EMMANUEL “Ice Cold” LARTEY, 15-1-1, 7 KO’s, hopes to celebrate his 33rd birthday on Friday, April 18th from Monroesville, Pennsylvania’s Convention Center when he squares off against 2008 Olympic Gold Medal winner Felix Diaz, 14-0-0, 8 KO’s. The eight-round co-feature, promoted by Iron Mike Productions, will be televised live on Showtine’s ShoBox: The New Generation series at 10:30 pm, Eastern Standard Time (EST). According to Lartey’s manager, New York immigration attorney, Eric. O. Darko, “Lartey’s ready to win again but it won’t be easy. We missed an opportunity when we lost to Errol Spence at the BB & T Center in Sunrise, Florida on October 14, 2013 but that was then, this is now.”

According to highly respected and internationally recognized matchmaker Eric Bottjer, who lives a stone’s throw from the BB & T Center and who watched the Lartey- Spence fight live from ringside, “By the time Errol Spence entered the ring that night, he outweighed Lartey by 10 pounds and was four, maybe five, or even six inches taller. Lartey tried really hard,” remembers Bottjer, “but he couldn’t overcome the weight and height disadvantage. I’m sure that’s why he’s decided to return to the junior welterweight division. Anything more than that puts him at a distinct disadvantage, especially against these other top prospects.”

This time Lartey will be going up against another highly regarded, undefeated boxer in Diaz. “But,” says Iron Mike Productions’ astute, hard-working matchmaker Chris Middendorf, “This fight is pretty evenly matched. Both fighters are junior welterweights (plus a couple of pounds he acknowledges), both are southpaws, both are short (Diaz is shorter), both can box and both can punch. This is far and away the toughest fight of Diaz’s career,” Middendorf admits. “Lartey, as everyone knows, is an experienced boxer-puncher and Diaz hasn’t fought anybody of his quality.”

Manager Darko, knowing he needed to do something to recharge Lartey’s batteries, hired a new trainer, The Bronx, New York’s, Kwame Asante, who, it is known, has spent the last six months getting Lartey back to basics. “Emmanuel wanted to make a change and I agreed with him,” Darko says. “So we hired Kwame, who like Emmanuel is originally from Ghana and has trained some top, well-known boxers from Ghana including Joshua Clottey and Joseph Agbeko.” He adds, “I also asked Vincent Scolpino and Jacob Zwennes to co-manage Emmanuel with me. They have the time and connections necessary to succeed in this business, plus they’re both great guys. Lartey’s future has never looked brighter.”

All well and good. But trainer Asante is competing with Diaz’s trainer, Oxnard, California’s Robert Garcia, who currently trains Sergio Martinez, Brandon Rios, and Nonito Donair, amongst others. And Diaz is exclusively promoted by Iron Mike Productions. Yet Darko is unfazed. “I’m also putting a top team together and former New York State Athletic Commission chairman Ron Scott Stevens will be a big part of it,” he’s proud to say. “Ron was a promoter and matchmaker before becoming chairman and he’s very knowledgeable. When Ron has something to say, we all listen. We’d be crazy not to.”

Now all that’s left for Lartey to do is win. And celebrate!