BOXING 'ET' gets shot at Shieka Friday

Etianne Whitaker finished his sparring Tuesday against Kelly Pavlik.
PHILADELPHIA -- In boxing, two consecutive knockout victories is the medicine that revives faltering careers and that is exactly what it has done for Warren's Etianne Whitaker.
Within a month, Whitaker (31-12-2, 20 knockouts) stopped Carlos Bates in the second round and Sam Reese in the first round and now has the top echelon of boxing beckoning him with a fight Friday against former top contender Omar Shieka.
The 27-year old Shieka (23-6, 16 KOs), from Patterson, N. J., won his first 14 professional fights, including a decision over world-ranked middleweight Simon Brown.
One of his losses was a fifth round TKO at the hands of Joe Calzaghe in a battle for the WBO super middleweight championship in London. Shieka has been world ranked among super middleweights for the past five years.
Main event
The 10-rounder is the main event of a nine-bout card at the New Alhambra Sports Complex, which is a Russell Peltz promotion. There is an eight-rounder, four six-rounders and three four-rounders on the card. Whitaker is managed by Pat Nelson and trained by Frank West at the Buckeye Elks. Shieka is trained by Lou Duva.
Whitaker had abundant sparring the past two weeks and finished his workouts Tuesday at the Southside Boxing Club with a sparring session against undefeated middleweight Kelly Pavlik.
"I am ready to fight anyone," said Whitaker. "I am in shape and living clean and have once again turned the corner in my career with good punching power in my last two bouts. A win against Shieka can move me into a big payday fight."
Added Nelson: "After two impressive knockout victories, a win Friday over Shieka would certainly have E.T. back in the title picture in both the super middleweight and the light heavyweight divisions."