Unfortunately, the most intriguing bout of the evening was scrapped when local 5-0 junior middleweight Zain Shah came down with “the flu” and pulled out of his bout with Harry Joe Yorgey. From the time this fight was announced, there was skepticism that it would actually take place. So now local opponent Lawrence Jones will step in for Shah in what will be at best a paid sparring session for Yorgey.
Also on the card female middleweight Tori Nelson, 5-0-1 will defend her WBC belt against Vashon Living, 5-2.
While it’s frustrating seeing two East Coast guys pull out of fights with the flu this week, it is somewhat refreshing to hear a fighter has the flu before a fight. Every writer in the boxing media wishes he or she had a dollar for every time a loss or sub-par performance was blamed on the fighter having “the flu.”
How Irrelevant Are the Weight Classes Now?
We have reached the point in professional boxing where weight classes are completely meaningless. First we went from eight to 17 weight classes, then introduced the concept of “catchweights” and finally moved the weigh-ins to at least 30 hours before fight time. It’s a disgrace.
Watching a 181-pounder defend his 160 pound title last Saturday night was all the evidence one needs to see what a joke the promoters and sanctioning bodies have made out of this sport. Add to that the sheer corruption of Administrator of Combat Sports for the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation Dickie Cole and WBC President Jose Sulaiman in Texas, perhaps boxing was better off with Frankie Carbo in charge.
When you also take into consideration that boxing is turning to Victor Conte to help regulate steroid use by boxers, boxing looks more like a “Saturday Night Live” skit than reputable sport.
Having Victor Conte involved in regulating PEDs is like having Bernie Madoff head the Securities and Exchange Commission…or having Ron Paul as President. All ridiculous.
Williams vs. Lundy Set for March 30th on ESPN
Let’s focus on some positive news in boxing. While many fighters today simply build up misleading records in search of a payday, Dannie Williams and Hank Lundy have agreed to a truly great lightweight matchup. Given that both already have a loss on their records, the loser of this fight will a very tough time getting back into the title picture. This also cannot be considered a safe fight for either guy; it’s easy to see how each man’s style can create problems for the other. Williams is best against fighters that don’t display good movement while Lundy has been rocked twice in his past four fights by guys with less power than Williams.
This should be the great, meaningful fight that has been lacking thus far this year on “Friday Night Fights.”
Fight Watch:
A card in Cancun, Mexico on February 18th is looking quite interesting. Maryland middleweight Fernando Guerrero continues his climb back to contention as he faces James Winchester, whose 12-4 record is deceiving as every win has come in the Carolinas.
The more intriguing fight of the evening will be lightweights Francisco Contreras and Pablo Cesar Cano in a 10-rounder. Contreras is coming off a devastating KO loss to Sharif Bogere, while Cano is fresh off a solid effort in his loss to Erik Morales. The problem for Contreras is that he is a small lightweight by today’s standards. In this day of 150+ pound lightweights, I cannot see how Contreras can compete at a high level. For Cano, we’ll get to see if he has what it takes to actually be a contender or if his performance against Morales demonstrated just how much “El Terrible” has lost since his best days. This fight actually may say more about Morales than its two combatants.
On February 25th at Bally’s in Atlantic City, I’m looking forward to seeing if welterweight Ronald Cruz can continue his knockout streak over normally durable opponents.
February 17th on ESPN2, Cleveland’s Miguel Gonzalez gets the opportunity to score what would be his best win thus far as he faces Mike Dallas Jr. Dallas was considered a top prospect until he was pounded by Joseito Lopez last January, then dropped a close decision to Mauricio Herrera. “Silky Smooth” Gonzalez is riding a 14-bout winning streak after suffering two early losses in his career.
