Two boxing stars, Nonito “The Filipino Flash” Donaire and Kelly “The Ghost” Pavlik, both trained by Robert Garcia, will share the HBO spotlight on Saturday night from the Home Depot Center in Carson, California.
WBO super bantamweight champion Nonito Donaire (28-1, 18 KOs) is the main event in a title unification bout against IBF 122-pound champion Jeffery Mathebula (26-3-2, 14 KOs) of South Africa.
Donaire claims this fight against Mathebula motivates him even more because he wants to shut up his critics who say he only fights small fighters by beating a fighter who is significantly taller and bigger than him, Donaire is 5′ 6 to Mathebula’s 5’10, and at the same time Donaire will capture another title in the process of his dream of being a unified champion like fellow Filipino boxer Manny Pacquiao. Donaire doesn’t mind being compared to the great Manny Pacquiao, but instead of being labeled the next Pacquiao he wants to create his own memorable legacy in boxing.
Former middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik (39-2, 34 KOs) is on the comeback trail and campaigning at 168-pounds. Since losing his middleweight title to Sergio Martinez, and struggling with Alcohol addiction, he has a new found hunger training under Robert Garcia in Oxnard, California away from his hometown of Youngstown, Ohio. Pavlik’s opponent is Will Rosinsky (16-1, 9 KOs) a boxer who also works as an EMT for New York Fire Department’s station 39 in Brooklyn.
Watch Nonito Donaire vs. Jeffrey Mathebula, Kelly Pavlik vs. Will Rosinsky live on July 7, 2012 at 10:00 PM ET/PT on HBO.
