Beltway Pros Have Busy August Weekend!

A number of Beltway Boxers will be in action during the first weekend of August.  Let's take a look at the proposed schedule.

Two locals will be on a card on Friday, August 5 at the Pechanga Resort and Casino in Temecula, CA.  Undefeated Baltimore, MD welterweight Malik "Iceman" Hawkins will take on Sean Gee of Portland, OR in a six-round encounter.  Hawkins (8-0, seven KO's) scored a fifth-round TKO over Richard Lee Hall on a nationally-televised bout on May 27 in Niagara Falls, NY.  Gee (3-4) will look to bounce back from a third-round TKO loss to Piotr Apostol on June 25 in Olympia, WA.  There is a possibility that this bout will make the CBS Sports Network telecast.

Also on the card, Baltimore-born super welterweight Kevin "KO" Ottley will be in a four-round bout against Brian True of Hawthorne, CA.  Ottley, who fought in the Beltway as an amateur but now competes out of San Diego, CA (2-0, two KO's), is coming off back-to-back second-round TKO's in Tijuana, Mexico in May and July of this year.  True (1-4-1, one KO) last fought on March 26 in Los Angeles, CA and dropped a sixth-round unanimous decision to Kelin Sharp.

On Saturday, August 6, five Beltway Boxers will be in action in three different locations.  Washington, DC super lightweight Ty Barnett will challenge undefeated Maurice "Mighty Mo" Hooker of Dallas, TX for Hooker's NABO Super Lightweight title at the Oracle Arena in Oakland, CA. The bout will be the co-feature to Andre Ward's contest against Alexander Brand.  Barnett (23-4-1, 15 KO's) made a successful return to action after an almost two-year absence by scoring an eighth-round TKO over Daniel Attah on February 27 at the Washington Convention Center.  Hooker (20-0-2, 15 KO's) will make the second defense of his title that he won in June of 2015.  Hooker's last bout was a non-title event in which he scored a first-round TKO over Wilfrido Buelvas on March 26 at the Oracle Arena.

Two area boxers will compete on a card at the Casino Del Sol in Tucson, AZ.  DC light heavyweight Alexander "The Great" Johnson will face off with undefeated Egor Mekhontsev of Los Angeles, CA by way of Asbest, Russia in an eight-round contest.  Johnson (16-4, seven KO's) will be looking to break a two-bout losing streak.  Johnson lost a six-round unanimous decision to Todd Unthank-May on March 5 at the DC Armory.  All four of Johnson's losses have come to undefeated boxers.  Mekhontsev, who won the gold medal at the 2012 Olympics at light heavyweight (12-0, eight KO's), is coming off a fifth-round TKO victory over Victor Barragan on April 2 in Port Hueneme, CA.

On the same card, Baltimore welterweight Kevin "The Scarecrow" Womack, Jr. will take on undefeated Alexander Besputin of Oxnard, CA by way of Kamensk-Uralsky, Russia in a six-round contest. Womack (7-11-3, five KO's) will be trying to break a six-round losing streak including a fifth-round TKO to James Stevenson on May 14 in Timonium, MD.  Besputin (3-0, three KO's) won by fourth-round stoppage over Christon Edwards on the April 2 card in Port Hueneme.

At the Grundy Arena in Bristol, PA, Edgewood Arsenal, MD welterweight Emmanuel "Tranzformer" Taylor returns to action in an eight-round bout against Carlos Aguilera of Chiapas, Mexico.  Taylor (19-4, 13 KO's) broke a two-bout losing streak by scoring a sixth-round knockout over Wilfredo Acuna on February 27 in New York City.  Aguilera, a native of Nicaragua (10-17, four KO's), has lost two straight contests -- his only bouts in the United States thus far.

Also on this card, Silver Spring, MD veteran lightweight Samuel "Bruno" Amoako will face off against Samuel "Sunami" Teah of Philadelphia, PA in a six-round contest.  Amoako, a native of Accra,Ghana (21-12, 15 KO's) will be trying to break an eight-bout losing streak.  Amoako lost a six-round unanimous decision to Ryan Martin on July 16 in Birmingham, AL.  This will be Amoako's eighth bout in 2016, losing all eight-bouts by unanimous decision.

Teah, originally from Monrovia, Liberia (7-1-1, two KO's), fought to an eight-round draw with Demond Brock in his last outing on January 22 in Tucson, AZ.