Confident Jimmy Williams dedicating first title defense Tonight** to local child who died in tragic drowning
** THE FLOYD MAYWEATHER bout against MMA star Conor McGregor will be show live on Pay Per View from the Grand Ballroom at Foxwoods following the live CES Boxing event at The Premier Ballroom on Saturday, Aug. 26th, 2017 .
Since
setting his sights on becoming a world champion boxer nearly three and a half
years ago, Jimmy Williams has never had to look far for motivation.
As a college student in 2008, Williams learned of the tragic
passing of his mother, Belinda, found strangled to death behind an abandoned
building. The case remains unsolved to this day, but Williams, the reigning,
undefeated World Boxing Council U.S. Boxing Council Welterweight Champion out
of New Haven , Conn. ,
continues to fight in her memory, hoping one day to find the closure he's
sought for nearly a decade.
Williams' mother would've been proud; the 30-year-old
welterweight, a full-time truancy officer in West Haven whose wife is expecting
twins in October, boasts a 13-0-1 record as he prepares to defend his title for
the first time Saturday, Aug. 26th, 2017 at Foxwoods Resort Casino
against Bronx, N.Y., vet Issouf Kinda (18-4, 7 KOs) in the 10-round
main event, presented by Williams' long-time promoter, CES Boxing.
One week from Saturday, he'll have a second angel on
his shoulder when he climbs through the ropes. Williams is dedicating this
upcoming fight to the memory of the late Ben Callahan, a 10-year-old boy
from nearby Branford who drowned in a drainage pipe one month ago while swimming
with his two brothers in the Brandford
River .
Williams is close with the family; the father, Dave
Callahan, is a personal trainer at Shoreline Athletics CrossFit in Branford,
where Williams works on his strength and conditioning. Through the years, Williams
formed a strong bond with Ben. They often worked out together when Williams was
in town.
"Great kid," Williams said. "You see the
faith of his family. I'm ready to go out here and be a warrior for myself and
show that I'll fight for anybody that's lost somebody."
As Williams prepares for the inevitable challenges of
fatherhood, it's impossible to not feel empathy for a family that suffered such
a tragic loss. Confident as ever, Williams knows he's in for the challenge of a
lifetime against the 22-fight vet Kinda, but promises to retain his title, even
as his challenger threatens to "bring the belt back to the Bronx ."
"I'll die in that ring before I give up the
title," Williams said. "I train real hard. I know I'm a champion and
I know everybody wants to take what's mine and what I've worked hard for.
"I know where I came from. Nobody's going to take this.
I'm going to show on the 26th why I'm undefeated and why I've got the
belt."
The Aug. 26th extravaganza is a rare double-feature;
the live boxing event, which features eight bouts, begins at 6 p.m. ET at The Premier Ballroom, and all
fans who purchase a ticket receive free entry next door at the Grand Theater
for the live Pay Per View showing of the Floyd Mayweather-Conor McGregor fight
in Nevada later that night.
"This is the only place in the world you can see both
live boxing and the most talked-about fight in years in one place for just one
price," CES Boxing presidentJimmy Burchfield Sr. said.
Tickets are priced at $55, $90, $155 and $325 and can be
purchased online atwww.cesboxing.com, www.foxwoods.com, or www.ticketmaster.com, by phone at401-724-2253 or 800-200-2882 or at the
Grand Theater Box Office. All $55, $90 and $155 tickets offer buyers a reserved
ticket to the Mayweather-McGregor PPV. A $325 ticket purchase includes
preferred seating. All bouts are subject to change.
Tickets for the closed-circuit event only can be purchased
online atwww.foxwoods.com, by phone at 800-200-2882 or through
any Ticketmaster location.
As an added bonus, the entire eight-fight card at The
Premier Ballroom, presented by CES Boxing, will stream live on Facebook, free
of charge, as part of the FIGHTNIGHT LIVE Facebook Series.
Williams' title defense against the dangerous Kinda comes
four months after the New Haven
welterweight captured the WBC USNBC title with a resounding win overNick
DeLomba in Rhode Island .
Williams has won nine consecutive bouts since his lone blemish, a draw against New
Jersey 's Greg Jackson in 2013.
Kinda, a former North American Boxing Organization (NABO)
lightweight and WBC Continental Americas super lightweight title contender,
handed New England prospect Zach Ramsey his first career loss in May
of 2016 and has tangled with the best in the light welterweight division, among
them unbeaten Jose Carlos Ramirez, Ismael Barroso and Mike
Arnaoutis, whom be defeated by unanimous decision in 2012.
USNBC title-holders have enjoyed great success in their
careers. Nine current or former title-holders have gone on to win world
titles and 28 others have fought for a major world championship. Since
capturing the title in April, Williams has risen to No. 12 among welterweights
in the North American Boxing Federation (NABF) rankings.
"He's a warrior, just like myself," Williams said
of Kinda. "He didn't come to lose. He came to take whatever's mine. He
knows if he beats me, it puts him back on a roll. He'll be in grea shape. I'm
just ready to go ahead and make the right adjustments and go out and win this
fight, somehow, some way.
"It won't be a walk in the park, but at this level
where I'm at now, no fight will be a walk in the park."
Also on Aug. 26th, both Sicilian heavyweight Juiseppe
Angelo Cusumano (11-1, 9 KOs ), a.k.a. "Rocky,"
and standout Worcester
lightweight Jamaine Ortiz (4-0, 3 KOs ), who
competed in the U.S. Olympic Trials in Reno
in 2015, make their Foxwoods' debuts in separate bouts.
The Foxwoods undercard also includes a six-round junior
welterweight showdown between unbeatens Cristobal Marrero (4-0, 3
KOs) of New London, Conn., and Springfield, Mass., native Miguel Ortiz (2-0,
1 KO), plus a cruiserweight showdown between Richard Rivera (2-0, 2
KOs) of Hartford, Conn., and eight-time Ultimate Fighting Championships (UFC)
vet Leandro Silva of Sao Paolo, Brazil, an intriguing, four-round
crossover bout following in the footsteps of Mayweather-McGregor.
Aug. 26th also features a four-round middleweight bout
between Hartford's Jose Rivera (3-1, 3 KOs) and North Carolina
vet Corwin Farmer (1-1), plus the professional debut of super
middleweight Jarel Pemberton of Boston, the son of former world-title
challenger "Sandman" Scott Pemberton, in a four-round bout
against Nathan Schulte (0-2) of Woburn, Mass. Hartford welterweight Jeff
Gonzalez, a two-time Western New England Golden Gloves champion, will make his
professional debut in a separate four-round bout.
Visit www.cesboxing.com, www.twitter.com/cesboxing orwww.facebook.com/cesboxing for more information, or
follow CES Boxing on Instagram at @CESBOXING.
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