On Saturday, June 16th IBF Junior Welterweight Champion Lovemore N’dou (45-8-1, 30 KO’s) from South Africa defends his title against Brooklyn bad boy Paulie Malignaggi (22-1-0, 5 KO’s) at Mohegan Sun in Connecticut.

In the co-feature, Curtis Stevens makes his HBO debut in a 10-round super middleweight battle against Andre Dirrell, the 2004 Olympic Middleweight Bronze medalist. The action begins at 8:00pm at Mohegan Sun Arena. Tickets go on sale Monday, May 14th for $150; $100; $75; $45, and will be available through the Mohegan Sun Box Office or any Ticketmaster outlet.

N’dou fighting out of Sydney, Australia, by way of South Africa, is dubbed the “Black Panther,” and will provide Malignaggi with a stiff test, as he has never been stopped in his last 54 fights and has lost only three bouts, all to world champions, since 2002. This will be the first defense of the title he won in an elimination fight this past February.

“Magic Man” Malignaggi comes off a convincing unanimous decision triumph over Edner “Cherry Bomb” Cherry on February 17th at New York City’s Hammerstein Ballroom. He made his return to the ring a winning one since his courageous battle against world champion Miguel Cotto in 2006, going the distance in a 12-round war at Madison Square Garden in his quest for the WBO Light Welterweight title. Despite the first setback of his career, Malignaggi proved to be a true ring warrior and deserving of another title opportunity.

Stevens (17-1, 12 KO’s) from Brownsville, New York comes off a convincing unanimous decision victory over Darnell Boone on March 22nd at the Hammerstein Ballroom, his fourth straight victory.

Flint, Michigan native Dirrell is undefeated in 11 professional tries, including 7 KO’s, so it will be knockout artist vs. knockout artist and prospect vs. prospect when the two collide.—from release