2016 Olympic Bronze Medallist, and fighting hometown hero, Nico Hernandez will return to the professional boxing ring on Friday, February 15, at the Kansas Star Casino in Mulvane, Kansas.

The undefeated Hernandez (6-0, 4 KOs) will face Mexico’s Victor Trejo Garcia (16-9-1, 8 KOs) in an eight-round flyweight special attraction in the featured live bout immediately preceding the SHOWTIME tripleheader telecast of “ShoBox Live at the Kansas Star Casino.”

The Hernandez vs Garcia bout is presented by Salita Promotions and John Anderson’s KO Night Boxing.

Tickets for the live event will go on sale on Friday, January 18, at 10 a.m. CT and are priced at $110, $75, $60, $45 and $25. They can be purchased at www.KansasStarCasino.com, www.Ticketmaster.com and at the Lucky Star Players Club at Kansas Star Casino.

Hernandez, who won the first Olympic men's boxing medal since the 2008 Beijing Olympics by taking bronze at the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, was 94-5 as an amateur. He also captured six national titles, scored eight wins in the Ringside World Championship (an annual Kansas City-area event billed as "the largest amateur boxing tournament in the world"), along with six consecutive Silver Gloves National Championship wins, and a 2014 National Golden Gloves gold medal.

The 23-year-old turned professional in March 2017 and has dominated all his fights. He was last seen scoring a unanimous eight-round decision over Texas veteran Josue Morales. This will be his third consecutive fight at the Kansas Star Casino, where he enjoys tremendous popularity.

“I’m excited to be fighting on February 15 in front of my hometown fans at the Kansas Star Arena,” said Hernandez. “I’ll be in great shape and plan on putting on a great show. I want to be very active in 2019 and win a world title before the end of the year. It’s my time to shine.”

Presented by Salita Promotions, “ShoBox Live at the Kansas Star Casino” will feature top prospect Shohjahon Ergashev (15-0, 14 KOs) of Detroit via Fergana, Uzbekistan, taking on also undefeated Mykal Fox (19-0, 5 KOs) of Upper Marlboro, Maryland, in a 10-round welterweight main event.

In the other two televised bouts, Fort Worth’s rugged Jesse Angel Hernandez (12-1, 7 KOs) will take on Britain’s Thomas Patrick Ward (25-0, 4 KOs) in a 10-round super bantamweight battle for the WBA-NABA Championship and Grozny, Russia’s undefeated Aslambek Idigov (15-0, 7 KOs) will face once-beaten Travis Hanshaw (14-1-1, 7 KOs) of Ashland, Kentucky, in an eight-round super middleweight contest.

On fight night, the doors open at 5:30 pm (CST) and the action starts at 6:00 pm. Bouts subject to change. The Kansas Star Casino is located at 777 Kansas Star Drive in Mulvane, Kansas.

Artur Mann (15-0, 8 KOs) challenges Kevin Lerena (21-1, 9 KOs) for the IBO World Cruiserweight title on March 16 in Johannesburg, South Africa.

 

Mann, undefeated in fifteen professional contest, lands this dream World title shot following a unanimous points win over Alexey Zubov in Chicago, and is full of confidence as he travels to South Africa in search of World glory.

“This is the moment I've been working my whole life for,” says Mann. “Who would have thought a year ago that today we would be preparing for an IBO World title fight in Johannesburg. I can’t thank my promoter Team Sauerland and the Sauerland family enough that this dream could be realized so quickly. Thanks also to my management Daniel Todorovic and Marius Schulze.

“This is a huge opportunity, and one I will not miss. Kevin Lerena will certainly have a home advantage as the reigning champion and local hero, but I like a challenge, and I'm convinced I will bring the IBO belt home to Germany.”

Lerena claimed the IBO strap with a split decision win over Youri Kayembre Kalenga on September 9, 2017, and has since recorded two successful defences against Ukraine’s Dmytro Kucher and Roman Golovashchenko.

“I’m excited to be back in the square jungle against such a formidable opponent as Artur Mann,” he said. “The public can look forward to a fan friendly fight with no quarter asked or given. Whilst I respect Mann’s record, only one hand will be raised in victory – AND STILL - This is the year of Kevin Lerena !”

“Kevin Lerena vs. Artur Mann for the IBO Cruiserweight title at the Emperors Palace – an evenly matched and mouth watering fight between two outstanding boxers," said Rodney Berman, for Golden Gloves. "Both can ill afford a loss at this stage of their careers with the cruiserweight division enjoying such popularity, which is in no small measure due to the World Boxing Super Series.

“We look forward to staging this main event in association with Team Sauerland with whom we have always enjoyed an excellent relationship."

“We’re delighted to be working with Rodney Berman and Golden Gloves to deliver this spectacular cruiserweight Wold title showdown," said Nisse Sauerland, for Team Sauerland. "This is a fantastic opportunity for Artur and one he must seize with both hands. I’m expecting a fan friendly contest, with both men leaving it all on the line. Germany is due a World Champion, and now Artur has the chance to write his name in the history books.”

SAM BOWEN has taunted arch local rival Lyon Woodstock telling him: “Fighting you would be going back to area level”.

British super-featherweight champion Bowen (14-0) makes the first defence of his British crown against Dundee’s Ronnie Clark (21-4-2)  at Leicester’s Morningside Arena on Saturday February 23, live on BT Sport.

Woodstock (11-1) fights on the same bill in his first contest since losing his unbeaten record against Archie Sharp in October.

The all Leicestershire clash is natural for East Midlands fans, but speaking to Steve Lillis on the latest episode of 'The Boxing Podcast', Bowen teased Woodstock, saying: “Unless he can beat a world champion, I’m not that interested in fighting him.

“I was before because it would have been a good fight, but that is Midlands area. I’m out of that.

“A fight against Woodstock would have been a natural in the past, but he has been beaten by Archie Sharp.

“To be fair I am looking beyond these fights. To me, that would be a step down. I want to be stepping up.

“We have offered him the fight in the past. At a press conference my manager Carl Greaves asked him; ‘Do you want to fight, Bowen?’ He wasn’t really giving an answer.

“Now he has been beaten, I suppose he will want to fight me more because he hasn’t got many more options.

“He has got to build himself back again and get into the mandatory position to fight me, but by the time he has done that I want to be way, way above.”

Bowen, 26, won the British championship last April stopping Maxi Hughes in eight rounds.

On his debut for promoter Frank Warren in October he knocked out Argentinian Horacio Alfredo Cabral to four rounds to claim the WBO Inter-Continental belt.

Bowen is now ranked at number ten in the WBO rankings for Masayuki Ito’s world title and he is in a hurry to get among the 130lb division’s elite.

He added: “I don’t want stay at this level for too long. It took us such a long time to get the British title shot because of withdrawals that I don’t want to hang around.

“World champions like Miguel Berchelt, Tevin Farmer, Gervonta Davis and Masayuki Ito are pure quality and fights like that can help secure my future.

“I am in this to provide for my family. I don’t want to be boxing for smaller amounts. I have a job where I earn okay.

“The idea is to get some big fights financially. To do as well as I can and make as much money as I can.”

Bowen v Clark shares top billing along with unbeaten Anthony Yarde defending his WBO Intercontinental Light Heavyweight title against tough Frenchman Mehdi Amar. Local fighters CJ Challenger and Kyle Haywood do battle for the vacant Midlands Area super welterweight title, with Lyon Woodstock, Ryan Garner, Tommy Fury, Ryan Hatton and Mark Chamberlain also featuring on the card.

Tickets are available from £40 are on sale NOW via Eventbrite