Uncasville, CT – The stakes just got a whole lot higher for Worcester, MA, featherweight Irvin Gonzalez Jr.
With heavyweight Juiseppe Cusumano unable to fight Saturday due to an illness, Gonzalez’s originally-scheduled eight-round bout against Dannis Aguero Arias will now be contested at 10 rounds for the vacant WBC Silver Featherweight Title as the new main event of CES Boxing’s 2023 season opener, Winter Brawl, at Mohegan Sun Arena.
Cusumano’s bout against Hungarian Istvan Bernath has been postponed, elevating Gonzalez to main-event status in his first bout in more than a year.
As an added bonus, Winter Brawl will stream live on Spectation Sports beginning at 9 pm ET featuring play-by-play from CES Boxing publicist Michael Parente. Dubbed “the future of combat sports,” Spectation Sports is a live sports streaming platform focusing on combat sports and sports gaming that features live events, an extensive video library, featured articles, and fighter rankings. A premium subscription is required to stream live content, starting with monthly passes as low as $19.99 that can be canceled at any time.
Doors open at 6 pm Saturday with preliminary bouts beginning at 7. Today’s official weigh-in is open to the public and begins at 4 pm at the Arena. Tickets for Winter Brawl are still available online at MoheganSun.com or at the Arena box office.
Saturday’s live stream features six bouts, including the main event. The others are:
- Stamford, CT, light middleweight Chordale Booker (17-1, 7 KOs) in an eight-round showcase against 37-fight veteran Angel Hernandez (17-17-3, 11 KOs)
- New London, CT, super featherweight Alejandro Paulino (11-0, 9 KOs in a six-round bout against Ryizeemmion Ford (8-3, 6 KOs)
- A four-round cruiserweight bout between John Gotti III (1-0) of Oyster Bay, NY, and Alex Citrowske (1-1-1, 1 KO) of Saint Cloud, MN
- Mike Kimbel of Watertbury, CT, making his professional boxing debut against Robert Banks (0-1) of Monroeville, NY, in a four-round bout
- Undefeated super lightweight Kevin Walsh (6-0, 4 KOs) of Brockton, MA, in a six-round bout against Christian Otero (4-2, 2 KOs) of New York City
After missing all of 2022 while recovering from elbow and hand surgery, Gonzalez (15-3, 11 KOs) fights for the first time since December of 2021 and now competes for the WBC Silver title, previously held in the 126-pound division by former bantamweight world champion Nonito Donaire and former world-title challenger Rocky Juarez.
The 31-year-old Arias, a San Cristobal, Dominican Republic native, boasts a 19-2 record with 16 KOs, including eight consecutive wins – all by knockout. Saturday is Arias’ United States debut.
For more information, follow CES Boxing on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter at @CESBOXING.
INFORMATION
CES Boxing is one of the top promotions in the northeast and one of the few to successfully promote both mixed martial arts and professional boxing. Launched in 1992 by longtime boxing judge Jimmy Burchfield Sr., the promotion is the only in professional boxing to boast two reigning WBC Youth world champions in lightweight Jamaine Ortiz and featherweight Irvin Gonzalez. CES Boxing recently teamed with UFC FIGHT PASS, the world’s No. 1 streaming platform for combat sports, to showcase its events to a worldwide audience, and worked as a promotional consultant for the Mike Tyson-Roy Jones Jr. pay-per-view event in November of 2020.
Mohegan Sun Arena is one of the busiest Arenas in the United States and is ranked consistently among the top venues in the world according to Billboard Magazine, Pollstar and VenuesNow. Mohegan Sun Arena finished 2021 with its first “#1 Indoor Arena” ranking for its capacity in the world according to Pollstar and VenuesNow, ranked among the top 10 venues in the United States regardless of size based on ticket sales, and was named “2021 Innovator of the Year” by Celebrity Access for its ViacomCBS residency. In recent years, the award-winning venue has also been the “#1 Casino Venue in the World,” “#1 Social Media Venue in the World” and a seven-time national award winner for “Casino of the Year – Arena” by the Academy of Country Music. For more information on concerts and other great events, visit MoheganSun.com. For information on this week’s schedule, call the Entertainment and Special Events hotline at 1.888.226.7711.