on Schorle of El Dorado Hills has been selected to referee Saturday night’s main event at Arco Arena between World Boxing Organization junior-featherweight champion Daniel Ponce De Leon (31-1, 28 knockouts) of Mexico and Rey “Boom Boom” Bautista (23-0, 17 KOs) of the Philippines.
Steve English of Sacramento will be one of the three judges for the scheduled 12-rounder, one of two title fights on a seven-bout card presented by Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions.
Schorle, recognized as one of California’s top boxing and mixed martial arts officials, has refereed more than a dozen world championship fights, including a 2004 heavyweight showdown in Los Angeles between Vitali Klitschko and Corrie Sanders.
San Diego’s Pat Russell, a runner-up for the California Athletic Commission executive officer post two years ago, will referee the companion WBO title match between bantamweight champion Jhonny Gonz?lez (34-5, 20 KOs) of Mexico and former champion Gerry Penalosa (51-6-2, 34 KOs) of the Philippines.
Oscar in town — De La Hoya, who wasn’t expected in Sacramento until a news conference today at Arco, arrived Wednesday to attend a public workout at Arden Fair mall by the six Mexican fighters who are opposing their Philippines counterparts for the Boxing World Cup trophy.
Meanwhile, matchmaker Eric Gomez announced three medically caused revisions for the show, reducing the program from eight fights to seven.
The major change was cancelling a junior-flyweight title-eliminator between contenders Bert Batawang of the Philippines and Gerardo Verde of Mexico. Verde was scratched because of a detached retina.
The card, which begins at 3:45 p.m., will be telecast on a delay by HBO, with former heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis serving as commentator.
Raley weigh-ins — The official weigh-ins for Friday night’s card at Raley Field, with ex-heavyweight champion Joe Frazier as celebrity host, will be at 5 p.m. today at the Hard Rock Cafe in the Downtown Plaza.
Promoter Patrick Ortiz ha
