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Tureano Johnson to face Alex Theran on Roc Nation card

Fighters Network
18
Dec

Tureano-Johnson_Casino

 

Middleweight Tureano Johnson will face Alex Theron on the Jan. 9 undercard of a welterweight bout between Dusty Hernandez Harrison and Tommy Rainone in the Theater at New York’s Madison Square Garden, Roc Nation Sports announced on Thursday.

Johnson (17-1, 12 knockouts) will be after his fourth consecutive victory and his third straight stoppage win against Theran (17-1, 10 KOs) on a card representing the first in a three-fight agreement with FOX Sports 1 for a televised series called “Throne Boxing.”



Founded by music mogul Jay Z, Roc Nation Sports burst into boxing in August, when COO David Itskowitch posted a winning bid of more than $1.9 million for the right to promote a bout between Matt Korobov and then-WBO middleweight titleholder Peter Quillin, who eventually pulled out of the fight.

Itskowitch is the former COO of Golden Boy Promotions.

Johnson, 30, last suffered defeat by disputed 10th round technical knockout against Curtis Stevens in April but has reeled off a unanimous decision over previously undefeated Mike Gavronski in July, last month’s 87-second knockout of Valerio Marte and a sixth round stoppage of Humberto Toledo on Dec. 5.

A southpaw, Theran, 24, bounced back from a third round knockout loss to Arif Magomedov in April with a sixth round stoppage of Jhonatan Ricar in October.

Coming off last month’s first round knockout of Michael Clark, the 20-year-old Harrison (24-0, 13 KOs) will be making his third appearance at the Garden, having once fought in its main arena. A 34-year-old journeyman, Rainone (22-5-1, 4 KOs) was last in action for a unanimous decision over Carl McNickles in November.

Also on the card is welterweight Cecil McCalla, who is coming off last month’s 47-second knockout of Francisco Javier Reza, against Chris Van Heerden, a southpaw who was last in action for a split decision victory over Ray Narh in April.

Recently trained by Freddie Roach, Van Heerden also owns victories over Kaiser Mabuza, Sebastian Lujan, Matthew Hatton and Cosme Rivera.

Heavyweight Zhang Zhilei of Zhoukou, China, a 6-foot-6, 250-pound 2008 Olympic silver medalist in the Beijing Olympics, is being matched against Kaleb Slaughter, who will be making his professional debut.

The event will also match Jerry Odom and Andrew Hernandez in a super middleweight clash of undefeated fighters, Kenneth Sims Jr. opposite Justin Johnson in a junior welterweight bout, featherweight Eduardo Martinez vs. Rigoberto Miranda, 140-pounder Wellington Romero vs. Lee Kreisher and Dustin Fleischer making his pro debut against Frank Jordan in a junior welterweight bout.

 

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