Bobby Hitz Interview: Taylor Duerr To Fight For Vacant USBA and NABF Titles in Chicago
By Robert Brizel, Head Real Combat Media Boxing Correspondent
Chicago area boxing promoter Bobby Hitz and Gitz Boxing will present a ten bout card at The Dome at the Ballpark, Rosemont, Illinois, on Thanksgiving Wednesday, November 24, 2021, featuring the vacant United States Boxing Association (USBA) and North American Boxing Federation (NABF) 10 round title bout between unbeaten prospects Taylor Duerr and Alante Green. Hitz has provided Duerr, who he promotes, the regional opportunity double title ten-round bout of a lifetime. For this reporter, a USBA and NABF vacant title boutis an absolute first, and no promoter can top what Hitz has put for Duerr on the table.
Duerr, 11-0-2 with seven knockouts, age 31, Detroit, Michigan, and Green, 8-0-1 with five knockouts, age 29, Cleveland, Ohio, will fight for the rights to fight the best of the cruiserweight division and then defend these valuable titles. The crossroads bout is a high stakes affair. With only 21 bouts between the two combatants, the bout is very early in both fighters’ careers, considering the limited number of pro bouts both unbeaten prospects, Duerr and Green, now have in the bank. However, the Coronavirus pandemic has left many fighters largely inactive contemplating where to go with their careers.
The preliminary bout to the main event will feature Swedish light heavyweight and cruiserweight 13-0 Robin Sirwan Safar against 16-11-1 Chicago southpaw club fighter Chris Chatman in a scheduled eight-rounder. 13-6 Illinois heavyweight Shawndell Terel Winters, and 9-2 Chicago super middleweight Tommy Hughes, are also featured in scheduled six-rounders on the card. Unbeaten prospects on the Hitz Boxing undercard include: 4-0 super middleweight Jimmy Quiter; 2-0 super featherweight Angel Barrera; 2-0 heavyweight Doentae Pettigrew, and 2-0 middleweight Dawid Bosak. 5-2 Super middleweight William Langton and 2-3 lightweight Daniel Buonaventura will also appear on the card.
According to Hitz, this is a major opportunity bout on neutral territory for both fighters, and Hitz is right. Inactivity has not benefited such world-class fighters as Julian Williams and Mikey Garcia, who lost their televised ten-rounders in the last two consecutive weekends. Better for a fighter to stay active and take his chance. Both Duerr and Green have everything to gain and nothing to lose by taking this bout. The victory will go to the fighters who train hardest and wants it more than the other. Duerr stands 6’5″ to Green’s 6’0″. Green was only 8-5 as an amateur, and went eight rounds defeating Stivens Bujaj for the vacant WBC USNBC Cruiserweight title in June 2021 in Newark, New Jersey. Duerr drew with Lyubomyr Pinchuk in June 2019 for the same USNBC cruiserweight belt over ten rounds at Motor City Casino in Detroit, Michigan. The matchup between Duerr and Green seems an even, neutral and fair one for both fighters, a major opportunity bout. Were it not for the Coronavirus pandemic, these belts would have gone out earlier.
Green is managed by John Johnson, best known as the manager of James Buster Douglas in February 1980 when Douglas came off the canvas in the eighth round to knock out Mike Mike Tyson in the tenth round at the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Japan to win the World Heavyweight title in a major upset.
Robert B: “What do you think of your next ten bout show here?”
Bobby Hitz: “I’m excited to be back doing boxing (shows).”
Robert B: “Your main event seems a neutral and fair match on paper.”
Bobby Hitz: “I’m excited about the matchup of Taylor Duerr versus Alante Green.”
Robert B: “You were involved in the cruiserweight division before, with the late World Boxing Association World Cruiserweight champion O’Neil Bell, who died in 2015. I was present when he won the WBA World title at Madison Square Garden in January 2006 with a tenth round knockout of Jean Marc Mormeck.”
Bobby Hitz: “I had a presence in the cruiserweight division with O’Neil Bell, and I’ve handled a lot of guys fighting in the cruiserweight division over the years, so I’m glad to be backing the division!”
Robert B: “I am glad to see you have patched your differences up with Taylor Duerr and his manager Phil Awada. You are offering Taylor Duerr the opportunity of a lifetime, the chance to win both the USBA and NABF regional titles in a fantastic main event. This is the greatest opportunity main event cruiserweight bout offered by a promoter to a rising cruiserweight I have ever seen.”
Bobby Hitz: “Especially after the lengthy legal issues we had over nothing, what a waste of time that was.”
Robert B: “Has Taylor expressed his gratitude for the promoted opportunity bout of a lifetime? Are you communicating with him?”
Bobby Hitz: “Through it all, we’re back on the right page, and getting it together (to advance Taylor’s career). We should have been having conversations (all along) rather than (contractual) litigation (instigated by Duerr, and later settled in favor of promoter Hitz). I don’t have to talk to him, I just have to promote his fights and provide significant career opportunities.”
Robert B: “What is the best situation a rising prospect can be provided by a promoter?”
Bobby Hitz: “At the end of the day, I’ve gotten (provided) Taylor Duerr a great opportunity (bout) in neutral territory (Chicago). What better scenario can you have?”
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