Broadway Boxing Returns On May 18

On Thursday, May 18, DiBella Entertainment’s popular Broadway Boxing series will make its long-awaited return to New York for the first time in almost a year with a special edition, one-time-only event, held at Brooklyn’s historic Paramount Theater at Long Island University. Brooklyn’s undefeated female sensation Heather "The Heat" Hardy will appear in a special attraction eight-round featherweight rematch versus Hungary’s Edina "DNA" Kiss to go along with a stacked undercard featuring 2016 Olympian Charles Conwell, 15-0 prospect Eric Walker, and Irish favorite Noel Murphy.

Broadway Boxing was launched in April 2004 as a monthly boxing series featuring local prospects and contenders. By August of 2008, Broadway Boxing had become a weekly series on SNY with a combination of live programming and taped delayed broadcasts of previous events. For almost nine years, Broadway Boxing has aired every Sunday night at 8 p.m. ET on SNY. During that time, the series has grown to produce some of the highest ratings for any program broadcast on SNY, outside of NY Mets games. World champions such as Vitali Klitschko, Gennady Golovkin, Jose Pedraza, Andre Berto, Paulie Malignaggi, Peter Quillin, Guillermo Rigondeaux, Yuriorkis Gamboa, DeMarcus Corley, Randall Bailey and Amanda Serrano have appeared on the series.

"The insurance requirements in New York have kept DiBella Entertainment’s flagship series and almost all club shows out of New York for the past year because they just aren’t financially viable," said Lou DiBella, President of DiBella Entertainment. "But the public clamoring has been too great to ignore; we are going to plant our flag for one night and we hope boxing fans come out and support live boxing featuring homegrown and world class talent."

Now a two-division WBC International champion, Brooklyn’s popular Heather "The Heat" Hardy (19-0, 4 KOs) will return to the series where she got her start in boxing. Before becoming a staple at Barclays Center (where she has fought seven of her last eight bouts), Hardy was a regular on Broadway Boxing, making her pro debut on the series in August 2012. She quickly amassed a loyal following with her charismatic personality and fan-friendly style. It was in October 2014 on Broadway Boxing when Hardy won her first WBC International title at junior featherweight. Last August at Ford Amphitheater in Coney Island, Hardy handed rival Shelly Vincent her first loss to capture the WBC International title at featherweight. The entertaining slugfest was televised by NBC Sports Net and helped to increase Hardy’s national profile.

Hardy’s opponent on May 18 will be Budapest, Hungary’s Edina "DNA" Kiss (14-3, 8 KOs), who has two wins against former world title challenger Erika Kalderas. The pair last fought each other on March 4, at Barclays Center, with Hardy winning a unanimous decision. Kiss rebounded with a six-round unanimous decision victory on April 15.

"I’m very anxious and excited to get back in the ring on May 18, hoping that a dominant performance will put me on track for my next fight to be for a world title," said Hardy.