King Raheem Fighting June 1st in Tacoma, WA for Battle at the Boat 92
Battle at the Boat 92 is scheduled for Saturday, June 1st at the Emerald Queen Casino in Tacoma, WA. Tickets for the event are still available and can be purchased through www.ticketmaster.com and at the Emerald Queen Casino box office. Doors for the event will open at 6:00 PM with the first fight scheduled for 7:00 PM.
Raheem’s next test on his path to become a world champion will be Uganda’s Justin Juuko (45-11-1, 30 KO’s). Juuko, who has previously fought for the WBC and WBA world titles, is expected to be a good matchup for Zahir as he continues to get back into fighting shape. It could be a very intriguing night for Raheem as Juuko has fought some of the best in the world including: Floyd Mayweather Jr., Miguel Cotto, and Diego Corrales.
In Raheem’s last fight at Battle at the Boat 91, Raheem was scheduled to go ten rounds against Santos Pakau in a match that was supposed to knock the rust off after not having fought in over two years. He may still need time to do that as Raheem went straight to work with the jab and landed the TKO victory 2:20 into the 2nd round.
The king’s boxing career has been full of ups and downs. The Philadelphia native accumulated a 213-4 amateur record and earned the opportunity of a lifetime when he participated in the 1996 Olympics with teammates and some of boxing’s finest: Floyd Mayweather Jr, Eric Morel, Fernando Vargas, David Reid, and Antonio Tarver.
No matter what you believe you are correct. If you believe you can’t, you won’t. Always believe in yourself even when no one else does
King Zahir Raheem
Raheem surprised the boxing world by defeating Morales with a convincing unanimous decision and winning Ring Magazine’s upset of the year award.
Raheem didn’t get the chance to fight Pacquiao like many would believe, but instead landed a fight with Acelino Freitas for the vacant WBO lightweight title. After a back and forth war with Freitas, Raheem lost the fight via heart breaking split decision.
Raheem hasn’t fought for another world title since, but training out of his “King Raheem’s Boxing and Cross Training” gym in Atlanta, GA, signing with Halquist Productions, and staying focused at once again returning the top, he has every chance at getting a title fight in the near future.
When asked what advice he would give to kids to become a successful boxer like himself, Raheem said “No matter what you believe you are correct. If you believe you can’t, you won’t. Always believe in yourself even when no one else does.”
Vombaur Wins Championship Gold – Knopp and Heath Battle to a No Contest
CageSport XXIV to be Available in 100 Million Homes
Two titles were on the line at CageSport as it was the first televised event for the promotion since CageSport XXI late last year.
The 2000 seat showroom was alive as ever as the card was loaded with Northwest MMA fighters that brought in huge fan bases.
As announced last week, the United Fight Alliance (UFA) was in attendance as they plan on televising CageSport XXIV making it available to over 100 million homes.
Sitting cage side commentating the event was UFA’s Emmy winning, Jordan “Jay” Adams, and former UFC fighter, Jeff Houghland.
Rettinghouse was fighting on short notice as current bantamweight champion, Brandon Hempleman pulled out of the fight for unknown reasons.
In the pre-fight interview with Jay Adams, Vombaur stated that he was going to be aggressive in the fight and dominate whoever steps into the cage with him and he stayed true to his words.
Vombaur was able to out wrestle Rettinghouse and control the entire fight with superior ground game. Rettinghouse was in danger of getting caught with a rear naked choke multiple times throughout the fight, but did a good job through four rounds of never letting up and keeping the fight going.
In the fifth and final round of the fight, Vombaur was able to wear Rettinghouse down and finally secure the rear naked choke 3:38 into the round. Vombaur becomes the new CageSport Interim Bantamweight Title holder.
Hempleman will be forced to fight Vombaur when he becomes eligible to fight again. IF he is unable to, Vombaur becomes the unified
The doctor allowed the fight to continue after the first time, but ruled Heath unable to continue the second time around. Due to the fight not lasting at least three rounds of a five round title match, the fight was ruled a no contest.
The undercard was full of high paced action highlighted by Scott McDonald’s dominate pro debut victory along with comeback fight of the year nominee when Alfonso Gonzales defeated Darrio Mobley. After Dex Montenegro’s victory he proposed to his girlfriend in the middle of the cage, in which she happily said yes. Below are the full undercard results of CageSport XXIV.
Austin Springer def. Aaron Martin RD1 TKO(punches)
Julian Erosa def. Jason Gybels RD2 Triangle Choke
Zach Skinner def. Arjay Murphy RD1 TKO(punches)
Kasey White def. Gustavo Lopez UD (30-27) (29-28) (30-27)
Dex Montenegro def. Christian Ortiz UD (29-28)(29-28)(29-28)
Scott McDonald def. Paul Njoku RD2 Rear Naked Choke
Emanuell Russell def. Trevor Sojot UD (30-27)(30-27)(30-27)
Many current UFC fighters such as: Bryan Caraway, Miesha Tate, Michael Chiesa, John Albert, and Sam Sicilia have fought on previous CageSport cards, showcasing their talents and earning respect fighting on the most reputable MMA promotion in the region.
Tickets are now available for upcoming CageSport XXV set for July 6th, 2013. For more information on CageSport XXIV and all other Halquist Production events, please visit www.halquistproductions.com and visit the official Facebook and Twitter Pages of Halquist Productions, CageSport, and Battle at the Boat.
For interview requests, please contact:
Publicist, Anthony Woods
253.389.5238
AW.Publicist@Halquistproductions.com
Event Coordinator, Marin McCauley
253.486.2141
MM.EventCoord@Halquistproductions.com
