Don King: "It's the Perfect Time to Meet Me in St. Louis"

This just in: Fight night is finally set for April 24 for the IBF junior middleweight championship belt match-up between hometown favorites, Cory Spinks and DeAndre "Bull" Latimore.

Spinks and Latimore will face off about 10 p.m. central time Friday, April 24, at the Scottrade Center. St. Louisan Devon Alexander will also fight that night against a yet-to-be-named opponent.

Don King is putting on the card. "I love St. Louis and I'm happy to have the top three prizefighters from this great American city on the same card at Scottrade Center," King said in a statement. "Spring is almost here so it's the perfect time to meet me in St. Louis on April 24 to see the best of the old and best of the new. It's going to be what we call a Lou thing."

Ticket info and more after the jump...

Boxing fans have been buzzing about the fight since last fall, when Latimore (19-1, 16 KOs) first called out Spinks (36-5, 11 KOs).

Latimore, 23, is ranked sixth among junior middleweights. Spinks, 31, is a four-time world champ.

Spinks won the junior middleweight belt from Roman "Made in Hell" Karmazin here in St. Louis in July 2006, but lost the bling in March 2008, to Verno Phillips. That was after splitting with his longtime trainer and manager Kevin Cunningham; my former colleague Ben Westhoff chronicled the tenuous relationship between Spinks and Cunningham in this May 2005 feature, "The Corner Man."

Spinks is once again training under Cunningham.

Latimore's got a lot less experience but the boy is hungry. Twenty-three years old, he came up under long-time (and legendary) trainer Kenny Loehr at the 12th and Park Rec Center near downtown. (I wrote a long story about Loehr back in December.) Latimore then moved out to Las Vegas last year to train there.

Ticket info, from the press release:
 

Tickets, all in the lower bowl, priced at $100 ringside, $60, $40, $25 and $10 (with a limited number of Golden Circle seats available at $300) are on sale now at Scottrade Center Box Office, all Ticketmaster Ticket Centers, by phone at 1-800-745-3000, or online at ticketmaster.com.

A per ticket facility fee will be added to all tickets purchased at all locations, including at the Scottrade Center Box Office. Additional Ticketmaster service charges and handling fees apply. For disabled seating, call 314-622-5420.