THE FIGHTS BEFORE "THE FIGHT"

FORMER WORLD CHAMPION DANIEL PONCE DE LEON VS. EDUARDO LAZCANO AND ISHE SMITH VS. AYI BRUCE KICK OFF A WEEKEND OF ACTION IN LAS VEGAS AT HARD ROCK HOTEL & CASINO TONIGHT LAS VEGAS, May 4 - Tonight, Friday, May 4, a day before the biggest boxing event of 2012, Mayweather Promotions and Golden Boy Promotions will get things started in style at Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas with a five-fight card featuring a talented array of fighters looking to steal the show from Floyd Mayweather and Miguel Cotto before their Saturday mega-fight. In the 10 round main event, which will be televised by Fox Sports Net and Fox Deportes in English and Spanish respectively, former World Champion Daniel Ponce De Leon (42-4, 35 KO's) battles Juarez' Eduardo "El Chucky" Lazcano (24-2, 11 KO's) for the vacant WBC USNBC Super Featherweight Title. In the televised co-feature, longtime contender and Las Vegas favorite Ishe "Sugar Shay" Smith(22-5, 10 KO's) returns to the ring to face Albany, New York's Ayi Bruce (21-6, 13 KO's) in a 10 round junior middleweight contest. De Leon vs. Lazcano and Smith vs. Bruce are presented by Mayweather Promotions and Golden Boy Promotions and sponsored by Corona and DeWalt Tools.  The Fox Sports Net and Fox Deportes bilingual simulcast, which will be available in over 50 million homes, will air live at 11:00 p.m. ET/8:00 p.m. PT. The action in the ring won't be all that will heat up viewers' televisions as the two hour broadcast is set to include exclusive behind the scenes footage of the build-up to Mayweather vs. Cotto as well as special guests who will give their take on the action at The Joint as well as their predictions for the May 5 pay per view mega-fight. Tickets, priced at $100, $60, $30, $25, along with a limited number of VIP suite seats priced at $125, may be purchased at the Hard Rock Hotel Box Office, all Ticketmaster locations, online atwww.ticketmaster.com or by phone at (800) 745-3000. In undercard action... Orlando's Daquan Arnett (2-0, 1 KO) is a former amateur standout making a solid name for himself as a professional, and he'll attempt to win his third straight fight in a four round junior middleweight battle against Phoenix' Jose Martell (2-1, 2 KO's).  One of Puerto Rico's finest prospects will take to the ring the night before island icon Miguel Cotto faces Mayweather, when Caguas lightweight Jeffrey Fontanez (5-0, 5 KO's) battles Las Vegas' Rocco Espinoza(3-4) in a four round fight.  Opening the show is a women's featherweight clash scheduled for eight rounds featuring one of Las Vegas' fistic favorites in former World Champion Jessica Rakoczy (31-3, 11 KO's) who returns to the ring for the first time since 2009 to face Denver's Brittany Cruz (8-5-1, 1 KO).

FORMER WORLD CHAMPION DANIEL PONCE DE LEON AND EDUARDO LAZCANO SQUARE OFF IN MAY 4 MAIN EVENT AT HARD ROCK HOTEL & CASINO AND TELEVISED LIVE ON FOX SPORTS NET AND FOX DEPORTES

BATTLE BETWEEN ISHE SMITH AND DEREK ENNIS OPENS UP HARD-HITTING DOUBLEHEADER ON THE EVE OF CINCO DE MAYO, THE NIGHT BEFORE THE YEAR'S BIGGEST FIGHT, FLOYD MAYWEATHER VS. MIGUEL COTTO, TAKES CENTER STAGE

TICKETS ON SALE TODAY!

LAS VEGAS, April 21 - On Saturday, May 4, a hard-hitting double-header comes to The Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nev., when FOX Sports Regional Networks and FOX Deportes televise an exciting doubleheader featuring an all-Mexican clash between former World Champion Daniel Ponce De Leon of Cuauhtemoc, Chihuahua, Mexico and Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico Eduardo "El Chucky" Lazcano in the 12-round main event for the vacant WBC USNBC Super Featherweight Title, while in the co-feature, perennial contender and Las Vegas favorite Ishe "Sugar Shay" Smith tangles with Derek Ennis in a 10-round junior middleweight showdown.

De Leon vs. Lazcano and Smith vs. Ennis are presented by Mayweather Promotions and Golden Boy Promotions. FOX Sports Regional Networks, the nation's leading provider of local sports, and FOX Deportes, the leader in U.S. Latino sports media, will simulcast the event live at 11:00 p.m. ET/8:00 p.m. PT.

Tickets, priced at $100, $60, $30, $25, along with a limited number of VIP suite seats priced at $125, go on sale TODAY, Saturday, April 21 at 12:00 p.m. PT and will be available for purchase at the Hard Rock Hotel Box Office, all Ticketmaster locations, online at http://www.ticketmaster.com/  or by phone at (800) 745-3000.

Already off to a fast start in 2012 thanks to his January 21 knockout win over Omar Estrella, former Junior Featherweight World Champion Daniel Ponce De Leon (42-4, 35 KO's) has been putting in long hours in the gym to make sure he keeps the momentum going against Lazcano. The owner of a nearly three year reign atop the 122-pound weight class from 2005 to 2008, the 31-year-old former Mexican Olympian is now seeking a second divisional title at 126 pounds, and a win over Lazcano will keep the hard-hitting southpaw on the right track.

Fellow southpaw Eduardo "El Chucky" Lazcano (24-2, 11 KO's), like De Leon, also had an impressive amateur background, winning over 50 fights. Now he wants to match his fellow countryman by bringing a world title back home in 2012. The winner of three fights in a row and nine of his last 10, the 26-year-old Lazcano recently picked up two regional super featherweight belts, decisioning Alejandro Barrera for the WBC FECOMBOX title and outpointing Heli Quiroz for the interim WBC Latino strap, but is biggest accomplishment to date would be beating former World Champion De Leon.

Las Vegas' Ishe Smith (22-5, 10 KO's) has shown off his extensive skill set in the ring from the time he turned professional in 2000, defeating Sam Garr, David Estrada and Randall Bailey along the way, but he truly introduced himself to fans around the world in 2004 as a member of the cast of season one of NBC's hit boxing series, "The Contender." Following the show, he has continued to rack up wins and face impressive competition, handing Pawel Wolak his first loss in 2008 and battling it out with the likes of Daniel Jacobs, Fernando Guerrero and Sechew Powell. Back in the ring for the first time since November of 2010, the 33-year-old is eager to show that the best is yet to come.

When you're a fighter from the city of Philadelphia, you have a lot to live up to, and thus far, Derek Ennis (23-3-1, 13 KO's) has done just that. A professional since 2002, the 31-year-old Ennis has racked up an impressive record, defeating the likes of Eromosele Albert, Troy Browning and Gabriel Rosado. The winner of 12 of his last 13 fights, Ennis knows that a win over Smith will catapult his career to the next level, which means that the Philly warrior in him will be on full display at The Joint on May 4.

The action in the ring won't be all that will heat up viewers' televisions as the two hour broadcast is set to include exclusive behind the scenes footage of the build-up to Mayweather vs. Cotto as well as special guests who will give their take on the action at The Joint as well as their predictions for the May 5 pay per view mega-fight.

FERNANDO BELTRAN JR. TO STEP IN AGAINST PROMISING, UNBEATEN DIEGO MAGDALENO

This Friday, March 23, Live on SHOWTIME® at 11 p.m. ET/PT
From the Conference Center at Casino Del Sol in Tucson, Ariz.

NEW YORK (March 21, 2012) – Former world title contender Fernando Beltran Jr. will replace the injured Eduardo Lazcano and meet unbeaten, consensus top-10 super featherweight contender Diego Magdaleno in the new 10-round super featherweight (130 pound) main event of ShoBox: The New Generation live on SHOWTIME® (11 p.m. ET/PT, delayed on the West Coast) this Friday, March 23, at the Conference Center at Casino Del Sol in Tucson, Ariz.

Southpaw Beltran (36-7-1, 20 KOs), of Tijuana, Mex., agreed to meet fellow left-hander Magdaleno (21-0, 7 KOs), of Las Vegas, Nev., late Tuesday after Lazcano withdrew with a rib injury earlier in the day.

Beltran, 30, should enter the ring in excellent physical condition. He had a fight scheduled last weekend in Mexico, but it was cancelled when his opponent fell out. Beltran will be making his 2012 debut. In his last start, he lost a majority 10-round decision to unbeaten prospect Efrain Esquivias on Dec. 4, 2011, in Ontario, Calif. The experienced Beltran is a two-time world title challenger, having faced Steve Molitor in 2008 and Joan Guzman in 2005 in championship bouts.

Magdaleno fought on ShoBox last July 15, winning a lopsided 10-round decision over Alejandro Perez despite going down in the first round. In his most recent outing, Magdaleno registered one knockdown en route to pitching a near-shutout 10-round decision over Emmanuel Lucero on Dec. 11 in Las Vegas.
A natural right-hander and dedicated practitioner who maintains peak condition, Magdaleno was an outstanding amateur before turning pro in December 2007. He won a gold medal at the 2007 U.S. National Championships (132 pounds) and the 2004 Western Olympic Trials (125 pounds).

Magdaleno, who was introduced to boxing at the age of eight, was named after a soccer superstar – Diego Maradona.

In a battle of undefeated junior welterweights in Friday’s co-feature, former international amateur standout and 2008 Cuban Olympic Bronze Medalist Yordenis Ugas (11-0, 5 KOs), of Miami by way of Cuba, will face Johnny Garcia (11-0, 8 KOs), of Holland, Mich., in an eight-round bout.

Tickets, priced at $100, $75, $50 and $35, are available at the casino box office and on http://www.casinodelsol.com/ .

Barry Tompkins will call the blow by blow action alongside expert analyst Steve Farhood. Gordon Hall is the executive producer of ShoBox with Richard Gaughan producing the Rick Phillips directing.

For information on SHOWTIME Sports, including exclusive behind-the-scenes video and photo galleries, complete telecast information and more, please visit the website at http://sports.sho.com/ .