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HBO will have a Boxing After Dark tripleheader on August 17 as well as an extra fight airing on HBO Latino, part of a package night with split site locations.
Nathan Cleverly will defend his WBO light heavyweight title against Sergey Kovalev in Cardiff, Wales, which will air on tape delay. (There may be a live airing in the afternoon, but if not, American fight fans will have to turn to other means to watch the BoxNation live broadcast, since tape delay in 2013 with the internet and all that is sort of an outdated idea.)
In Atlantic City, BAD will have two live fights: Daniel Geale facing Darren Barker for Geale's IBF middleweight title, and IBF super bantamweight titlist Jhonatan Romero defending his title against an opponent to be named.
Also, HBO Latino will air a live fight that night pitting Puerto Rican prospect Thomas Dulorme against still-unbeaten, 37-year-old Paul Spadafora, a former lightweight titleholder who lost a chunk of his career to prison and has spent the last six-and-a-half years toiling on the East Coast club circuit, looking for a break. This is the break he's been trying to get, as it will be his first major televised fight in about a decade.
The Geale-Barker, Romero-TBA, and Dulorme-Spadafora fights will take place at the new Revel Casino-Hotel in Atlantic City, the first boxing card the venue has hosted. Promoter Gary Shaw is confident it will be a great new location for the sport.
"You know how amazing it will be to break in a venue like Revel with an HBO tripleheader," said Shaw. "I mean that is one heck of a way to open up boxing at any kind of first class hotel and casino. We're excited for the card, but now we get the chance to do it at a quality location. I've been to Revel and I can tell you that everything about this place screams boxing, action, and total entertainment."
"Fans will feel as though this place is catering to them. The venue is set up nicely to host cards big and small, and the people associated with Revel are smart, hardworking individuals. I'm happy to be working with my good friend, Revel executive Bernie Dillon, whom I had the pleasure of doing business with when I was with the New Jersey State Athletic commission. I can't wait to work with him and his staff. The event itself will be incredible," Shaw continued.
Geale (29-1, 15 KO) is thrilled to make his American and HBO debuts.
"I'm excited to be on HBO because you can't mention boxing without HBO. I will be exposed to many U.S. fight fans for the first time in my career thanks to my promoter Gary Shaw and Grange Old School Boxing. The feeling is overwhelming. I'm excited to perform in a city that has hosted so many legends such as Mike Tyson, George Foreman, Evander Holyfield, Diego Corrales just to name a few. I will do my part to live up to what past legends have accomplished," Geale said.