“The Predator’s Snow Brawl” Press conference at the Minneapolis Convention Center

Sugar Ray Leonard Boxing, Team Freedom and Brunette Boxing have teamed up to announce “The Predator’s Snow Brawl,” an ESPN2-televised card showcasing unbeaten jr middleweight Matt “The Predator” Vanda and former world jr welter champion Diosbelys Hurtado on January 16 at the Minneapolis Convention Center. Local sensation Vanda (29-0, 20 KOs) will take on former world title challenger Sam Garr (33-7, 29 KOs) in a ten rounder, while Hurtado (36-3-1, 24 KOs) battles “Lil” Joe Hutchinson (30-4-2, 14 KOs) for the IBA welterweight belt.

‘The Predator’ has electrified Minnesota’s Twin Cities capturing the majority of his 29 wins in his own backyard. Vanda will now showcase his skills and heart to a national TV audience. Promoter Sugar Ray Leonard says of Vanda, “This kid has the whole package. Great skills inside the ring, combined with a true fighter’s heart and the willingness to mix it up anywhere, anytime and with anyone. Matt’s got all the qualities of a potential superstar and that’s something that very few fighters have. After witnessing first hand the spectacular local support that the Twin Cities fans gave to ‘The Predator,’ I knew this kid was something special for not only Minnesota, but for the sport of boxing as well.”

Team Freedom Promotions President Leon Margules states, “Matt Vanda is one of the most exciting fighters in the sport today. He’s perpetual forward motion and he is relentless, Matt’s great for the sport because he makes spectacular fights. Matt’s cut from the same mold as guys like Gatti and Ward.”

Former WBA jr welterweight champion Hurtado steps up in weight against a streaking Joe Hutchinson. A former Gold medallist from Cuba, Hurtado is considered one of the elite fighters in his division. Heo captured the vacant WBA 140lb title in May of 2002 with a spectacular KO victory over Randall Bailey on HBO. Now, Hurtado moves up to the welterweight division and hopes a victory will catapult him into a showdown with the top fighters in the 147lb ranks. Hutchinson is on a hot winning streak. In his last two fights, he scored big upsets over Fernando Mena and Hector Quiroz. Hutchinson views Hurtado as a springboard into the welterweight mix.

Four other fights make up the six-fight card. Sugar Ray Leonard will be in attendance at the event. Tickets are available at all Ticket Master locations, or by calling Ticket Master at 651-989-5151, online at www.ticketmaster.com or through Brunette Boxing (651) 779-6248.

Matt Vanda: I want to thank Louie (DeCubas), Team Freedom and my team Brunette Boxing. I didn’t prepare a speech, that’s not my style, but I cant think of a better way to kick off the new year than kicking someones ass! No, Sam Garr is a great fighter with a lot of experience. Its going to be my first real challenge, my first televised fight. I have good people in my corner, so you know, I just take every fight one at a time. Like Sugar Ray said, I’m not afraid to fight anyone. Hopefully this fight leads to a title fight in the next couple fights. This is big, Minneapolis and Saint Paul combining to get a bigger crowd. Its going be fun, we got a world title fight, my buddy Diosbelys Hurtado, he’s actually the main event I think. I’m the main event here baby, but he’s fighting the main event. He’s my sparring partner, he is my friend, so its going to be a great show. We have my friend Mohammed Kayongo who’s from the gym, he’s going to be on the card. I hope everybody can make it, and that’s really all I have to say. Thanks for all the support.

Tommy Brunette: We are very happy to be here. We probably have about 60 young men in our gymnasium and a lot of them came to the gym just like Matt did. We have a very strong program with a lot of kids coming up, a lot of inner city kids. Every race, nationality and religion but it really doesn’t matter. When we are in the gym, we are all just fighters. Matt’s come along ways, I put his first boxing gloves on him when he was just thirteen. Ive been in his corner for every round. Hes really coming along and is looking forward to putting on a good show for the twin cities. I want to thank everyone for their support.

Brian Brunette: Hello, my name is Brian Brunette and I am co-owner of Brunette Boxing along with my brother. It’s a unique story how Matt walked into the gym when he was thirteen years old. He needed a place for direction and guidance and he found it through amateur boxing. I just feel fortunate that I was there to help guide him along with my brother. Louie DeCubas, who you had mentioned earlier, I can pretty much follow in his footsteps when he said we are just thrilled to be here working with Sugar Ray Leonard, Team Freedom. Louie and Tommy and I, we all grew up together. Louie walked into our gym back in 1980 and said he had a vision of being a professional boxing promoter. I’m very happy, I was born and raised in Saint Paul but I have great memories of coming over here (Minneapolis) and fighting upper Midwest golden gloves championships back in 1979. We had 8,000 people in the Minneapolis auditorium. Matt had mentioned also that he was born and raised in Saint Paul . Saint Paul has been the primary place in Minnesota for boxing but now its time to bring Saint Paul to Minneapolis and make this one big team in the Twin Cities. And that is what we are going to do, put Minnesota boxing on the map around the country and the world. We couldn’t do it without Sugar Ray, Team Freedom and Matt Vanda. I want to thank the press and everybody else. Thank you very much.

Sugar Ray Leonard: First of all, I’m happy to be here. I cant think of a better way to start off the new year than to bring a sensational night of boxing to the twin cities. I am happy to announce that Sugar Ray Leonard boxing in association with Team Freedom Promotions, Brunette Boxing and Infinity Radio are proud to present to you “The Predator’s Snow Brawl” Friday, January 16th here at the Convention Center. This will be a great card because I think that it has elements of surprise, of intrigue and power. The main event is without question Matt Vanda. I had a chance to see this young man a little over a year ago. I was sitting ringside and could see the fans support, the excitement in the ring, I saw something that very few fighters have. That is heart, the desire to win. Matt Vanda is one of those rare guys and he reminds me of Arturo Gatti and Mickey Ward with that warriors mentality. It takes me back to the times when I was fighting the Tommy Hearns, the Roberto Durans, Marvelous Marvin Haglers. We were guys that were willing to fight anybody. And that’s Matt Vanda’s belief, that he is willing to fight anybody, anywhere at anytime. He takes on a very seasoned professional fighter in Sam Garr. Now I was somewhat surprised when they agreed to fight Sam , again because of the experience factor. This young man, and I truly believe this, has what it takes to fight all the guys and He will do it January 16th. Ive had a chance to get to know Matt, and I feel a lot better about him. We had a chance to have dinner and he told me about how he runs steps, he does this, he does that, and told me about his motivation and desire to be the best in the world and to be a superstar.
Also we have a co-main event, a world title fight. It will be between Diobelys Hurtado who is a former world champion taking on Joe Hutchinson, another tough and wily veteran. We have that and four additional fights. And I believe that this is the start of something very very special here in the twin cities. You can talk about how cold it is here, and that is true. But I want this town to be known as a fight town that holds great boxing events. January 16th will be the start of something very special here in the twin cities. At this time I want to bring up a young man who I believe has the whole package, if you will. I believe he is going to show the boxing world what he’s made of because Matt Vanda is for real.