BUTLER MEETS RODRIGUEZ FOR IBF WORLD TITLE ON MAY 5

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SAN DIEGO, CALIF. – April 12, 2018 -Paul Butler gets the chance to become two-time IBF World Bantamweight champion when he tackles undefeated Emmanuel Rodriguez at The O2 in London on May 5, live on AWE-A Wealth of Entertainment.

Butler’s clash with Rodriguez is part of a huge night of action in Greenwich as Heavyweight rivals Tony Bellew and David Haye clash in a hotly-anticipated rematch.

Butler landed the IBF strap in April 2014 by taking it from Stuart Hall in Newcastle before vacating the strap to move down to Super-Flyweight in March 2015 to challenge IBF champion Zolani Tete.

The ‘Baby Faced Assassin’ returned to 118lbs and back into title contention when he comfortably saw off Hall in a rematch in Liverpool in September, and is rated at four in the IBF, one spot behind top-rated Rodriguez.

The unbeaten 25 year old visitor is hotly-rated having raced to 17-0 in the paid ranks with 12 wins inside the distance, a rise all the more impressive following an amateur background that was stunted by a car accident.

Rodriguez’s trip to London is his first outside the Americas since turning pro and his first over the championship distance, and Butler intends to make the trip a miserable one for the Puerto Rican and reclaim his title.

“I’m very excited for this,” said Butler. “It’s the reason we came over to Eddie in the first place, I knew he would deliver the big fights for me. We’re just four weeks away. It’s a big test but I’m confident.

“It’s an honor to contest the IBF title again. I want to win it back then hopefully defend which I didn’t have the chance to do last time.

“It sounded a good idea at the time to vacate but looking back now I should have kept hold of the belt. I should have worked on my strength and conditioning, filled out and defended my title. I’ve definitely got some unfinished business with this – it would be brilliant to go out there and win it again.

“It’s a tougher test the last time I won the title, but I’m up for the challenge. I’ve improved myself. He’s touted to be this next big superstar, but how many of them come over here and get turned on their heads?

“I never used to look at my opponents, but since I’ve linked up with Joe he’s always sending me little clips. He looks a good kid, he likes to work at midrange but in truth I don’t want to say too much about what he does and doesn’t do well.

“I don’t care how big and tough he is – we both have two arms, two legs, he’s from Puerto Rico and I’m from Ellesmere Port so let’s get it on. I can see this being a very good fight, we both like to go body to head, head to body but I’ll come out being the two-time IBF World Bantamweight champion.”

Super-Middleweights John Ryder and Jamie Cox clash in a crucial clash in the 168lbs division and Martin J. Ward defends his European Super-Featherweight title against James Tennyson.

Expected start time is 3 PM ET / 12 PM PT.

The fight card will also be streamed live via KlowdTV on the AWE channel. Visit www.klowdtv.com for additional information.

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 first historic matchup between legendary British heavyweight David Haye and Tony Bellew.

About AWE – A Wealth of Entertainment

A Wealth of Entertainment (“AWE”) features a wide range of lifestyles and entertainment programming from exotic travel and outrageous homes to live world championship boxing. AWE is available on over a hundred cable systems, including AT&T U-Verse, ch 147 and 1147 in HD, Verizon FiOS TV, ch 169 and 669 in HD, and DirecTV, ch 387, Frontier Communications ch 169 and 669 in HD, CenturyLink PRISM TV ch. 144 and 1144 in HD, and streaming on DirecTV NOW and KlowdTV. For more information, please visit www.awetv.com

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