Kingsley Ibeh will face Dante Stone in a 10-round heavyweight main event June 20 at Celebrity Theater in Phoenix.
Billed as “The King of the West,” Ibeh-Stone and its supporting card will be part of the “Sizzling Summer Boxing Series” put on by Toro Promotions and in association with Whitfield Haydon.
Ibeh, 16-3-1 (14 KOs), a Nigeria-born fighter now residing in Phoenix, most recently was edged by Jarrell Miller in a split decision loss in January. The defeat snapped an 11-fight win streak and a string of six consecutive knockouts for Ibeh, who had previously stopped Gerald Washington inside three rounds last September.
Stone, 21-2 (13 KOs), from Omaha, Nebraska, and now based in nearby Chandler, Arizona, is also coming off a tight loss – a six-round split decision against Kevin Cristopher Ramirez last October in the WBC Grand Prix championship final in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Like Ibeh, Stone had been on a tear before his latest outing, winning each of his 21 fights following a defeat in his professional debut.
Ibeh and Stone are 32 and 31, respectively, and neither is ranked among the top 15 heavyweights by any of the four major sanctioning bodies.
“Being able to put on a serious heavyweight crossroads fight between two Phoenix fighters is something that I thought had a chance to happen years ago, but clearly the opportunity has presented itself and the time is now,” Haydon said. “It would not have made sense in the past or probably never again in the future, so it’s now or never.”
The rest of the “Sizzling Summer Boxing Series” will include shows in Auburn, Washington, and Glendale, California.
In the “Raineer Rumble I” on July 11 at Muckleshoot Casino in Auburn, San Diego junior lightweight Austin Brooks, 14-0-1 (6 KOs), will face Los Angeles-based Ukrainian Viktor Slavinskyi, 14-5 (7 KOs), in a 10-round main event.
In the “Heartbeat of Los Angeles Boxing Series” on August 15 at East End Studios in Glendale, Armenian lightweight prospect Narek Hovhannisyan, 3-0 (2 KOs) – the cousin of heavyweight prospect Gurgen Hovhannisyan – will meet an opponent to be named in his first scheduled 10-rounder.
Additionally, Toro Promotions will feature Nicaragua’s Nilo Guerrero, 11-0 (8 KOs) against Mexico’s Juan Pablo Ramirez Rouque, 13-4-0 (2 KOs) in a junior lightweight 10-round main event May 15 in Chetumal, Mexico.
Also on the bill: Georgia heavyweight Tsotne “Mr. T” Rogava, 12-1-0 (8 KOs) facing Mexico’s Mauricio Leo Perez, 8-0-1 (6 KOs) in an eight-round co-feature; and Hovhannisyan in a six-round bout with hometown fighter Brayen Briceno, 3-0-2 (2 KOs).
