July 1, 2004

Undefeated prospects Kelly “The Ghost” Pavlik and Steven Luevano will put their perfect records on the line on Friday, July 2 at the Fieldhouse in a professional boxing card presented by Top Rank Inc.

Pavlik (20-0, 18 KOs) of Youngstown, Ohio will battle the former world title challenger Pedro “Guerrero” Ortega (30-13-1, 19 KOs) of Tijuana, Mexico in a 10 round bout, while Luevano (23-0, 11 KOs) of La Puente, California will take on Freddie Neal (17-2-2, 12 KO’s) of Shaker Heights, Ohio also in a 10 round bout.

Telefutura, the sister network of Univision the most important Hispanic television network in the United States, will telecast the bouts during its highly popular show “Solo Boxeo”. First bell is schedule for 7:30 p.m. local time, with Television going live at 9:00 p.m.

Pavlik is looking for his third win this year. He had an eight round decision victory over Anthony Ivory on January 23 in Kansas City and on his most recent effort on March 26 in Phoenix, Arizona he stopped Roberto Baro in the second round.

This will be Pavlik’s third appearance in Ohio since turning professional in June of 2000. In 2001 fighting in his hometown of Youngtown, he stopped Rob Bleakly in the second round and on July 1 of last year in Niles he had a second round knockout over Rico Cason.

“I’m always happy to fight in front of the home crowd and I’m looking forward to putting on a good show for the fans,” said Pavlik.

Pavlik should have his hands full with Ortega, the tough Mexican fighter with tons of experience against some very solid opposition. On June 6, 1998 in Tijuana he went 11 tough rounds before losing to Luis Ramon “Yory Boy” Campas in a bout for the International Boxing Federation (IBF) junior middleweight crown.

Ortega has fought the likes of Jose “Shibata” Flores, Tito Mendoza, Kassim Ouma and Danny Perez. He is a former WBA and IBA regional middleweight champion and has had three memorable bouts with highly touted prospect Eric Reagan.

On his most recent effort on May 28 of this year in Sacramento he lost a 12 round decision to Regan in a bout for the IBA Continental middleweight belt.

Luevano is also looking for his third win of 2004, having defeated Armando Cordova on points back on February 13 in Laughlin, Nevada and on his most recent effort on May 21 in Corpus, Christi, Texas he stopped Rodrigo Cerda in the first round.

Luevano, a standout amateur boxer was an alternate in the United States 2000 Olympic Team. He was 6-0 in 2003 with wins over such notables as Phillip Payne, Johnny Nolasco and Jose Tula.

This is the first 10 round schedule bout for Luevano in his four year professional career that began in Bell Gardens, California back on June 17, 2000.

“I feel that I’m coming along very well and that I’m ready to take some of the world ranked fighters,” said Luevano.

Neal, who is based out of San Diego won his first 16 professional fights before losing for the first time on December 17, 2000 in Reno, Nevada to three-time world title challenger Arnulfo “Chico” Castillo.

The Castillo-Neal bout was one of the most dramatic and entertaining in many years as both guys threw and landed punches at a very high pace and Neal had Castillo down and hurt a couple of times before being stopped by Castillo in the seventh round.

Neal did not fight for a couple of year after that, but came back in April 23 of 2003 with a fifth round knockout over Steve Trumble in Cleveland Ohio.

In his most recent effort on July 11 of last year in Reno, Nevada he was stopped in the third round by Orlando “Siri” Salido, a world-ranked featherweight who will be challenging for a world title later this year.