Three Great Fighters, Three Great Nights - Bradley, Lopez, Salcido To Kick Off Hot Summer

Thompson Boxing Promotions proudly announces its 2006 summer schedule that features some of the best young prospects of the sport. The first three events of the season will take place on June 23rd, July 14th and July 20th. On Friday, June 23, “Desert Storm” Timothy Ray Bradley Jr. will headline another installment of the popular “Path to Glory” series, live from the Doubletree Hotel in Ontario, CA.Bradley (13-0, 7 KOs) will fight for the vacant WBC Youth Jr. Welterweight title against 19-year-old Pavel Miranda (9-0-1, 7 KOs) from Tijuana, Mexico.On Friday, July 14, Josesito Lopez, from Riverside, CA, will heat things up on Thompson’s Boxing second summer installment when he is featured as the main event at Omega Products International in Corona. Lopez (16-2, 9 KOs) will make his ring return after a controversial loss to Wes Ferguson on the undercard of the welterweight battle between Floyd Mayweather and Zab Judah in Las Vegas. Lopez will officially kick off the first of three summer nights of boxing under the stars that will also take place at Omega. (Other dates are Aug. 18 and Sept. 15)Six day later, on Thursday, July 20, top jr. featherweight prospect Dominic Salcido will headline a special night of boxing at the legendary Los Angeles Athletic Club in downtown LA.Salcido (8-0, 5 KOs) is currently recuperating from a right hand injury that took place on March 31 when he kayoed Odilon Rivera. Salcido expects to be fully recovered for his first main event ever. “We are approaching a busy and fruitful season,” said promoter Ken Thompson from his Orange County based office. “Bradley, Lopez and Salcido, will thrill fans in Ontario, Corona and Los Angeles, in an unprecedented schedule that will have three full events in only 28 days,” added Thompson. “Not only will we feature these young athletes, but we will showcase much more talent that boxing fans will not want to miss.”

Sen. Reid says boxing matches part of his official duties

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid said it's his official duty to attend boxing matches in Nevada and that he did nothing wrong when he accepted complimentary ringside seats from a state agency that was lobbying him.
"I would be criticized if I didn't go," Reid told reporters Tuesday after addressing a veterans group in Las Vegas. "It's just like going to an Ohio State football game, an Arizona State football game — in Nevada, boxing is it. I have an obligation to make sure boxing is conducted properly not only in Nevada but around the country."
The Nevada Democrat was responding to an Associated Press story that detailed how the senator had accepted free tickets possibly valued at several thousand dollars from the Nevada Athletic Commission, the agency that regulates boxing in the state.
At the time, the agency was lobbying Reid to drop his support for the creation of a federal boxing commission that could have undermined the powerful Nevada agency's authority. Senate rules instruct senators and staff to "be wary" of accepting gifts that may be intended to influence official action.
Reid continues to support the creation of a federal boxing commission, according to his spokesman Jim Manley.
The Nevada Democrat said he has visited with members of the commission while at ringside. Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and John Ensign, R-Nev., also attended boxing matches. Ensign accepted a free ticket but had recused himself from the proposed boxing legislation, his office said. McCain later paid for his ticket.
"Sen. McCain is from Arizona, I'm from Nevada. He's not supposed to get free tickets in the state of Nevada, the laws aren't set up that way. He came here to watch the fight, I came here to work for the state of Nevada and to watch the fight," Reid said.
Reid made his comments after addressing a group of veterans gathered at town hall meeting also attended by Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean, who was in town fundraising.
Dean called criticism of Reid's ethics "ridiculous" and repeated his attacks on Republicans.
"Harry Reid has proposed the toughest ethics legislation we've ever seen in the Senate. Democrats have proposed the same in the House and neither one passed because the Republicans don't want ethics legislation."
Nevada Republicans questioned Reid's ethics.
"Ethics is an issue with individuals; it is not a partisan issue," Nevada Republican Party Chairman Paul Adams said in a statement. "For Howard Dean to have any credibility on ethics, he must admit that Reid's behavior is part of the problem in Washington."
At the meeting attended by about 40 veterans, Dean and Reid criticized the Bush administration's handing of the war in Iraq and called Veterans Affairs Secretary Jim Nicholson "incompetent."
Nicholson's agency recently lost personal information on about 26.5 million veterans when an employee's computer was stolen from his home. The deputy assistant secretary who supervised the VA data analyst who lost the information has said he would relinquish his post.
Reid called on the VA to conduct regular credit checks for all veterans to guard against fraud.
"It's the very least the federal government should do," he said.