Following a blistering war of words over the last few years, super middleweights Joey Gilbert and Jesse Brinkley have agreed to settle their score in the ring on Friday, Jan. 30.
The fight was jointly announced Tuesday by co-promoters Chet Koerner of Las Vegas' TKO Boxing Promotions and Terry Lane's Let's Get It On Promotions of Reno.
"It's a bout that has to happen. Everywhere Jesse goes in Reno, fans always ask when he's going to shut up Joey. They've never gotten along and it's really turned into a bitter grudge match. Come January 30th fans are going to see a real war between these two when they finally settle things," Terry Lane said.
Added Chet Koerner, "This is a terrific fight for boxing fans especially in the state of Nevada . I've worked with Joey for a long time and he's always wanted to fight Brinkley in a major bout. Joey feels that Jesse double crossed him on 'The Contender Season 1' and they've never gotten a chance to fight each other.
"We're talking to casinos and other sites in Nevada as well as television networks and we hope to have final details on the location, advance ticket sales and the broadcast in the very near future. It's a huge fight for fans of both guys and we want to make this a special event for them."
Since his controversial loss to Peter Manfredo Jr. on The Contender, Gilbert, 15-1 (11KOs) has run off a six bout winning streak culminating in a 10th round stoppage of unbeaten Juan Astorga on May 12, 2007 at the Reno Events Center. He followed that with a first round knockout of Charles Howe on September 21, a result later changed to a no contest.
"I made a costly mistake leading up to the Howe fight and paid dearly for it. Boxing fans deserve better and against Brinkley I'm looking to make amends," said Gilbert.
Brinkley, 31-5 (21KOs) is riding a five bout winning streak, most recently dominating Jason Naugler, sweeping all 12 rounds on June 13 in Reno. Prior to that he won the vacant WBC USNBC title from Otis Griffin on February 22, knocking him out in the 11th round.
Said Brinkley, "It's time to settle this. He's been running his mouth for years demeaning me. On January 30 I'm going to finish him and settle this once and for all."