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LOS ANGELES, CA - For the 13th year, B.
Riley Securities presented the Sugar Ray Leonard
Foundation "Big Fighters, Big Cause" Charity Boxing
Night on Wednesday, May 22 at The Beverly Hilton.
Comedian Russell Peters hosted the exclusive
star-studded event which featured first-class entertainment
including four action-packed live fights presented by Golden
Boy Promotions, a National Anthem performance by
singer-songwriter Claire Khodara, and a live and
silent auction display featuring unique items and
experiences and legendary memorabilia.
The evening also honored Emmy® Award-winning
TV personality, journalist, actress, author and
entrepreneur Maria Menounos, acknowledging Menounos’
personal and familial journey with Type 1 diabetes. After
her father was diagnosed over 50 years ago, Menounos herself
was diagnosed in the summer of 2022. Since then, she has
been committed to helping raise awareness for the disease
while sharing her own health story and celebrating the
strength of the diabetes community.
“Diabetes has been a cause that has been
close to my heart ever since I was little, because my dad
was a type 1 diabetic and we struggled with the disease,”
said Menounos while accepting the award virtually in a
pre-recorded video. “It wasn’t until I was diagnosed with
type 1 diabetes myself that I really got to see the
challenges that exist firsthand. I just want to say to
everyone who’s dealing with diabetes, I see you. My dad sees
you. My family sees you.”
The event raised $400,000, with proceeds
benefiting the Sugar Ray Leonard Foundation’s mission to
fund life-changing research, care and awareness for
pediatric type 1 and 2 diabetes, and to help children live
healthier lives through diet and exercise.
Among the other celebrity guests in
attendance, the Foundation welcomed Sugar Ray Leonard and Bernadette
Leonard, Cedric the Entertainer, Michael
Buffer, Johnny Gill, Richard Hilton, Jimmy
Jam, Cailtyn Jenner, Tina Knowles-Lawson, Mario
Lopez, Judge Mathis, Jane Seymour and Mia
St. John among others.
The live fights presented by Oscar De La
Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions featured some of the must-watch
prospects in the stable. In the main event, San Diego’s
still undefeated Jorge “El Niño Dorado” Chavez (11-0,
8 KOs) added another knockout to his record in a fight
against Sharone “Smoke” Carter (13-8-1, 3 KOs) of St.
Louis, Missouri. Scheduled as an eight-round featherweight
event, the back-and-forth action made it until the
conclusion of the sixth-round, where the corner called for
the stoppage due to Carter complaining of a hand injury,
awarding the knockout to Chavez. In an action-packed co-main
event, Denver Colorado’s Daniel “Junebug” Garcia (9-0,
7 KOs) defeated Lincoln, Calif.’s David Minter (4-5,
3 KOs) via knockout. Scheduled for four-rounds of
lightweight action, Minter’s corner waved the white towel at
0:22 in the second-round.
Representing Waianae, Hawaii, Dalis
Kaleiopu (5-0, 4 KOs) added another knockout to his
record against Phillip Ramirez (1-4) of Los Angeles, Calif.
Scheduled for four-rounds, Kaleiopu hit him to the body,
sending Ramirez straight to the mat at 0:38 in the second
round. Ramirez was unable to get back up, and Kaleiopu took
home the knockout victory. Opening up the fight portion of
the night’s festivities with a four-round super welterweight
bout, still undefeated prospect Fabian Guzman (4-0, 4
KOs) of Orange, Calif. defeated Michael “Mighty Mike”
Lemelle (3-18-3) of Fort Worth, Texas. Guzman dropped
Lemelle twice throughout the bout; once in the first round,
and again in the second round. The referee stopped the fight
at 2:40 in the second, awarding the knockout victory to
Guzman.
The event took place during B. Riley
Securities’ 23rd Annual
Institutional Investor Conference, a two-day premier
investment and networking event which brings together public
and private companies with institutional investors, high-net
worth individuals, and corporate clients, as well as select
members of the press. Conference attendees also joined the
Charity Boxing Night.
About Sugar Ray Leonard Foundation
The Sugar Ray Leonard Foundation was
established in 2009 by boxing legend and six-time world
champion Sugar Ray Leonard and his wife, Bernadette. The
Sugar Ray Leonard Foundation is committed to funding
research and care for pediatric type 1 & 2 diabetes and
creates awareness for both diseases. The Foundation also
strives to help children live healthier lives through diet
and exercise.
Type 1 diabetes strikes both children and
adults at any age. It comes on suddenly, causes dependence
on injected or pumped insulin for life, and carries the
constant threat of devastating complications. Type 2
diabetes in children is on the rise, fueled largely by the
obesity epidemic.
Leonard draws from his personal experience
and boxing career to provide inspiration for funding
research to combat the disease. For more information, visit www.sugarrayleonardfdn.org.
Follow on Instagram at @sugarrayleonard, Twitter
at @SugarRayLeonard and
Facebook at @SugarRayLeonard6.
About Golden Boy
Los Angeles-based Golden Boy was established
in 2002 by Oscar De La Hoya, the first Hispanic to own a
national boxing promotional company. Golden Boy is a media
and entertainment brand committed to making fighting
entertainment more accessible and affordable. The company's
in-house production team develops creative original
programming for RingTV.com and
international channels across the globe. The company holds
the exclusive rights to top boxers and has promoted some of
the biggest and highest-grossing events in the history of
the sport. Now, Golden Boy is one of the most successful
boxing entertainment companies in the world and shapes the
future of boxing for fighters and fans alike.
About B. Riley Securities
B. Riley has served as a preeminent fixture in middle market
brokerage and investment banking for over 25 years. We
provide a full suite of investment banking and capital
markets services to companies, financial sponsors, and
institutional investors across all industry verticals.
Investment banking services include initial, secondary and
follow-on offerings, institutional private placements,
merger and acquisition (M&A) advisory, SPACs, debt
financings, corporate restructuring and recapitalization.
Widely recognized for our thematic proprietary equity
research, clients benefit from B. Riley's extensive network,
industry expertise, and proven execution capabilities of our
end-to-end financial services platform. Please see
disclosures about B. Riley Securities Research here.
The firm is a subsidiary of B. Riley Financial (Nasdaq: RILY).
For more information, visit www.brileysecurities.com.
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