For boxing fans who have been in quarantine without television, radio or internet… Here is the major headline you missed: ‘Rivals Stunning Stephen Edwards and Junior Hernandez agree to settle their long-standing feud in the ring on June 5.

The historic showdown between Quad City standouts will be one of two main events on the Extreme Maximus Boxing promotion, appropriately titled “Iowa’s Best Boxing Event of the Year.”

Also featured is a title fight between Davenport’s Donovan Dennis and Omaha’s Brian Houston for the vacant USA Mid-America Cruiserweight Championship. The two battled each other in the National Golden Gloves as amateurs and now will rematch as professionals.

More than 1,000 tickets were sold for this event the first two days, but $60 table seats and $40 general admission tickets are still available. Get them from the participating fighters or online at NitroTickets.com. 

Preliminary fights will start at 4 p.m. followed by the main card at about 6:30 p.m. Mediacom, the nation’s fifth-largest cable provider, will televise the entire event on Channel MC22 on a delay basis. 

Edwards sports a 15-1-1 record and has won five straight, while Hernandez, a former mixed martial arts standout who fought in the Ultimate Fighting Championship, is 3-0 in boxing. Both fighters live in Davenport and developed a fiery rivalry on social media that has fans taking sides.

Dennis is 14-4 and looking to claim a third straight win after gaining recognition earlier in his career by finishing second in the Boxcino heavyweight tournament on ESPN. Houston is 3-0 in boxing and also was a mixed martial artist and fought in the UFC. Dennis is from Davenport, while Houston lives in Omaha, Neb., and trains with world champion Terence Crawford. 

Also fighting in the pro boxing and kickboxing event are local competitors Shawn West, Robert Calvin, Adam Frederick, Jeremy Castro, Jeremy Marts, Quinton Stage, Roberto Negrete, Tony Delf, Dominic Martin, Josiah Molina and Nate Hagge.
Frederick will fight for the Extreme Maximus 170-pound amateur kickboxing title against a yet-to-be-named opponent.

“This is the area’s best boxing event since the Michael Nunn-Pat Miletich event drew almost 4,000 people,” said Extreme Maximus promoter Monte Cox. “I really don’t think any boxing event in Iowa this year will come close to this one talent-wise.”