Brick City Boxing

Chicago bantamweight prospect Francisco "EL NINO AZTECA" Rodriguez will battle Andre Wilson this Friday night, February 15th in the SOLO BOXEO TECATE televised co-main event at Cicero Stadium, it was announced today by Dominic Pesoli, President of 8 Count Productions, HOME OF THE BEST IN CHICAGO BOXING.

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The Rodriguez/Wilson bout, scheduled for eight rounds is one of the feature attractions at CELEBRATION, an outstanding evening of world class professional boxing marking the 10th anniversary of 8 Count Productions.

Tickets for CELEBRATION are available in advance by calling the 8 Count Productions offices at 312-226-5800. Cicero Stadium is located at 1909 S. Laramie, just minutes from the Eisenhower and Stevenson Expressways. Doors for this event will open at 5:30pm with the first bell at 6:30pm.

Said Pesoli, “Francisco has looked terrific recently and has improved a great deal. We’ve had a very good response from his last SOLO BOXEO TECATE appearance (RTD7 over Ivan Rodriguez) as well as his last fight which is up on Youtube (UD8 over Robert Da Luz). We’re expecting great things from Francisco in 2008 and this fight is hopefully another step in that direction.”

The 23 year old Rodriguez, who had a stellar amateur career, has amassed a huge following in Chicago while running his record to 11-1 with seven knockouts.

Said Rodriguez, " This is a great opportunity for me to fight on SOLO BOXEO TECATE. Not only can fans in Chicago watch me in person but so can fight fans in many countries who get the broadcast. I've prepared well for this fight and I'm looking forward to Friday night."

Wilson, a native of St. Joseph, Missouri, brings a record of 9-1 with eight knockouts into battle with Rodriguez. He is coming off a first round knockout of Aaron Sannipoli on May 30, 2007 in Kansas City.

Wilson’s only loss was a much disputed four round majority decision to Shimon Bain on April 14, 2007 in Nassau, Bahamas, which most ringside observers felt was unfairly given to the hometown favorite.

CELEBRATION, an outstanding evening of world class professional boxing, presented by 8 Count Productions and Bob Arum’s Top Rank Incorporated is headlined by an outstanding battle between junior welterweight prospects Mike Alvarado and Jesus “CHUY” Rodriguez.

As part of the CELEBRATION event, Rocky Martinez and Mike "FLY" Garcia will be inducted into the 8 Count Productions Hall of Fame.

The full fight card for CELEBRATION is;

Mike Alvarado vs. Jesus Rodriguez, ten rounds, junior welterweights
Francisco Rodriguez vs. Andre Wilson, eight rounds, bantamweights
Andrzej Fonfara vs. Francisco Rincon, six rounds, junior middleweights
Freddie Cuevas vs. Luis Hodge, six rounds, middleweights
Ivan Popoca vs. Guadalupe Diaz, four rounds, junior welterweights

The open to the public weigh-in will be held at 7pm on Thursday, February 14th at Club Aquarius, 2459 N. Pulaski on the Northwest side of Chicago.

Along with Chicago’s 8 Count Productions and Bob Arum’s Top Rank Incorporated, CELEBRATION is presented by TCF Bank, Tecate Beer and AeroMexico, Mexico’s premier airline travel headquarters. The SOLO BOXEO TECATE broadcast will be viewed in 42 US markets and 70 foreign countries.

The Master of Ceremonies for CELEBRATION will be Lupe Contreras, the internationally recognized voice of Latino boxing.

8 Count Productions was started by Dominic Pesoli in 1998 and has consistently presented the highest quality professional boxing events in Chicagoland. In 2003, Pesoli along with former featherweight contender Mike Garcia opened JABB Boxing Gym, a 6,000 square foot venue dedicated to the finest Chicagoland boxers of all talent levels.

To view the seating chart and poster for this event or for more information on 8 Count Productions and JABB Boxing Gym, please visit www.8countproductions.com and www.jabbboxinggym.com

For more information on Bob Arum’s Top Rank Incorporated, please visit.
www.toprank.com