Press release: Sir William "The Gladiator" Gibbs, 17-1, 14 ko's, will be making his return to ESPN Friday Night Fight's on April 1st at The Mohegan Sun against Andres Pacheco 13-2, 9 ko's, in the 10 round main event. Julio De La Cruz, who was Gibbs' original opponent, had to pull out of the fight citing weight issues. According to promoter Richie Cappiello, Gibbs has been in training and the opponent change won't bother him one bit.
"I have extreme confidence that Willie will get back on track with an exciting win and put himself back in the picture as a middleweight contender, said Cappiello. "Andres Pacheco is a banger and will be coming to take Willie out. With each of their styles and knockout ratio it won't be anything but a great fight as long as it lasts."
Gibbs is coming back from a knockout loss to Daniel Edouard that many felt was an ESPN 2004 fight of the year candidate. Although he hasn't fought since August, Gibbs wants no part of a tuneup fight and is looking forward to his fourth straight ESPNÂ bout.
Pacheco feels he has been in with a higher level of competition than Gibbs over the course of his career. Even though he has lost his last two fights they have come against opponents with a combined record of 84-9 culminating with a controversial split decision loss to Yury Boy Campos.
The co-feature will be an exciting junior welterweight matchup between Chucky Tschorniawski, 25-8-1, 14 ko's, and Chad Brisson, 17-2, 10 ko's. Philly's "Chucky T" is coming off of two straight knockout wins and also has a win over Ivan Robinson. His most notable losses came agsinst Billy "The Kid" Irwin, Leonard Dorin, and former lightweight champion Paul Spadafora.
The 25 year old Brisson is a Canadien prospect who has only fought once in the United States. He has won his last seven fights dating back to 2002 when he lost a majority decision to the aformentioned Irvin.
Featured on the undercard are two of Cappiello Promotions brightest young prosepect in middleweight Elvin Ayala, 9-0, 3 ko's and Colorado junior welterweight Marvin Cordova 2-0.
Tickets for the April 1st show can be purchased by logging on to ticketmaster.com or by going to the Mohegan Sun box office. They are priced at $50 and $40.
The complete card is as follows:
10 rounds
Willie Gibbs 17-1, (14)Â vs Andres Pacheco, 13-2, (9)
10 rounds
Chucky Tschorniawski 25-8-1, (14) vs Chad Brisson, 17-2, (10)
6/8 rounds
Elvin Ayala 9-0, (3) vs Jose Medina 7-3, (2)
4 rounds
Marvin Cordova 2-0 vs Favio Medina 6-1-1, (3)
4 rounds
Tyrone Smith 2-0, (1) vs Augustine Trujillo 2-1, (2)
4 rounds
Castulo Gonzalez 2-0Â vs TBA
4 rounds
Chris McIrnerny 1-0 (1) vs Ray Encinias 0-1