50 Cent Presents ESPN2 Friday Night Fights Happy Birthday From Connecticut
By Robert Brizel, Head Real Combat Media Boxing Correspondent
Hartford, Connecticut (June 30th, 2013)– Rapper and boxing promoter 50 Cent presents an exciting evening of boxing on ESPN2 Friday Night Fights from the Connecticut Convention Center in Hartford, Connecticut, on Friday, July 8, 2013, followed by a private birthday party for 50 Cent. Nine fights are scheduled on the card, featuring 50 Cent featherweight fighter Billy Dib in the 10 round ESPN2 main event versus Mike Oliver.
Dib, 37, now 35-2 with 21 knockouts, Sydney, Australia, ranked eleventh on the world at featherweight on BoxRec, lost his International Boxing Federation World Featherweight title by 12 round decision to 15-0 Evgeny Gradovich, who will defend his IBF title July 27 against Mauricio Munoz in Macao, China. For Dib to get a chance to regain the IBF world featherweight title, Dib will have to defeat 25-3 local Hartford southpaw Mike Oliver. The match promises to be an even exciting fight.
Oliver, a former USA New England, USBA and International Boxing Organization World Super Bantamweight champion, has been inactive for a year and a half, after getting knocked down three times and stopped by Juan Manuel Lopez in Bayamon, Puerto Rico in November 2011 in the second round of a bout for the WBO Latino Featherweight title. Oliver was also stopped twice in 2008 in the third round by Reynaldo Lopez and Antonio Escalante.
For Dib to win this bout, he will have to use his height advantage (5’7 1/2″ for Dib to 5’5″ for Oliver) and speed to outwork Oliver. The fighters enjoy comparatively similar reach (67 1’2″ for Dib to 68″ for Oliver). Dib can do good work on the inside. Dib is a stay busy fighter. Southpaws can be tricky, and Dib might start this bout cautiously. Oliver has wilted three times against world class fighters. Oliver has hometown advantage, but Dib has a better chin and the edge in world class experience.
Dib should win the ten round decision by a score in the 98-93 vicinity or stop Oliver in the later rounds most likely rounds seven through nine, if he can do effective head jab and body work on the inside and avoid Oliver’s attempts to hold with repeated clinches.
Rounding out the 50 Cent boxing card is a co-main event featuring world class 2008 Olympian light heavyweight Eleider Alvarez, a Columbian fighting out of Montreal, Canada, 12-0, versus longtime contender Allan Green, 32-4, Tulsa, Oklahoma. In Green’s last bout, he stopped Renan St. Juste in the seventh round in November 2012 at Bell Centre in Montreal. The fight boils down to who has the better game plan to win the ten round decision. Green, a winner of three of his last six bouts, did not have the right game plan and lost to Andre Ward, Glen Johnson and Mikkel Kessler. Perhaps the winner of this bout could get a shot at Bernard Hopkins later in 2013, more than likely Alvarez if he wins. The outcome largely depends on which version of Allan Green shows up. Green’s record includes decision wins over unbeaten Tarvis Simms and unbeaten Ola Afolabi, both world class fighters in their own right.
Also appearing on the 50 cent card: unbeaten lightweight prospect Mark Davis; unbeaten welterweight prospect Javier Flores; unbeaten lightweight prospect Luis Olivares; unbeaten welterweight prospect Jimmy Williams; unbeaten super bantamweight prospect Nate Green; debuting light middleweights David Wilson and Rodrigo Almeida; and 50 Cent light welterweight Donte Strayhorn, who will open the card.
Doors open at the Connecticut Convention Center in Hartford at 6 P.M., first bout at 7 P.M. General admission is sold out. Tickets are still available for $150, $100 and $60 by calling the convention center at 860-728-2624 or you can call Mike Criscio at 203-627-7472. Tickets for the 50 Cent Birthday Bash are $40 and can be purchased separately by calling the convention center. Ah yes, when midnight strikes on July 6, 2013, happy birthday to Curtis James Jackson III AKA 50 Cent. All the best.
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