his great start and record another knockout.

Newark’s own Angel Concepcion (2-0 0KO) will bring the local flavor to the arena as he steps into the ring against Philadelphia’s Maurice Amaro (1-2 0KO). Concepcion is excited to be able to once again show his ability in front of his hometown at “The Rock” and hopes to continue on his path to become a champion.

Middletown’s Tyrone Luckey (1-0 1KO) made his debut earlier this year at The Prudential Center, knocking out Larry Yanez 54 seconds into the first round. Luckey hopes to continue that theme as Alex Monte (1-1 0KO) comes to New Jersey from Lawrence, MA to try and spoil Luckey’s second fight. In the fourth fight of the night, Kywame Hill (1-5 1KO) and Long Island’s Michael Brooks (2-0 1KO) will match up in a four round contest. Twenty year old Eduardo Alicea will make his debut against Danny Pastrana (2-2). Alicea is an excellent amateur boxer who is signed to Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions.

Canada’s undefeated light middleweight Mikael Zewski (4-0 3 KO) will battle Ardick Butler (5-2 2 KO) in the last four rounder of the night. Zewski is another boxer on the Golden Boy roster and was a four-time Canadian National Champion.

Michael Angelo "The Artist" Perez (9-0 4KO) will make his Newark debut Saturday night, facing Hevinson Herrera (14-6 9KO). The crowd should be amped up by this time to cheer on their hometown hero, and Perez will be excited as well. We spoke to Perez earlier last month, about how he felt about fighting in Newark “I want to perform well out there. It’s a long time coming.” Another one of the Golden Boy fighters featured on the card, Perez has the chance to show the boxing experts in press row just who he is and what he can do. The heavy handed Herrera should give Perez the toughest test of his short, yet successful career.

The undefeated, former US Olympian Sadam Ali (9-0 5KO), will face Gary Bergeron (12-6 7KO) in the first eight round bout of the evening. Ali, from Brooklyn, showed some slick boxing last time out, knocking out Lenin Arroyo in the fifth round. Just like in the Perez fight that precedes it, Ali will step in the ring with someone who has proven he can knock someone out. But, like Perez, I think Ali will show the world, just how good he really is and gets some notoriety on the national level.

Cincinnati, Ohio will be represented at “The Rock”, when undefeated prospect Adrien Broner (17-0 14KO) will face the seasoned veteran Ilido Julio (40-19 35KO). This eight round super featherweight matchup could prove to be the dark horse as far as excitement goes Saturday night. With an astonishing 85% knockout percentage between the two fighters, it does not seem likely that they will go all eight rounds.

Roberto Guerrero (27-1-1 18KO) and Vicente Escobedo (22-2 14 KO) will open up HBO’s Boxing After Dark program, in a fight that many are excited to watch. Guerrero is coming off a huge victory over Joel Casamayor in a unanimous decision in late July of this year. He is an excellent southpaw who should give Escobedo problems all fight long.

Escobedo comes off of a third round knockout of Carlos Urias earlier this year, after taking a tough split decision loss to Michael Katsidis at the end of last year. The rounds in that bout were close enough in almost every single one of them that one judge had Escobedo losing 110-118, yet another had him winning 116-112. Another excellent bout on the card, and should kick off the live coverage nicely.

In the main event of the evening, Zab “Super” Judah (39-6 27KO) and Lucas Matthysse (27-0 25KO) will fight for the vacant WBO NABO light welterweight title. Judah takes a giant step up in competition when he squares off with the 28 year old knockout artist from Argentina.

Judah dominated Jose Armando Santa Cruz in the main event of an ESPN Friday Night Fights event earlier this summer from the Prudential Center, and hopes for more of the same Saturday. Many boxing experts commend Judah for skipping over another fight that would basically be a breeze for the former champion, and taking a fight with a dangerous prospect who could possibly give Judah major problems.

However, Matthysse’s record may be a tad misleading. If you look down the roster of fighters that he has previously faced, you may not even recognize one fighter. Compare that to the list of Judah, and you have a handful of hall of fame fighters. Judah seems rejuvenated for this “second coming” and with his ring experience, speed and skill, this could end up being an impressive victory for “Super” Judah.

GardenStateFightScene will be live at the Prudential Center covering all the action throughout the night. Be sure to visit GardenStateFightScene.com for all the updates from Newark!

WANT TO ORDER A GSFS SHIRT? Email Yanoboxing@aol.com and get yours today!