The weights are in and the stage is set as CES Boxing makes its 2023 debut tomorrow night at Mohegan Sun Arena with Winter Brawl, featuring 10 exciting bouts.
Winter Brawl is headlined by a 10-round featherweight showdown from the vacant WBC Silver title between Irvin Gonzalez Jr. (15-3, 11 KOs) of Worcester, MA, and San Cristobal, Dominican Republic native Dannis Aguero Arias (19-2, 16 KOs).
Tickets for Winter Brawl are available online at MoheganSun.com, or through the Mohegan Sun box office. The event will also stream live on Spectation Sports beginning at 9 pm ET featuring play-by-play from CES Boxing publicist Michael Parente alongside color commentator and New England boxing icon “Sucra” Ray Oliveira.
Other bouts at Winter Brawl include Stamford, CT, light middleweight Chordale Booker (17-1, 7 KOs) in an eight-round showcase against 37-fight veteran Angel Hernandez (17-17-3, 11 KOs); New London, CT, super featherweight Alejandro Paulino (11-0, 9 KOs) in a six-round bout against Ryizeemmion Ford (8-3, 6 KOs); and a four-round cruiserweight bout between John Gotti III (1-0) of Oyster Bay, NY, and Alex Citrowske (1-1-1, 1 KO) of Saint Cloud, MN.
With Cusumano scratched due to illness, featherweight Gonzalez steps up in main event of Winter Brawl
The stakes just got a whole lot higher for Worcester, MA, featherweight Irvin Gonzalez Jr.
With heavyweight Juiseppe Cusumano unable to fight Saturday due to an illness, Gonzalez’s originally-scheduled eight-round bout against Dannis Aguero Arias will now be contested at 10 rounds for the vacant WBC Silver Featherweight Title as the new main event of CES Boxing’s 2023 season opener, Winter Brawl, at Mohegan Sun Arena.
Cusumano’s bout against Hungarian Istvan Bernath has been postponed, elevating Gonzalez to main-event status in his first bout in more than a year.
As an added bonus, Winter Brawl will stream live on Spectation Sports beginning at 9 pm ET featuring play-by-play from CES Boxing publicist Michael Parente. Dubbed “the future of combat sports,” Spectation Sports is a live sports streaming platform focusing on combat sports and sports gaming that features live events, an extensive video library, featured articles, and fighter rankings. A premium subscription is required to stream live content, starting with monthly passes as low as $19.99 that can be canceled at any time.
Doors open at 6 pm Saturday with preliminary bouts beginning at 7. Today’s official weigh-in is open to the public and begins at 4 pm at the Arena. Tickets for Winter Brawl are still available online at MoheganSun.com or at the Arena box office.
Saturday’s live stream features six bouts, including the main event. The others are:
- Stamford, CT, light middleweight Chordale Booker (17-1, 7 KOs) in an eight-round showcase against 37-fight veteran Angel Hernandez (17-17-3, 11 KOs)
- New London, CT, super featherweight Alejandro Paulino (11-0, 9 KOs in a six-round bout against Ryizeemmion Ford (8-3, 6 KOs)
- A four-round cruiserweight bout between John Gotti III (1-0) of Oyster Bay, NY, and Alex Citrowske (1-1-1, 1 KO) of Saint Cloud, MN
- Mike Kimbel of Watertbury, CT, making his professional boxing debut against Robert Banks (0-1) of Monroeville, NY, in a four-round bout
- Undefeated super lightweight Kevin Walsh (6-0, 4 KOs) of Brockton, MA, in a six-round bout against Christian Otero (4-2, 2 KOs) of New York City
After missing all of 2022 while recovering from elbow and hand surgery, Gonzalez (15-3, 11 KOs) fights for the first time since December of 2021 and now competes for the WBC Silver title, previously held in the 126-pound division by former bantamweight world champion Nonito Donaire and former world-title challenger Rocky Juarez.
The 31-year-old Arias, a San Cristobal, Dominican Republic native, boasts a 19-2 record with 16 KOs, including eight consecutive wins – all by knockout. Saturday is Arias’ United States debut.