Hard Rock Casino Rockford to host heavyweight boxing championship

ROCKFORD, Ill. (WIFR) – Hard Rock Casino Rockford is ready to host its first boxing card with hopes of more to come.

The World Boxing Association (WBA) will enter the ring at 6 p.m., April 19 to a nearly sold out crowd.

At the top of the card is the WBA Heavyweight Championship bout between Deontae “The Handsome Heavyweight” Pettigrew and Rochard Lartey.

Chicago native Pettigrew is undefeated with 14 wins under his belt, winning four matches by unanimous decision and the other ten bouts decided by knockout/technical knockout.

Deontae Pettigrew’s FECARBOX Heavyweight title belt he won on April 13, 2024 in Rosemont, Illinois.(WIFR)

Ghanaian boxer Lartey has more experience in the ring with 16 wins and eight losses, but lost his last contest in November against the undefeated Polish boxer Damian Knyba. You can’t count Lartey out because in his previous bout in April 2024, he handed a different Polish boxer, Andrzej Wawrzyk, his fourth loss out of 38 fights.

Seven undercard fights are scheduled with Rockford boxer Jonathan Cruz set to make his professional debut. He is a three-time Chicago Golden Gloves champion and has a record of 45–5 in amateur fights. Cruz will go toe-to-toe with Kalamazoo, Michigan’s Cameron Vallier, who is 0–2 in his professional contests.

Here are the other undercards you can expect to see at the Hard Rock:

Marlon Harrington (10-2-0) vs. Cameron Krael (21-35-3)
Rani Jalomo (6-0-0) vs. William Davis (8-21-1)
Lukas Moldenhauer (8-0-0) vs. Manuel Guzman (8-10-1)
Everett Olivares (4-0-0) vs. Daniel Hilton (3-0-0)
Kewin Gibas (4-1-0) vs. Lamar Bolden (2-11-2)
Talia Halvorsen (debut) vs. Jina Bynum (0-3-0)

Geno Iafrate, president of Hard Rock Casino Rockford, says they are excited to present a new kind of event to the stateline. “There is not a bad seat in the joint and just to be able to see this level of boxing entertainment up close and personal live versus on your TV – I think it’s really going to create a buzz and an excitement and you’re going to see many more events in the future,” Iafrate said.

While not many seats are left for the event, if you want to watch the fights in person, tickets are available on Ticketmaster.

You can also watch the fights online.

Doors open at 5 p.m. and the first bell is at 6 p.m.

All attendees must be at least 21 years old.