RENO -- It's still early in Joey Gilbert's professional boxing career but he's not wasting any time accelerating it. The Reno native will fight Kansas' Tim Robinson tonight at the Eldorado Hotel and Casino in one of six professional bouts on a fight card sponsored by Top Rank, Inc.
"I hope everybody in town gets out here to see a great fight," said Gilbert, a super welterweight who has knocked out both opponents in his only two professional fights. "Personally, I look forward to a good fight early in my career. I'm just excited to be back and fight in front of my hometown crowd."
Yerington's Jesse Brinkley (17-1, 11 KOs) hasn't fought since November but he'll go up against Cabien St. Pierre (7-16, 3 KOs) of Bullhead City, Ariz., in one of two six-round middleweight bouts. The other one will pit Jose Luis Zertuche (5-0-1, 4 KOs) and Francisco Mendez (14-24-1, 6 KOs), both of Mexico. Zertuche was member of the 2000 Mexican Olympic team.
Another Nevadan, amateur Ryan Simpson, will also fight. It will be the first time ever the United States Olympic Boxing Commission is allowing an amateur to fight on the same card as professionals. It will also be the the first time three of Nevada's most notable boxers will fight on the same card on the same evening.
Telefutura, the sister station of Univision, the largest Hispanic television network in the country, will broadcast the event live starting at 6 p.m. Doors open at 4:30 p.m. with the first fight scheduled for 5:15 p.m. This will be the first professional fight card televised by Telefutura in 2002. The station will broadcast the fight card on its popular boxing show, 'Solo Boxeo'.
The main event and co-main event is between four promising young flyweights. Puerto Rico's Jose Lopez and Mexico's Alejandro Moreno will square off in a 10-round bout and Jorge Arce (28-3-1, 20 KOs) will fight Ramon Hurtado (14-5, 9 KOs).
Lopez, who has fought for the WBO title four on four occasions but has lost every time, is excited for his match with Moreno, who is considered one of Mexico's top flyweights.
"I am very happy to be here in Reno," Lopez said through an interpreter on Thursday during a press conference at the Eldorado. "I am looking forward to having a great fight tomorrow night."
"You know we Mexicans always give a good fight, so expect the same thing tomorrow night," Moreno said.
The co main-event between Arce and Hurtado will give locals a chance to see a former WBO flyweight champion. Arce eventually lost that title to Michael Carbajal after a 1999 fight in Tijuana, Mexico. But since that loss, Arce has gone 9-0 and is currently the top-ranked WBC flyweight. In July, Arce will fight current WBC champion Yosam Choi of Korea.
Mexico's Juan Covarrrubias (6-6-1, 3 KOs) and Jose Aguiniga (12-0, 9 KOs) of Oxnard, Calif., will fight in a six-round junior featherweight bout.
Tickets for the event start at $20.
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