Boxing After Dark Runs Saturday, 9: 45 PM Eastern

Written by The Sweet Science

Wednesday, 16 February 2011 13:13

HBO SPORTS PRESENTS A BANTAMWEIGHT WORLD TITLE

SHOWDOWN AND A HOT WELTERWEIGHT REMATCH WHEN

HBO BOXING AFTER DARK^®: FERNANDO MONTIEL VS. NONITO DONAIRE

AND MIKE JONES VS. JESUS SOTO KARASS IS SEEN SATURDAY, FEB. 19

HBO’s hit late-night boxing franchise kicks off a new season with a double dose of action when HBO BOXING AFTER DARK: FERNANDO MONTIEL VS. NONITO DONAIRE AND MIKE JONES VS. JESUS SOTO KARASS is seen SATURDAY, FEB. 19 at 9:45 p.m. (live ET/tape-delayed PT), from the Mandalay Bay Resort Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, exclusively on HBO. The HBO Sports team of Bob Papa, Max Kellerman and Roy Jones Jr. will be ringside for the event, which will be available in HDTV, closed-captioned for the hearing-impaired and presented in Spanish on HBO Latino.

Other HBO playdates: Feb. 20 (9:30 a.m.) and 21 (11:30 p.m.)

HBO2 playdates: Feb. 20 (4:45 p.m.) and 22 (midnight)

The main event pits battle-tested titleholder Fernando Montiel (44-2-2, 34 KOs) of Los Mochis, Mexico, against Filipino sensation Nonito Donaire (25-1, 17 KOs) in a scheduled 12-round bantamweight championship matchup. Undefeated since 2006, Montiel is renowned for his ring savvy, and will need all his experience and unflappable poise to vanquish his ferocious foe. Montiel enters the fight on a high note following a second-round dismantling of the heralded Jovanny Soto last December.

A counter-punch specialist whose left hook typically leaves opponents on the canvas, Donaire demonstrated his bone-chilling firepower with a fourth-round knockout of former bantamweight champion Wladimir Sidorenko in December. After scoring eight of his last ten victories via knockout, he steps into the ring looking to claim Montiel’s title.

Kicking off the night will be a rematch of welterweight brawlers Mike Jones (23-0, 18 KOs) of Philadelphia and Jesus Soto Karass (24-5-3, 16 KOs) of Los Mochis, Mexico. After Jones decked Soto Karass in the second round of their terrific November bout, the resilient Mexican showed his true grit and almost came back to win, eventually coming up one point short. Many observers believed the fight should have been called a draw rather than a victory for Jones.

Comment on this article

Radam G says:

Mike versus Jesus may be Jesus's resurrection, MAYBE! I thought that Jesus came back in the last bout and did enough to win. Mike Jones is a lot of hype and less fyght.

Montiel will be like a bullet coming at the Filipino Flash. But TFF will probably be too fast for Fernando and cut him up. I won't be surprised to see a stoppage either way. But, of course, I'm pulling for the Filipino Flash. Holla!

brownsugar says:

Jones said he was shoveling snow in Blizzard Bound PA to improve his stamina,... I wanna see how that's been working for him. Soto Karass has got to know he was just a hairs breadth away from winning the first fight.. and Jones should know that he can outbox this guy for 12 rounds if he fights smart. I'm looking for Jones to redeem himself and I hope HBO makes him fight Berto next... a match between Berto and semi-shell-shocked Ortiz doesn't bring Berto or HBO any glory... Can't tell you how anxious I am to see Donaire vs Montiel. 2 confident and dominate boxers squaring off,... doesn't happen as much as we'd these days.

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