BoxRec

Source: Conwell-Golub, Franklin-Shaw To Headline Ring City USA Cards in April

The first six fight cards of the upstart Ring City USA series have generally featured competitive bouts on paper with several of them delivering on that promise.

The series, which airs on NBC Sports Net (9 p.m. ET), will have two more events in April with both main events also seeming to look as though they will be competitive. There will be cards on April 8 and April 22, a source with knowledge of schedule told BS while also outlining the main events.

The April 8 show will feature junior middleweight prospect Charles Conwell, a 2016 U.S. Olympian and one of boxing’s top up-and-comers, squaring off with on Ivan Golub in a 10-round bout.

On April 22, the main event will feature a rare clash of undefeated American heavyweight hopefuls as Jermaine Franklin will take on Stephan Shaw in a 10-round fight.

The cards both will take place at the same location, which has not yet been finalized. That follows the same pattern Ring City has employed since launching last fall.

The series kicked off in November with its first three cards taking place in the parking lot of Hall of Fame trainer Freddie Roach’s Wild Card Boxing Club in Hollywood, California.

The next three shows, including the one on Thursday night in San Juan, Puerto Rico, headlined by unified women’s featherweight world champion Amanda Serrano defending her belts against junior featherweight titlist Daniela Bermudez, moved to various outdoor locations in Puerto Rico.

The 23-year-old Conwell (14-0, 11 KOs), of Cleveland, earned a ninth-round knockout win over then-undefeated Madiyar Ashkeyev in the Ring City main event on Dec. 17 and will be back on the series for a second straight fight,

Golub (19-1, 15 KOs), a Ukraine native fighting out of Brooklyn, New York, was once a top-flight prospect in his own right after a stellar amateur career. Since a disputed eight-round decision loss to Jamontay Clark in June 2017, Golub has won six fights in a row and figures to be Conwell’s toughest test so far as a professional.

Franklin and Shaw were both standout amateurs and among the best of the United States’ crop of heavyweights.

The 6-foot-2, 235-pound Franklin (20-0, 13 KOs), 27, of Saginaw, Michigan, has gotten exposure on Showtime and has won three fights in 2019 against veteran Rydell Booker, fringe contender Jerry Forrest and Pavel Sour. Because of the coronavirus pandemic, Franklin did not fight in 2020.

The 6-4, 240-pound Shaw (14-0, 10 KOs), 28, of St. Louis, is coming off a shutout eight-round decision win over Lyubomyr Pinchuk on the untelevised portion of the Conwell-Ashkeyev undercard in December. All of Shaw’s knockouts have come inside four rounds.

Also on the April 22 card, junior welterweight prospect Jonathan Navarro (17-0, 9 KOs), 24, of Los Angeles, will face an opponent to be determined.

Navarro had been scheduled to fight Mexico’s Pablo Cesar Cano (33-7-1, 23 KOs) in a 12-rounder on the DAZN undercard of Golden Boy Promotions’ Vergil Ortiz Jr.-Maurice Hooker undercard this past Saturday night at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas. However, Cano was forced to withdraw on short notice due to a non-Covid-19 illness and the fight was canceled, but Golden Boy and manager Rick Mirigian were able to secure him a spot on the Ring City USA card.

Press Release

Ring City USA, the new sports media startup that debuted its Thursday night boxing series in November 2020, will host its next live event from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y. on Thursday, April 22. The event, which will be headlined by a matchup of two undefeated American heavyweights, will be televised on NBC Sports Network (9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT) with bonus undercard action streaming live around the world on Twitch. Armed Forces Network Europe and Pacific will make the broadcast available to U.S. Forces serving overseas on AFN TV.

The nation’s most notable military service academy will host a full evening of boxing action headlined by Ring City’s first ever heavyweight main event when two undefeated American heavyweights Jermaine Franklin (20-0, 13 KOs) and Stephan Shaw (14-0, 10 KOs) meet in a ten-round fight.

Franklin, who hails from Saginaw, Mich., will return from an 18-month layoff to face his toughest and most experienced challenger to date. Franklin, 27, notched three impressive decision victories in 2019, including a win over fellow top American heavyweight Jerry Forrest.


Shaw, 28, will take another step in his development as he faces the first unbeaten fighter of his professional career in Franklin. Born and raised in Saint Louis, Shaw has flashed devastating power with all 10 of his career knockouts coming within four rounds.

“This will be the historic first-time professional bouts will occur at West Point,” said Ray Barone, Army West Point Boxing Coach.

“We've been asked before, but never has a boxing event been brought to us the way Ring City and NBC has. We want to showcase the cadets. We want to demonstrate that amateur boxing when conducted properly is safe. And we hope that this will become an annual event.”

Ring City USA will pay homage to the host venue and its rich history by honoring current and former service members. The academy’s history is evidenced by 10 National Boxing Championships and a curriculum that mandates all cadets participate in the school’s renowned boxing program. Ring City will highlight the West Point Boxing Team by presenting intramural scrimmages on the undercard.

I think Shaw will take him.

Somebody definitely will in the not too distant future. I would Franklin's people would be eager to get him a title shot opportunity while the getting is good.

neither impresses me but this is a pretty good matchup. much better than having them fed to some high level guy

margaret thatcher wrote: ↑01 Apr 2021, 15:59 neither impresses me but this is a pretty good matchup. much better than having them fed to some high level guy

Yeah as far as entertaining matchmaking I'd agree. Franklin needs to be matched with either Unbeaten guys who are equally untested or maybe 1 or 2 loss guys who haven't impressed much.

If he's thrown into the deep end he will lose without question.

If I'm his manager I'm wanting to get him a title shot before long because he seems like the kinda guy who can lose almost any fight so keeping him unbeaten until that big money fight comes along is a pretty risky proposition.

I like this match. I've waited so long for Shaw to make his move, I'd pretty much given up, but he has recently begun to show a bit of ambition. Franklin is similar in that he is regarded as a prospect of sorts, but his recent outings have not been impressive and suggest he most likely won't be going much further.

I'm going with Shaw by decision mainly because I'm unsure as to how much further he can go, but I suspect he isn't quite so close to reaching his potential as Franklin is.

Press Release

Ring City USA, the new sports media startup that debuted its Thursday night boxing series in November 2020, will host its next live event from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y. on Thursday, April 22. The event, which will be headlined by a matchup of two undefeated American heavyweights, will be televised on NBC Sports Network (9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT) with bonus undercard action streaming live around the world on Twitch. Armed Forces Network Europe and Pacific will make the broadcast available to U.S. Forces serving overseas on AFN TV.

The nation’s most notable military service academy will host a full evening of boxing action headlined by Ring City’s first ever heavyweight main event when two undefeated American heavyweights Jermaine Franklin (20-0, 13 KOs) and Stephan Shaw (14-0, 10 KOs) meet in a ten-round fight. Franklin, who hails from Saginaw, Mich., will return from an 18-month layoff to face his toughest and most experienced challenger to date. Franklin, 27, notched three impressive decision victories in 2019, including a win over fellow top American heavyweight Jerry Forrest. Shaw, 28, will take another step in his development as he faces the first unbeaten fighter of his professional career in Franklin. Born and raised in Saint Louis, Shaw has flashed devastating power with all 10 of his career knockouts coming within four rounds.

“This will be the historic first-time professional bouts will occur at West Point,” said Ray Barone, Army West Point Boxing Coach. “We’ve been asked before, but never has a boxing event been brought to us the way Ring City and NBC has. We want to showcase the cadets. We want to demonstrate that amateur boxing when conducted properly is safe. And we hope that this will become an annual event.”

Co-Main Event Features Jelena Mrjdenovich vs. Erika Cruz Hernandez in Women’s Featherweight World Title Bout; Juan Pablo Romero and Jonathan Navarro Meet in Battle of Unbeaten Junior Welterweight Prospects

the Franklin-Booker fight had some good moments

Franklin has fast hands and has been extended

not sure about Shaw , he was touted a while back but has done nothing yet

I voted Shaw decision.

Press Release | Undercard Information

Ring City USA today announced the entire loaded undercard for its Thursday, April 22 event from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y, the first professional fight card to take place in the state since the COVID-19 pandemic began in March 2020. Five professional fights including top prospects and four amateur bouts featuring West Point cadets will highlight the undercard, which will be available around the world on Twitch.

The previously announced main card, which begins at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT on NBC Sports Network, will be headlined by a heavyweight clash between undefeated contenders Jermaine Franklin (20-0, 13 KOs) and Stephan Shaw (14-0, 10 KOs). The Armed Forces Network Europe and Pacific will also make the broadcast available to U.S. Forces serving overseas on AFN TV.

In the main event on Twitch, Kazakhstan’s Bobirzhan Mominov (12-0, 8 KOs) will face the most difficult test of his professional career when he takes on Angel Ruiz (16-1, 12 KOs) of Tijuana, Mexico in a welterweight fight scheduled for eight rounds. Now fighting out of California, the unbeaten 29-year-old prospect notched two impressive decision wins in 2020 as he continues his ascension to contender status. Standing in his way is the hungry 23-year-old Ruiz, who is trained by Manny Robles out of Southern California and returns to the ring after a nearly 18-month layoff following his first professional loss in 2019.

In the chief support bout on the Twitch undercard, 25-year-old Christian Mbilli (17-0, 16 KOs) will return to take on rugged ring veteran Jesus Antonio Gutierrez (27-4-2, 14 KOs) of Tijuana, Mexico in a super middleweight fight scheduled for eight rounds. Mbilli, who hails from France, has flashed impressive power over his four-year professional career with a near perfect knockout ratio. In his only other fight in the U.S., he faced Humberto Gutierrez Ochoa in 2019 and went to the scorecards for the only time as a pro. The 26-year-old Gutierrez enters the fight riding a two-fight KO streak and has proven his status as a warrior against top opposition such as world title challengers Gabriel Rosado and Steven Butler.

Highlighted on the Twitch undercard is undefeated phenom Jalan Walker (8-0, 7 KOs) who will battle Angel Antonio Contreras (11-4-1, 7 KOs) in a super bantamweight fight scheduled for six rounds. Walker turned pro at 17 years old in 2019 and collected five first-round knockouts to start his career. As the highly touted prospect continues to develop, he will be in with a sturdy, experienced fighter in 26-year-old Contreras of Mexico.

Rounding out the Twitch undercard, undefeated prospect Daniel Bailey (3-0, 2 KOs) faces Luis Alvarado (1-2) in a four-round junior lightweight fight, while David Blyumkin will make his professional debut against Michael Honesto (0-1). Bailey was a decorated amateur with more than 100 fights while serving for the U.S. Army.

It was announced last week that the co-main event of the evening (NBCSN, 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT) is a women’s featherweight world title bout between WBA World Champion Jelena Mrdjenovich (41-10-2, 19 KOs) of Edmonton, Canada, and world ranked contender Erika Cruz Hernandez (12-1-0, 3 KOs) of Mexico City, Mexico, scheduled for ten rounds. Also featured on the NBC Sports Network main card is a highly anticipated clash between top undefeated junior welterweight prospects Juan Pablo ‘El Pivi’ Romero (13-0, 9 KOs) of Villa del Carbon, Mexico and Jonathan ‘Thunder’ Navarro (17-0, 9 KOs) of East Los Angeles, Calif.,

Jermaine Franklin Tests Positive For COVID-19.. out of the fight.

According to sources, Franklin received a positive test and was retested. Which also came back positive for the coronavirus

ferking ell

Bugger!

He'll never lose.