Fight Night at the U
By Laz Izada

February 10th
Vacant WBC Middleweight
United States Championship Title

Miguel Hernandez vs. Ryan Davis
(18-3/9 KO’s) (19-4-2/8 KO’s)

Coral Gables, FL (January 17) That’s right boxing fans, professional boxing makes it’s debut on Friday, February 10th, at 8pm at the BankUnited Center on the University of Miami Campus. The $48 Million state of the art facility has a seating capacity of 7,000 with 25 luxury suites. It is the home of the Hurricane’s men’s and women’s basketball teams. The BankUnited Center is also the host to concerts and other campus and community events. The center is managed by Global Spectrum, a subsidiary of Comcast-Spectacor, which owns Comcast CSS cable and will televise the card on a delayed basis to 4.5 million subscribers in the southeast.

New promoter, Big Star Productions, along with the BankUnited Center and the University of Miami are targeting students on campus to fill the arena. A crowd of 3,000 to 4,000 local fans, and students is expected. Normal ticket prices will range from $25-$125, with special ticket prices of $10 being offered to students with valid ID and the box office the day of the show. Miami Heat DJ Irie will be on hand providing musical entertainment for the event.

For the boxing match ups, Big Star has teamed up with credible match maker Mike Marchionte, who had previously worked 4 years as match maker for Dibella Entertainment, Inc. Seven bouts will be featured. In the main event Miguel Hernandez (18-3/9 KO’s) will take on Ryan Davis (19-4-2/8 KO’s) for the vacant WBC Middleweight USA Title. These are two evenly matched “straight forward” hungry fighters from Chicago, looking for their first US title. “Macho” Miguel Hernandez is coming off an impressive unanimous decision victory over Butch Hajicek that took place January 6th in Chicago, on the undercard of the Showtime Sho Box Show.

Dangerous Davis is looking to rebound from a TKO that he suffered in August of 2005 against Carlos Bojorquez. The co-main event features a match up of Super Middleweights Aneudi Santos (12-3/9 KO’s) vs. Alfred Kinsey (5-2-1/3 KO’s). Santos, from Freeport, NY previously qualified for the Dominican 2000 Olympic team, but decided to accept a scholarship at Hosfra University instead. His most impressive victory, a TKO, was against Aaron Norwood (21-3-2) in October of 2004. Kinsey, from Atlantic City, has had 5 wins and 1 draw in his last 6 fights. He has gained valuable experience fighting in Atlantic City and Philadelphia several times.

Light heavyweight contender Danny “the Bronx Bomber” Santiago (27-2/18 KO’s) from Ocala will also be on the card against Rayco Sanders (15-7-1) from Pittsburgh. Santiago, who has a huge following in Central Florida, is looking to return to the ring in Miami since his last Miami fight in 2001. In October 2004 in Madison Square Garden, he TKO’d Elvir “Kosovo Kid” Murigi in the 4th round, who was 29-1 at the time. Santiago is now being promoted by Big Star Productions and is being trained by legendary Miami trainer Pat Burns.