Heavyweight Tom Hardwick (1-0, 1 KO) will fight Rodelle Bolar (0-3) at the Resorts Casino in Atlantic City this Saturday night in a fight scheduled for four rounds.

The 26-year-old made a winning start to his career on May 19 with a third round KO of Derek Walker but picked up a cut over his right eye in the process.  Now the injury is healed, and Hardwick is raring to get back into the ring.

“I’ve been well-schooled and well-trained, and I am looking forward to it,” Hardwick told the Irish Voice.

Bolar is a 30-year-old from Akron, Ohio who has campaigned as a cruiserweight up to now.  He has never finished a bout in his three-fight career, and Hardwick will be expected to build on his debut with another victory. After the eagerness to do well in his first fight, the Dubliner wants to show a more polished side to his game in this assignment.
“I am going to be a bit more controlled in this fight, a bit more precise with what I do,” he added.

To prepare for the fight, Hardwick sparred with Derric Rossy, a fellow heavyweight who will fight in the main event on the night.  The two are regular sparring partners, and Hardwick has often stated that he benefits greatly from the work they do together.

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Hardwick also did some speed work with Earl Newman, Jr., the man he beat to win the Golden Gloves title last year.

However, the most notable sparring session he had in the run up to this fight with was none other that former WBC heavyweight champion Oleg Maskaev.

“I was told it was going to be a light workout, but as soon as we started he came in and caught me with an overhand right and then tried to follow up with a left hook,” said Hardwick.

“I took it well and recovered and then we went on to have a good session,” continued the Dubliner, who added that it was a good experience to spar a former world champion and that it was an excellent confidence builder.
For information on fight tickets and buses from Yonkers to Atlantic City for the bout, contact Old World Boxing on 718-765-1860.

As one Irish heavyweight revels in the early stages of his career, another one at the end of his has decided to lace up the gloves again.
Kevin McBride (35-9-1, 29 KOs) will fight Mariusz Wach (24-0, 12 KOs) at the Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville, Connecticut.  McBride is coming off a unanimous decision loss to Tomasz Adamek at the Prudential Center in Newark on April 9.

After that fight, McBride said he would need something big to happen to get back in the squared circle, and it would seem the chance to fight the giant 6’7” Pole has done the trick.

McBride will fight the unbeaten Wach in a contest scheduled for 12 rounds for the WBC International heavyweight title.

“McBride isn’t the fastest fighter, but he’s very tough and smart,” said Wach recently. “I'm used to facing tall opponents, but what makes this fight different is that McBride has a lot of experience and doesn't give up easily. He took very strong punches from Mike Tyson and never gave up and never quit when Tomasz Adamek was out-boxing him, so I know I'm in for a good challenge.”

McBride, 38, will hope that he can use all his experience to give the Pole a hard time and maybe upset his plans to move up in the heavyweight division.

In other news, Lou DiBella announced on his Twitter account that he is now middleweight Brian Vera’s promoter.

“Proud to be working w/ @BVWARRIOR and his team. Brian Vera a FIGHTER in Mickey Ward mold. Never in a bad fight; always a man's man,” tweeted DiBella last week.

DiBella also promotes Andy Lee, and it now looks like October 1 is the likely date for a match between those two, with the venue to be confirmed, though Vera himself tweeted that it could be in Atlantic City.
 
Meanwhile, Felix Sturm has offered Matthew Macklin a rematch in Cologne after his controversial split decision win over the former underage Tipperary hurler on June 25. A possible date for the rematch is November 25. Macklin and manager Brian Peters are considering the offer.

Light middleweight Henry Coyle (15-2, 12 KOs) will fight Elio Cotena (18-5-5, 4 KOs) at the Royal Theatre in Castlebar on August 12 for the vacant WBF light middleweight title.

Finally, renowned boxing writer George Kimball passed away last Wednesday, six years after being diagnosed with esophageal cancer. 

Kimball, who had a great affinity to Ireland and wrote the “America at Large” column for The Irish Times since 1997, spent 25 years as a columnist at the Boston Herald before retiring from the newspaper in 2005.