340 Boxing officials announced Saturday night that Virgin Islads fighter John Jackson will appear on a televised Premier Boxing Champions fight card Aug. 2 from Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida.
The “PBC – the Next Round” series on Bounce TV showcases boxing’s “rising stars and future champions,” according to the network’s official website. The series debut kicks off at 9 p.m. Aug. 2 with a world title bout between Juan Carlos “Baby Pacquiao” Payano (16-0, 8 KOs) and Rau’shee “Nuke” Warren (13-0, 4 KOs) live on the university’s campus.
The broadcast will also include two 10-round bouts, including a faceoff between Jackson (19-2, 15 KOs) and Dennis Laurente (49-5, 30 KOs,) a Filipino southpaw that Jackson said may have more fights under his belt, but is no match for his confidence and training.
“I’ve been focusing on throwing a lot more combos, so in everything I do, I’m looking at putting in the work instead of going for one hard punch,” Jackson said of his strategy. “I’ve been looking at my opponent, I know he’s a southpaw, I know he’s very tough, but I’m very confident and excited to get back in the ring again and show what I can do.”
Jackson said he hopes a win against Laurente will launch him into contention for Floyd Mayweather’s recently vacated world title. It’s been seven months since Jackson has been in the ring; his last bout was in November 2014 against Argentina’s Carlos Adan Jerez, which the V.I. contender won in a 10-round unanimous decision.
Boxing officials also announced Saturday that they are still negotiating a bout for Julius Jackson (19-0, 15 KOs,) who is also looking to get back in the ring since his last fight, a ninth-round knockout against Jonathon Nelson (19-2, 9 KOs.) Julius Jackson is ranked No. 5 by the International Boxing Federation in the super middleweight category.
Julius, according to 340 Boxing managing partner Lesley Comissiong, aims to take over the IBF’s No. 1 slot.
Meanwhile, the territory’s heavyweight amateur puncher, Clayton Laurent Jr. will take off Wednesday for this year’s Pan American Games competition, which kicked off earlier this week in Toronto, Canada.
Laurent, who joined the Puerto Rico Hurricanes last year as a World Series of Boxing contender, said Saturday he is excited to return to the competition’s ring, represent the Virgin Islands and, hopefully, bring back the gold.
“On July 18, I’ll find out what bracket I’m in, then I’ll head into the preliminaries and battle my way into the finals,” Laurent said.
The Pan Am Games used to be a qualifier for the Olympics and while it’s not this year, Laurent said he will travel to Qatar in October for the next qualifier, which he anticipates will take him to the 2016 games in Brazil.
Laurent emerges from his first WSB season with a 3-0 record, which was sealed in March with a victory over the Italian World Thunder. In what was the most action packed bout of that evening, Laurent fought a stunning come-from-behind victory, after dropping the first two rounds to Italy’s Guido Vianello, the fifth ranked super heavyweight in WSB competition this season.
With the win, Laurent improves his record, while Vianello dropped to 3-2 and No. 6 in WSB rankings in the super heavyweight division.
