CWS in the ring with a champ this Saturday

["Lesley Crosson" <LCrosson@churchworldservice.org>]

For Immediate Release
November 4, 2011
 
CWS in the ring with a champ this Saturday
 
Church World Service will step into the ring – literally – this
Saturday night, November 5, by invitation of boxer Angelo “La Cobra”
Santana and his promoter, Don King.
 
Santana, 24, a Cuban who received help from CWS in 2007 after reaching
Florida on a homemade raft, will be defending his WBA Super Lightweight
title at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Fla.  
 
His fight will be the second in the show, which is to be webcast live
beginning at 8 p.m. (Eastern) on Wealth TV (www.wealthtv.com (
http://www.wealthtv.com/ )).  
 
CWS Miami Office Director Oscar Rivera and Associate Director Mabel
Hernandez have passes to go into the ring, where Don King is to
introduce them to Saturday night’s crowd.  King also has set aside eight
ringside seats for Rivera, Hernandez and colleagues.
 
In addition, CWS helped Don King Productions locate two of the 26 Cuban
rafters who traveled with Santana to Florida in 2007; they are to walk
Santana into the ring on Saturday night.
 
CWS, through its Cuban-Haitian Entrants Program, had assisted Santana
with shelter, food and clothing upon arrival to Florida and helped him
get to his new home with his girlfriend and her parents.  
 
A week after his arrival, Santana – a boxer in Cuba – was taken to see
the trainer Mandy “The Whiz” Fernandez.  “He started sparring with
Angelo and discovered he had a great left hook,” Hernandez said.  “He
started training him, and put some of his videos on YouTube.  Next
thing, King calls to sign him up.”
 
Santana’s first fight was at Madison Square Garden in New York City,
where he opened for Roy Jones, Hernandez said.  Santana knocked his
opponent out in the first round.
 
When Santana told King about CWS’s help, King reached out to the CWS
Miami Office to invite staff to a November 2 news conference and to the
November 5 match.
 
CWS’s Mabel Hernandez – a life-long boxing fan, as it turns out –
fielded King’s call.  “If the telephone caller ID hadn’t said ‘Don King
Productions,’ I would have thought it was a joke,” Hernandez said. 
“It’s just been so exciting.  I’m excited for the amount of
importance they have given our agency.”
 
At the November 2 news conference, King gave Hernandez the opportunity
to describe CWS’s work.  She reported afterward that she had “thanked
Mr. King for inviting us and including us.  It wouldn’t have happened if
he hadn’t wanted us there.  
 
“I introduced myself and spoke of CWS’s 65 years of disaster relief,
CROP Hunger Walks, and assistance to immigrants and refugees.  And I
said how thrilled we are that Angelo is doing all these wonderful
things.  He came to this country searching for freedom and to be able to
do what he loves.”
 
Media Contacts
Lesley Crosson, (212) 870-2676, media@churchworldservice.org
Jan Dragin - 24/7 - (781) 925-1526, jdragin@gis.net
 
Church World Service
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New York, NY 10115
(212) 870-2061