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Top Rank Does It Again!

posted by Kathleen Holland on December 20, 2007, in News

Story by Kathleen Holland
Photos by Chris McGee

LAS VEGAS – Top Rank, Inc. has put together an awesome fight card which will be held at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino on Thursday evening and will be televised live on Versus. The card features some great seasoned fighters, some up and coming prospects and even a young lady making her pro debut.

I had the great pleasure of interviewing Emily Klinefelter, a bright young female fighter from Iowa City, who will be boxing in her first professional fight against a much bigger opponent, Cynthia Kumbala. Klinefelter weighed in at 123 and Kumbala at 137.

Emily is not your typical boxing story. She began her boxing career when she was 16. She and her younger sister, Katy (who is also anxious to make her pro debut) was curious about boxing. They really didn’t know much about the sport, but wanted to explore it further. “When we got into boxing, we had no intention of getting hit or hitting anyone. It was more of a social event that was fun," said Emily

She has put together quite an amateur record, winning 13 amateur championships and looking forward to bringing her success to the pros.

One of the most interesting and admirable things I learned from Emily is that, not only is she a dedicated athlete to the sport of boxing, she is also a dedicated student who graduated from the University of Iowa in May, 2006 and is now working on her masters degree in accounting. In fact, she had to make special arrangements to take her finals early so that she could box on this card. Eight straight hours of exams was her ticket to her pro debut.

She is very excited and is looking forward to this bout with Kumbala, “a good sturdy southpaw”. Even though she has never seen Kumbala fight, and doesn’t know much about, she will feel her out in the first round and make the necessary adjustments to get the job done. The fight is scheduled for four rounds in the Featherweight division.

It was a real pleasure talking to this bright young woman and hope that her story will be an inspiration to other young female (and male) fighters.

The main event on the card tonight will feature Veteran, Joshua Clottey ( 32-2. 20 KOs) who will take on Shamone Alvarez (19-0, 11 KOs) in a 12 round IBF World Welterweight Title Eliminator bout. The winner of this bout will be the number one Contender for Kermit Cintron’s IBF Welterweight Title. Clottey weighed in at 146 and Alvarez at 145.5 lbs.

Las Vegas’ own, “Big Sky” Tye Fields, (38-1, 34 KOs) will meet Chris Koval (24-3, 18 KOs) in a 10 round heavyweight co-feature. It is rumored that Fields may be fighting for a Title in 2008. Fields weighed in at 268 and Koval at 277.

Other great fights scheduled for tonight include Dan Wallace (9-2, 3 KOs) squaring off against Vanes Martirosyan (16-0, 11 KOs) in a 6 round Super Welterweight bout. Both weighed in at 155.

Enrique Gallegos (6-2, 1 KO) will meet Donnie Orr (9-0, 4 KOs) in a 6 round Middleweight bout. Weights were Gallegos – 161 and Orr 160.

Francisco Palacios (1-2-4, 1 KO) will take on up and coming prospect, Diego Magdelano who will be making his pro debut. The fighters weighed in at 131 and 130 respectively and will fight in a 4 round Lightweight bout.

In a six round Lightweight bout, Geoffery Spruiell, (4-5, 1 KO) will meet Angel Flores (9-1, 2 KOs). Weights were Spruiell – 143 and Flores – 140.

Frank Gutierrez (1-1-1, 1 KO) will take on Alex Mercado (2-0, 2 KOs) in a four round Super Flyweight bout. Gutierrez weighed in at 122 and Mercado at 121.5.

Check back for results and photos of this event.

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