Tag Archives: throne

Posted on 06/03/2017

Luis Arias Interview: “The goal is to be the number one contender by early next year”
By: Matthew N. Becher

​Luis Arias is a young (26), undefeated (17-0 8KO), American middleweight boxer who will be appearing on the June 17th HBO pay per view showing of the rematch between Andre Ward and Sergey Kovalev.

Arias will look to make a big statement in the division as he takes on top ten ranked Arif Magomedov. Boxing Insider was able to speak with Arias as he took a break from his training camp in Florida.

Boxing Insider: Tell the fans a little about yourself and your fighting style.

Luis Arias: I was born and raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. I picked up boxing at a young age, at about 7, 8 years old. I then had my first amateur fight at 8. I was an American amateur, seven time national champion, Olympic trial finalist. I’m currently 17-0 as a pro and ranked in more than one of the sanctioning bodies organizations. I have a very fan friendly style. Considered more of a boxer puncher, but I like to be more of a puncher first. I’m a little aggressive, I like breaking my opponent down. I like to go to the body like no other, I feel like I’m one of the best body punchers in the game and I’m ready to prove it.

Boxing Insider: You are a young fighter, what does it feel like to be fighting on the undercard of such a big event?

Luis Arias: It feels great. It’s a fantastic opportunity. It’s like every fighters dream to make it to HBO. To have my first televised fight to be on a HBO pay per view card is amazing. It’s just truly a blessing and goes to show you that hard work really pays off. I’ve been working hard for this and my time has come.

Boxing Insider: What do you know about your opponent Arif Magomedov?

Luis Arias: Well, I know everything there is to know about him. I studied him, my team has studied him. I know he’s a tough guy, young, aggressive. I know he comes to fight. But he does already have a blemish in his record, he’s been beat before and come June 17th I have the perfect game plan to beat him again.

Boxing Insider: Do you feel that a win against Magomedov puts you as one of the top 20 middleweights in the world?

Luis Arias: Well, I’m already one of the top 20 middleweights in the world, but once I get this guy out of the way I will definitely be in the top ten. All I have to do is put on an A class performance, show the crowd that I am a threat to anyone in the division. I will be defending my belt (USBA) for the second time and I will definitely be in the top ten. The goal is to be the number one contender by early next year.

Boxing Insider: That leads into my final question, what are your overall goals for 2017.

Luis Arias: My goal is to creep up that ranking, keep climbing and to be the number one contender. GGG and Canelo are having a big showdown in my weight division. Once their fight is over with both are going to have to fight someone early next year, and my plan is to be the number one contender and force the winner of that fight to fight me. I want top 10 after June, by the end of the year be at least top 5 and just keep climbing and go from there.

Posted on 05/14/2016

Throne Boxing on BET Results: Hernandez-Harrison Gets a Lucky Draw, Del Valle and Rock Win
By: William Holmes

Dusty Hernandez-Harrison fought in his home town of Washington, D.C. for a Roc Nation Throne Boxing event live on the BET network. The D.C. Armory was the host site for tonight.

The first fight of the night was between Orlando Del Valle (20-2) and Thomas Snow (18-2) in the featherweight division.

The opening round was a slow one, with Del Valle trying to press the pace but Snow kept him at bay with an occasional counter. Del Valle was missing most of his shots, but he finally connected with a clean straight right hand in the second round that hurt Snow and sent him to the mat. Del Valle tried to swarm Snow when he got back to his feet, but Snow was able to survive.

Del Valle started off the third round aggressively and connected with a hard left hook to the temple of Snow that sent him down for the second time of the night. Snow got back to his feet again, but took hard shots to the body from Del Valle and tried to tie up to slow down the assaults of Del Valle.

Snow was able to avoid another knockdown in the fourth round and fifth rounds as the action had slowed down, but it was Del Valle who had the rounds won comfortably.

Snow’s best round came in the seventh round when he momentarily hurt Del Valle with a crisp straight left hand, but he wasn’t able to capitalize on it with a knockdown.

The fight went the full twelve rounds all three judges scored it 76-74 for Orlando Del Valle.

The next bout of the night was between Darmani Rock (0-0) and Carlos Black (1-3) in the heavyweight division.

Rock is considered by many to be a high ceiling prospect, and the Philadelphia native wasted little time in showing that he is worth the hype.

Black was able to touch Rock with a few jabs in the first round, but when Rock’s first left hook connected he had Black backing up and he followed it with another hard left hook followed by a straight right left hook combination that sent Rock to the floor.

Rock’s eyes are glassy and he was stumbling when he got back to his feet and the referee wisely stopped the fight.

Darmani Rocks wins by TKO at 1:54 of the first round.

Dusty Hernandez-Harrison (29-0) and Michael Dallas Jr. (21-3) met in the main event of the evening in the welterweight division.

Dallas had been in the ring with some good boxers before and he did not look intimidated at the sight of Hernandez-Harrison. He was active with his jab in the opening frame and clearly outworked the patient Hernandez-Harrison.

Dallas’ hustle continued in the second round and he constantly kept a fist in the body and head of Hernandez-Harrison, who seemed hesitant to let his hands go.

Dallas began to throw some power behind his punches in the third round and he had bruised up the left eye of Hernandez-Harrison. Dallas is consistently the first person to throw a punch whenever they are within range of each other.

Hernandez-Harrison tried to pick up the pressure in the fourth round, but Dallas’ faster hands continued to give him problems and Dallas was more accurate with his high volume of punches.

Hernandez-Harrison fought with more urgency in the fifth round and he had a decent round as he was able to land a few good right hands to the body and head, but Dallas fired back whenever he was punched. During one exchange Hernandez-Harrison was cracked with a hard right hand to his chin and he went to the floor. He got up at the count of eight, but looked like he was still hurt when he got back to his feet.

Dallas opened up the sixth round by throwing very hard shots to the head and body of Hernandez-Harrison and was connecting. Hernandez-Harrison could not keep up with the activity of Dallas and the power edge that Hernandez-Harrison showed that he had in some earlier exchanges had disappeared.

Despite keeping a high work rate, Dallas still looked fresh by the seventh round and was able to rip some hard digging shots to the body of Hernandez-Harrison. Hernandez-Harrison frustration began to show by the end of the seventh round and landed shots to the liver and threw a punch after being told by the referee to separate.

Hernandez-Harrison seemed to be way behind on the scorecards of most observers, but he scored a questionable knockdown in the eighth round when he struck Dallas with a low blow which forced him to take a knee. Dallas however, won the remainder of the round by landing looping hooks and short shots to the body.

Dallas looked like he was tiring by the ninth round but he was still winning the rounds and outworking Hernandez-Harrison. It looked to many that Hernandez-Harrison needed a knockout in the final round to win the bout, but that knockout never came despite the fact Hernandez-Harrison probably won the final round.

Despite the fact Dallas outworked Hernandez-Harrison for a majority of the fight, the judges wrongly scored the fight 96-92 Dallas Jr., 95-94 Hernandez-Harrison, 94-94 for a draw.

Posted on 05/09/2016

Dusty Hernandez Harrison Interview: “Everybody has counted him out, and nobody has counted me in yet”
By: Matthew N. Becher

Dusty Hernandez Harrison (29-0 16KO) is an undefeated welterweight who is fighting Mike Dallas Jr. on Saturday May 13th, live on B.E.T. Harrison is a very young 21 years old, but has been pro for five years already. Harrison is signed to the recently started Roc Nation Sports and will headline another of their Throne Boxing shows at the D.C. Armory. Harrison was nice enough to take time out of his schedule to answer a few questions for us at Boxing Insider.

Boxing Insider: You recently split with your father as your trainer. What was the reason for the split?
Dusty Harrison: You aren’t gonna get a good answer out of me to be honest. It’s a personal family thing that goes deep, outside of boxing. The hard part about it is that me and his relationship was so much boxing. But at the end of the day, I’m still a boxer and I can’t tell Roc Nation, Fila and Geico, “Hold On”. I have to keep fighting, keep boxing, and keep training. I’m training at Head Bangers and the best part about it is I’m training with great fighters like, Adrien Broner, Rob Easter, Lamont Peterson and Austin Trout. It has been a big benefit in my sparring switching over to that gym.

Boxing Insider: You were recently out in San Diego as a sparring partner for Canelo ahead of his fight with Amir Khan. What was that experience like?
Dusty Harrison: Oh, that was great. Canelo’s team and Golden Boy treated me so good. They are very respectful people, I had to thank them so many times for the whole experience. Canelo is a cool guy, super nice, but he’ll try to kill you in the ring.

Boxing Insider: So what’s it like especially training with Canelo, given that you two are so close in age?
Dusty Harrison: Seeing someone like Canelo being so successful and young, it is definitely something I can relate to. It makes everything seem more in reach, more realistic. It’s like motivating since he’s only a few years older than me. It’s almost like seeing someone from my neighborhood make it out. It gives you hope. Not that I needed the motivation, but it definitely gives you more of it.

Boxing Insider: So your opponent for this fight, Mike Dallas Jr. is your most experienced to date. Dallas has fights against Josesito Lopez, Mauricio Herrera and Lucas Matthysse. Do you expect him to be on another level, than your other opponents?
Dusty Harrison: Yes, I do. It is a big fight for me. Mike Dallas has 21 wins and lost to some good fighters. Everybody has counted him out, and nobody has counted me in yet. He’s coming into this fight to gain respect.

Boxing Insider: This will be your 30th professional fight in 5 years. Are you content with the pace your career is going?
Dusty Harrison: No, it should be 60 or 70 (laughs)…Ya, how can I complain. Who does that many fights that fast anymore? I’m still young, and I want to take advantage of it while I can. I don’t need the time to just sit around and recoup like the older fighters do. I may take a week off after a fight, but I don’t really need to. I just go right back to the gym and I don’t take that wear and tear that the older fighters do.

Boxing Insider: So how much longer do you think you are from top ten guys? Would you say months away, later this year, or are you years away?
Dusty Harrison: You’re asking the wrong person, I was ready five years ago (laughs). Realistically, my career has been in steps, and like you said Mike Dallas is a step up fight for me. To do that a few more times this year and then next year, we start to fight some guys that people are really interested in. Fights where people might say “I don’t know about this Dusty”. To be the underdog coming up next year, we will take some fights like that. Then maybe it’s coming quicker to me, but within 2 years, I’d like to be fighting guys at that top level. I mean, Canelo fought Mayweather at 22, I’m only 21. I’d love to fight someone at the top when I’m 23 or 24.

Boxing Insider: You are a D.C. fighter and D.C. is having a sort of renaissance of young fighters coming up. Could you give us a guy that we should keep our eye on?
Dusty Harrison: Aujee Tyler. He’s a guy that I grew up fighting with. He’s the best I’ve seen. Everybody around here knows about him. Man, I can name like 30 people in D.C. that are gonna come up big. There is a guy on my undercard named Sam Crossed, the Vanilla Gorilla, that is bringing fans to D.C. Selling tickets. He is only 2-0 and he’s been in a Super Bowl commercial, two under armor commercials. Keystone has been able to give a lot of fighters a chance after the Lamont Peterson v. Amir Khan Fight and D.C. has just been taking off after that.