Flint, Mi – Michigan’s top boxing talent will be on display and viewed by a global audience on Thursday, September 12, as Salita Promotions presents the next edition of “BIG TIME BOXING USA” featuring undefeated Flint, Mich., native Ardreal “Bossman” Holmes Jr. (15-0, 6 KOs) defending his USBA Junior Middleweight title against Cuba’s Hugo Noriega (10-2, 5 KOs) in the main event.
All the action takes place at Dort Financial Center in Flint, with the top four bouts airing live on the premier global sports platform DAZN (8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT).
Tickets for the live event are on sale now and can be purchased online HERE or in-person at the Dort Financial Center Box Office.
Promoter Dmitriy Salita has announced the televised portion of the card, with compelling matchups at 154 and 160 pounds. Salita has quickly built the BIG TIME BOXING USA series into the world’s leading talent development platform with an international reach of over 200 countries worldwide on DAZN.
“From Detroit to Flint to Grand Rapids, boxing has always been in the blood of this blue-collar state,” Salita said. “Michigan has produced The GWOAT, Claressa Shields, a three division world champion, the world renowned Dirrell brothers, Andre and Anthony, and former heavyweight world champion Chris Byrd. You’d be hard-pressed to find another region in the United States as rich in boxing talent as the greater Detroit area.
“On Thursday, Sept. 12, all of the fighters will be tested to varying degrees,” continued Salita, a former world championship contender in his day. “They will have the opportunity to show a global audience if they are worthy of advancing from highly regarded prospect to world title contender in a stacked and always exciting division. That is what this series is all about.”
Versatile combat sports commentator Corey Erdman will call all the action on DAZN and is joined in the booth by International Boxing Hall of Famer Al Bernstein and former U.S. Olympian and junior middleweight world champion Raul Marquez.
“The 154-pound division is on fire right now and undefeated Ardreal Holmes is well positioned to make a run in that division,” said Bernstein, one of boxing’s most respected expert analysts. “Standing in his path to 154-pound glory is Hugo Noriega. This former Cuban amateur standout has only two decision losses marring his record, and both were tough, exciting fights. He has a powerful right hand and he’ll be motivated in what might be a crossroads fight for him. This fight should have plenty of action. Holmes wants to continue his new punching prowess and Noriega has made some exciting fights.”
The co-main event will feature unbeaten prospect Joseph “Sug” Hicks (10-0, 7 KOs) of Grand Rapids, Mich., taking on Detroit’s Ronnie Austion (10-2, 7 KOs) in an eight-round super welterweight bout while fellow Detroit native and SugarHill Steward-trained “Hitman 2.0” Da’Velle Smith (8-0, 6 KOs) collides against Esau Herrera de la Cruz (21-17-1, 8 KOs) in a middleweight fight.
Hicks, 30, has become one of Michigan’s most promising stars. On the heels of an impressive knockout over Ricardo Ruben Villalba in February 2024, Hicks will put his perfect record on the line against Austion. Although the same age as Hicks, Austion’s career spans nearly a decade longer than his opponent’s. However, the Grand Rapids native aims to insert himself back into the win column in front of his home state.
Kicking off the televised card on DAZN will be a showdown between surging Flint prospect Leon Lawson III (15-1, 8 KOs) and Argentina’s Luis Alberto Veron (20-8-2, 9 KOs). Lawson is the cousin of the Dirrell brothers and his trained by his father, former pro boxer Leon Lawson II.
Deriving from a rich lineage of world class boxer’s, Lawson III’s high-stakes matchup comes following a year-long layoff from the ring. After suffering his first loss of his career in 2021, Lawson III bounced back into winning form when he scored an emphatic third-round TKO victory over Abraham Peralta in 2023. Opposite Lawson III, the grizzled Alberto Veron looks to take the Flint’s native massive momentum.
Comments