King brings boxing to Romania

Don King will continue his march into Internet webcasting on Saturday with a battle of undefeated boxers vying for the interim World Boxing Council light heavyweight championship that pits Adrian Diaconu against Chris Henry that can be seen live exclusively on DonKingTV.com for free beginning at 1:30 p.m. ET/10:30 a.m. PT (GMT 5:30 p.m.) from the Sala Polivalenta in Bucharest, Romania. Three additional bouts will be shown live from Romania. Undefeated Ion Ionut “Jo Jo” Dan (20-0, 11 KOs), from Romania will take on Argentinean veteran Raul Balbi (55-8-1, 38 KOs) in a North American Boxing Association 140-pound championship; undefeated Romanian prospect Viorel Simion (7-0, 3 KOs) tangles with Spanish battler Rudy Encarnacion (18-11-2, 8 KOs); and 2003 world junior champion Bogdan Dinu, from Romania, will make his professional debut against Stephane Tessier, from Canada. To celebrate his second webcast, King has broken into his vast vault of previous fights to allow Don King TV.com visitors to see three big fights for free that have never been shown in America. Beginning at 1 p.m. ET on Thursday through the weekend, fans can see the bout where Nikolai “Giant Russian” Valuev won his first world title in a controversial decision over two-time World Boxing Association heavyweight champion John “The Quietman” Ruiz at Max Schmeling Halle in Berlin, Germany, on Dec. 17, 2005. “I have been overwhelmed by the people’s blessings of success to our pioneer effort in launching DonKingTV.com,” King said. “DonKingTV.com is the people’s global network. I want to thank all the people who have logged on and will long on and to the bloggers who are the modern-day apostles of the media.” Beginning at 1 p.m. ET on Friday through the weekend, two more fan-favorite fights will be added to the DonKingTV.com schedule: Andrew Golota’s memorable Madison Square Garden brawls with Mike Tyson conqueror Kevin “The Clones Colossus” McBride that took place on Oct. 6, 2007, and the slugfest against Chicago heavyweight contender “Merciless” Mike Mollo from Jan. 19. Diaconu (24-0, 15 KO), born in Romania and now fighting out of Montreal, is the WBC No. 1 ranked mandatory challenger at the 175-pound weight limit and was to have faced WBC champion Chad Dawson during a Don King-promoted fight card on Sept. 29 at ARCO Arena in Sacramento, Calif. Diaconu was forced to bow out two weeks prior to that contest after suffering a hand injury that included bone contusions and soft tissue damage. Diaconu’s perfect record, and ability to re-schedule the postponed match with Dawson, will be challenged by the similarly perfect Henry (21-0, 17 KOs), from Houston, Texas. “I’m going to win this fight,” Henry said. “He [Diaconu] has no idea what he signed up for and is up against in Chris Henry.” Henry has shown great power with an 86-percent knockout percentage in 21 fights after being a professional prizefighter for just over three years. Henry’s style is to come straight to his opponents, which should cause fireworks with Diaconu, who possesses power in both hands as well. “Henry is talking a good game,” Diaconu said. “Let’s hope he brings that spirit to the ring on Saturday.” Henry has recently teamed with Ronnie Shields, one of boxing’s greatest trainers. “I needed Ronnie Shields to add just a little polish and experience,” Henry said. “Bobby Benton has always been my trainer and he’ll still be in my corner as a second along with Mike Roberts. Ronnie’s been working with me for about six months now and he has me ready.” Col. Bob Sheridan will provide blow-by-blow ringside descriptions from Romania and is being joined by special guest analyst Glen Johnson, a former light heavyweight champion. Promoter of the Romanian event is Gankor Promotions. DonKingTV.com is the exclusive webcaster of this event.