Belfast’s “Adopted Son” Boxer Jimmy Holmes to fight Undefeated World Ranked Oliveira

BELFAST, NEW YORK – Bare Knuckle Boxing Hall of Fame Coordinator Scott Burt announces today that on late notice middleweight boxer Jimmy Holmes will fight undefeated Michael "The Brazilian Rocky" Oliveira, ranked No. 15 by the World Boxing Council, in Canada on December 17.  The venue for the 10-round special middleweight attraction will be the Pepsi Coliseum in Quebec City.  The 21-year-old Oliveira (16-0, 12 KOs), a native of Brazil, is the reigning WBC South American Middleweight Champion.  He is coming off of his victorious ShoBox debut Nov. 11 in El Paso, Texas, in which he defeated veteran Xavier "The X-Man" Tolliver (23-8, 15 KOs) by way of an eight-round disqualification.  The 34-year-old veteran Holmes (19-3-2, 10 KOs) will enjoy a bit of a height, weight, and reach advantage over the younger fighter.

Holmes trained for a week locally in Belfast in September under the William Muldoon system originally used to successfully train the great John L. Sullivan in 1889 for the last ever Bare Knuckle Championship of the World.  Holmes is a middleweight, Sullivan was a heavyweight.  Burt adjusted Muldoon’s system to meet the needs of Holmes.  He slept in the barns, ran up to 10 miles a day, chopped wood, blacksmithed, rode horses, dieted, and sparred over 40 rounds as Sullivan did in 1889.  “His weight dropped from 178 to 165 and his 10 mile run improved by 20 minutes from Day 1 to Day 7” stated Burt.  “He’ll be wearing trunks and a robe into the ring on the 17^th that say “Trained Old School” and have “Bare Knuckle Boxing Hall of Fame; Belfast, New York” printed on them.  The gold and black trunks will boldly say HOLMES on the front waist band and MULDOON on the back.  His three cornermen’s jackets will match.  This is an exciting time for not only Jimmy, but also for Allegany County as we have come to adopt Jimmy as our own.”

“The fight game can be odd,” continued Burt  “When Jimmy was training here in September he had a fight scheduled to take place the following month, which got postponed.  Now he gets called on short notice, and no fighter likes that.  But I have studied films of Oliveira’s fights; this is a great opportunity for Jimmy.”

“Thank goodness I trained in Belfast for that week in September” says Holmes. “I came out of that week in the best shape I had ever been in.  Without that week I would have had a second thought about this fight…  But two weeks notice, although short, is possible since I was in such great shape three months ago after my Belfast camp.  All I can say is I’ll give it my best, and I want to again thank Scott and the people of Belfast for that experience.  I know when I get into that ring on the 17^th that I’ll have now have two towns pulling for me instead of my usual one, my hometown in Indiana and that wonderful town of Belfast, New York.  And I got to tell you, that support means a lot.”