SAN DIEGO, CALIF. – May 8, 2017 – Undefeated WBA Super Flyweight champion Kal Yafai will make his first defense of his crown when he takes on top 10 rated Suguru Muranaka This Saturday, May 13th live on AWE – A Wealth of Entertainment.
The card will originate from Yafai’s hometown of Birmingham, England. AWE’s live coverage begins at 3 pm ET.
For boxing fans, who do not have AWE, the fight can be accessed on the AWE channel on http://www.klowdtv.com
“We’re thrilled to air another great world title fight live on AWE,” said Robert Herring, CEO of AWE. “This will be an outstanding matchup. We’re pleased to continue to introduce some of the best world champions from around the world to AWE boxing fans and Yafai is no exception.”
Yafai will step into the ring with a perfect record of 21-0 with 14 knockouts. The 27 year-old is a five year professional, and comes from a fighting family. Yafai’s brother, Gamal, is an undefeated super bantamweight, and is also on the May 13th card.
Yafai won the WBA Super Flyweight crown with a 12-round unanimous decision over Luis Concepcion on December 10th in Manchester, England.
Yafai earned his way to a title shot with wins over Jozsef Ajtai (15-3), Dixon Flores (12-3-2), Jason Cunningham (17-2), Cristofer Rosales (10-1), Yaqub Kaleem (13-3-1) and Scott Gladwin (5-1).
“It’s a tough first defense and that’s what I need,” said Yafai. “I want hard fights that are going to help me when I face unification fights.”
“This is what I started boxing for. I wanted massive nights in Birmingham and it doesn’t get better for me. It’s been amazing since winning the title. Every time I’m walking around the city I get stopped for photos and for autographs, but I know that it’s harder to keep a title than it is to win it, so the real work is only just beginning.”Muranaka of Tokyo, Japan has a record of 25-2-1 with eight knockouts, and is undefeated in his last 19 fights, which spans 11 years.
Muranaka is coming off a eight-round majority decision over Hiroyuki Hisataka on December 5, 2016 in Tokyo.
The 31 year-old Muranaka has signature wins over Renoel Pael (19-3-1), Tetsuma Hiyasji (25-2-2), Masayuki Kuroda (21-4-3), Takuya Kogawa (22-2), Tamoya Tateyama (8-1-1) and Toyoto Shiraishi (6-0-1).
This will be Muranka’s first bout outside of Japan. The full undercard will be announced shortly.
About AWE LIVE BOXING
AWE LIVE Boxing features live world title championship and elimination bouts showcasing today’s most exciting fighters. Since the inception of AWE’s live boxing events in 2011, AWE has featured over 50 world title fights.
AWE has brought boxing fans some of the most exciting and controversial bouts, including the matchup of Ricky Burns against Ray Beltran for the world title. AWE featured live and exclusively the crowning of American Terence Crawford over Ricky Burns. AWE fans have witnessed the explosive power of undefeated heavyweight Tyson Fury multiple times on the network, including Fury’s victory over Kevin Johnson. In 2017, AWE was the exclusive United States television provider of the historic matchup between legendary British heavyweight David Haye and Tony Bellew.
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