Monday, February 24, 2020
WORCESTER, MA (Monday, February 24) – Fight week has arrived as CES Boxing makes its long-awaited return to Massachusetts on Friday night at The Palladium in historic downtown Worcester live and exclusively on UFC FIGHT PASS®.
The fight card features five Worcester boxers fighting on the same lineup in their hometown for the first time in their respective careers. Reigning WBC World Youth Lightweight Champion Jamaine Ortiz (12-0, 6 KOs) headlines in an eight-round bout against 21-year-old Mexican challenger Luis Ronaldo Castillo (22-5, 17 KOs) while fellow Worcester native Irvin Gonzalez Jr. (13-2, 10 KOs) aims for his own title in the eight-round co-main event when he battles Reading, PA, vet Yeuri Andujar (5-2, 3 KOs) for the vacant WBC Youth World Featherweight Championship.
Tickets for the event are priced at $35, $45 and $85 (VIP) and are available online at CESBoxing.com or ShowClix.com, or by phone at 401-724-2253. Preliminary bouts begin at 7 p.m. ET with the main card streaming live on FIGHT PASS at 9. Subscriptions for FIGHT PASS are available online at UFCFightPass.com. CES Boxing matchmaker and publicist Michael Parente handles play-by-play alongside legendary color commentator “Sucra” Ray Oliveira.
This event is open to the public. Each fighter will be available for interviews, photos and autographs during a half-hour window. Tuesday’s time slots are as follows:
Eslih Owusu, 5–5:30Jake Paradise, 5:30–6Kendrick Ball Jr., 6–6:30Jamaine Ortiz, 6:30–7
The pre-fight kickoff concludes Thursday, February 27 with the official weigh-in – also open to the public – beginning at 4 p.m. at Lundgren Honda of Auburn, located at 163 Washington St., in Auburn, MA. Fighters step on the scale approximately at 4.
Friday’s event ends CES Boxing’s decade-long drought in Massachusetts. The promotion last staged an event in the Bay State in January of 2010 at the venue formerly known as The Roxy (now the Royale). Boston’s Maceo Crowder (2-4, 1 KO) made his professional debut that night and now comes full circle as he again fights under the CES Boxing banner in Massachusetts on Friday, battling Worcester super welterweight Eslih Owusu (2-0, 1 KO) in a four-round bout.
Ortiz earned his title in February of 2019, headlining a sold-out show at Twin River Casino Hotel in Rhode Island with an impressive win over previously-undefeated Mexican prospect Ricardo Quiroz of California. On Friday, he faces the dangerous Castillo, who boasts 17 knockout victories and has amassed 27 professional bouts in just four years.
Gonzalez, who signed a long-term promotional agreement with CES Boxing in November, has the opportunity to join his stablemate as a WBC Youth title-holder Friday when he faces the slick Andujar, a native of San Cristobal, Dominican Republic, who enters fresh off an upset win over the previously-unbeaten Nathan Martinez in December.
Making her Worcester debut, flyweight Marisa Belenchia (1-0) of New Haven, CT, battles Buffalo, NY native Shawna Ormsby (0-0), who makes her professional boxing debut following a highly-successful Muay Thai career, in a four-round special attraction. An accomplished amateur boxer in addition to a professional mixed martial arts fighter, Belenchia made her long-awaited professional boxing debut last summer with a win over Delaney Owen at Foxwoods. The 27-year-old Ormsby brings a stacked kickboxing and MMA record to the table February 28. She is a three-time Muay Thai champion and member of the famed Carlson Gracie Team in Longwood, FL.
Visit CESBoxing.com, Twitter.com/CESBoxing or Facebook.com/CESBoxing for more information, and follow CES Boxing on Instagram at @CESBOXING.
CES Boxing promoted its first event in 1992 headlined by future Champion Sucra Ray Oliveira. Over the years, CES has earned the reputation as the Heart and Soul of boxing with a rich history that includes the development of former U.S. Olympian Jason Estrada, plus Vinny Paz and Rhode Island legends Gary Balletto and Peter Manfredo Jr., both of whom rose to fame on The Contender reality television series. Through the years, Jimmy Burchfield Sr has earned several noteworthy awards, among them the NABF Promoter of the Year, and 2011 inductee into the Connecticut Boxing Hall of Fame.
UFC FIGHT PASS® is the world’s leading digital subscription service for combat sports. Since launching in 2013, FIGHT PASS is now available in more than 200 countries and territories. FIGHT PASS provides its members with unlimited access to live UFC FIGHT PASS Prelims; live mixed martial arts and combat sports from around the world; original series and historical programming; special features; behind-the-scenes content; in-depth interviews; and up-to-the minute reports on the world of combat sports. FIGHT PASS subscribers also have 24/7 access to the world’s largest fight library, featuring more than 17,000 bouts from dozens of combats sports organizations, as well as every fight in UFC history. Fight fans can access FIGHT PASS on personal computers, iOS and Android mobile devices, Apple TV, Xbox One, Xbox 360, Amazon Fire TV, Chromecast, Roku, Samsung Smart TVs, LG Smart TVs, and Sony TVs with Android TV.
Stephanie Gorman, UFC, 702-222-0854 or sgorman@ufc.com.
