Big Bouts For Beltway Boxers In November!

A number of Beltway Boxers are slated to have some important bouts this month.  Here is the current schedule:

On Thursday, November 10, Burke, VA middleweight Antoine "Action" Douglas will look to bounce back from suffering his first loss when he takes on veteran Ernesto "Gatti" Berrospe of Guadalajara, Mexico during the 26th annual Fight Night Fight For Children at the Washington Hilton Hotel in Washington, DC.

Douglas (19-1-1, 13 KO's) lost by tenth-round TKO to Avtandil Khurtsidze on March 5 in Bethlehem, PA.  This will be Douglas's second appearance at Fight Night -- Douglas won a six-round unanimous decision over Don Mouton in 2014.  Berrospe (11-9, six KO's) will face a Beltway Boxer for the second consecutive time.  Berrospe lost to D'Mitrius Ballard by first-round knockout on June 11 in Salt Lake City, UT.

Two locals will be in action on Friday, November 11.  Bowie, MD super middleweight "The King's Son" Jerry Odom will battle the always-tough Taneal "Spider" Goyco of Philadelphia, PA in an eight-round encounter at the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia.

Odom (14-2-1, 13 KO's) broke a two-bout winless streak with an impressive third-round TKO over Julius Jackson on July 22 in Mashantucket, CT.  Goyco may have an under .500 record (8-9-1, three KO's) but he has given Beltway Boxers trouble in the past.  Goyco has wins over Devin Butcher and Jeremy Trussell and suffered a tough stoppage loss to Demond Nicholson.  In his last outing, Goyco lost an eight-round unanimous decision to Tony Hirsch on June 11 in Oakland, CA.

At the WinnaVegas Casino and Resort in Sloan, IA, undefeated Baltimore, MD welterweight Malik "Iceman" Hawkins will compete in a six-round matchup against veteran Antonio Chaves Fernandez of Brockton, MA.  The bout is scheduled to be shown on the CBS Sports Network.

Hawkins (9-0, seven KO's) is coming off a four-round unanimous decision win over Sean Gee on August 5 in Temecula, CA.  Fernandez (7-28-4, two KO's) will be trying to break a seven-bout winless streak with five of those opponents were undefeated.

Then on Saturday, November 12, world-rated super welterweight "Swift" Jarrett Hurd of Accokeek, MD will battle former world title contender Jo Jo Dan of Montreal, Quebec, Canada by way of Romania in a 10-round bout at the Liacouras Center at Temple University in Philadelphia, PA. The bout will be shown on Spike TV.

Hurd (18-0, 12 KO's) is ranked number 15 by the WBC, eighth by the WBA and seventh by the IBF and is coming off a 10th-round TKO over previously undefeated Oscar Molina on June 25 in Brooklyn, NY.  The win was Hurd's third straight victory over an undefeated foe.

Dan is not undefeated (35-3, 18 KO's) but he will be the most experienced foe Hurd has faced in his career.  Dan has won a number of regional titles and challenged Kell Brook for the IBF Welterweight title in March of 2015 in Sheffield, England.  Dan was stopped in the fourth round.  In his first bout since the title bout loss, Dan won an eight-round unanimous decision over Rafal Jackiewicz in September of 2015 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Arguably the most intriguing bout of the month involves Beltway female "The Heavy Hitting Diva" Franchon Crews who will make her professional debut at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, NV on Saturday, November 19.  The opponent for Crews, however, will be considered the real star of the bout as the opponent is none other than two-time Olympic Gold Medalist Claressa "T-Rex" Shields of Flint, MI who will also be making her pro debut.

To say these two know each other is a vast understatement. They battled each other all through the amateurs.  In fact, Shields defeated Crews during the Olympic trials in 2012 to advance to the London Olympics and win her first gold medal. The win, at that time, was considered a huge upset as Shields was just 18 years old at the time.  Crews leaves the amateurs with an impressive resume as she was an eight-time national champion in three weight classes.

The bout will be shown online on HBO Boxing's Youtube Channel.

The month closes with a title bout for Baltimore, MD cruiserweight "Slick" Nick Kisner who will take on Brian Holstein of Westerville, OH for the vacant NABA-USA Cruiserweight Championship on Wednesday, November 23 at the Hollywood Casino in Columbus, OH.  Kisner (17-3-1, six KO's) is coming off a four-round unanimous decision over Steven Tyner on July 16 in Erie, PA.  Holstein (12-4-1, seven KO's) last fought on August 27 and won an eight-round unanimous decision over Jeff Page, Jr. in Columbus.

All of these bouts make for an entire month which also includes the Shawstyle Promotions/Shabazz Brothers card at the Coppermine Du Burns Arena in Baltimore on Saturday, November 12.  We will update that card later this week.