It was a rather slow weekend for boxing. With the UFC in Las Vegas, and the Arthur Abraham/Edison Miranda middleweight championship bout postponed until September, the feature bout of the weekend involved another kind of champion. The Contender champion, Sergio Mora, has been the rumored opponent for such fighters as Ike Quartey and Jermain Taylor. In order for those big fights to happen, Sergio needed to get through his next fight.
Sergio Mora vs. Eric Regan
Eric Regan is not a very well-known fighter amongst boxing fans. But for the 6’4″ middleweight, handing Sergio Mora his first loss would be a good introduction. Regan came into this fight with a record of 26-2 (17 KOs). In addition to the four-inch height advantage, the fight was taking place in Regan’s hometown of Sacramento, CA.
The fight was more intense than expected. The “Latin Snake” came out of Sergio on more than one occasion. The referee gave multiple warnings for hitting on the break, hitting behind the head, hitting and holding, and all the other fun illegal things. Both men were guilty of dirty fighting throughout the contest, but Sergio seemed to feed off it. He would beckon Regan to come forward, at one point even drawing a figurative line with his foot and daring Regan to cross it.
Mora did an excellent job of stifling Regan’s height advantage. Mora was able to get in on Regan to land shots as well as get away from him while avoiding Regan’s jab. Mora also looked impressive as a southpaw. He changed his style almost effortlessly in the fight and showed that he has the skills to be a true contender. Regan looked discouraged at times but put up a decent effort. Mora won the fight by unanimous decision.
The most interesting aspect of this fight is seeing what’s next for Sergio Mora. A title shot against Jermain Taylor has been discussed for months now. While Mora isn’t quite ready for that step, it’s a challenge he is willing to tackle. Another name being thrown out there is Ike Quartey. That would be an interesting matchup but again too risky for Mora’s development. A good fight for Mora would be someone like Verno Phillips or Sam Soliman. Those are veterans that won’t give up or get discouraged if they fall a few rounds behind, yet lack the power of someone like Taylor or Quartey.
The Contender 2 Quarterfinals
From the Contender champion to the crowning of another, the second season of The Contender just wrapped up their first round fights. The fighters have all moved to the quarterfinals and the matchups look like this:
Steve Forbes vs. Nick Acevedo
Cornelius Bundrage vs. Walter Wright
Norberto Bravo vs. Gary Balleto
Grady Brewer vs. Michael Stewart
Forbes and Acevedo just finished the first round off and have to fight first in the second round. Acevedo was gassed after two rounds with Fraza so his stamina will certainly be an issue. Forbes is the favorite to win but got a surprise out of Freddy Curiel. The preview for next week’s fight indicates this is a close contest. Being the favorite doesn’t make the fights any easier for him.
Bundrage and Wright face off in the biggest, and really the only, rivalry in the house. Wright punished Andre Eason in the first round, someone Bundrage has befriended. Wright was certainly not humble in victory and Bundrage took exception. This led to Bundrage prodding at Wright to pick him for the next round. Bundrage is a heavy puncher and given his disdain for Wright, it will be a very intense fight.
In what should be an all-out brawl, Norberto Bravo takes on Gary Balleto with a berth in the semi-finals on the line. Bravo bested Rudy Cisneros in a slugfest and Balleto didn’t seem very light on his feet in his win over Aaron Torres. Balleto is a strong puncher but Bravo seems like he can take a punch as good as anyone on the show. It should be a very television-friendly fight.
Michael Stewart delivered a crushing KO to Ebo Elder to advance to the quarterfinals and he will look to do it again against Grady Brewer. Brewer won his fight against Vinroy Barrett, but suffered a cut over his eye during the bout. Brewer was able to secure the last fight of the second round, giving him the most amount of time he could have to recover. Stewart was outboxed by Elder before the KO so Brewer will look to stick and move while Stewart will no doubt attack the cut on Brewer.
Upcoming Fights
Sept. 2 – James Toney vs. Samuel Peter WBC Heavyweight Eliminator (Showtime)
Sept. 9 – Glen Johnson vs. Clinton Woods III IBF Light Heavyweight Title
Sept. 16 – Marco Antonio Barrera vs. Rocky Juarez II WBC Super Featherweight Title (HBO PPV)
Sept. 23 – Arthur Abraham vs. Edison Miranda IBF Middleweight Title
Sept. 26 – The Contender 2 Finals
Oct. 7 – Diego Corrales vs. Joel Casamayor III WBC Lightweight Title (Showtime)
– Nicolay Valuev vs. Monte Barret WBA Heavyweight Title (HBO)
– Tomasz Adamek vs. Paul Briggs II WBC Light Heavyweight Title (HBO)
Oct. 14 – Joe Calzaghe vs. Sakio Bika WBO and IBF Super Middleweight Title
– Mikkel Kessler vs. Marcus Beyer WBC and WBA Super Middleweight Title
Lights Out For Sam Peter?
James “Lights Out” Toney takes on Samuel Peter this weekend in a heavyweight title eliminator. It is a good matchup in the ring but the always-talkative Toney has been spicing things up outside of the ring. Toney and Peter have been engaging in the usual pre-fight trash talk to hype the fight, but Toney upped the intensity at the last press conference.
Part of me wants the fight to keep getting postponed so James can keep talking. In his latest tirade against Samuel Peter, James Toney cared not for the presence of women and/or children and let loose with the profanities:
“I don’t [expletive] cry over what these so-called big and strong guys say about me,” Toney stated. “I feed off of it. You tell Peter to bring what he’s got and I’ll bring it even more. I’ll knock his [expletive] ass out, and when they send him back to Africa on a boat he’ll still be sleeping. He’ll have a [expletive] ‘Lights Out’ nightmare in the ring and relive it while he’s asleep at sea. All I know is that Samuel Peter is going back to Africa a loser, and I will look forward to banging [expletive] Russians around.”
Oh but that’s not all. Toney didn’t focus all of his attention on Peter. Toney had some very colorful responses to the media that has been irritating him with questions about his weight:
How is your conditioning?
Toney: “[Expletive] off!”
What about your cigar smoking?
Toney: “Yeah? What about it? Smoke this.”
Who are you sparring with and how is it going?
Toney: “Keep asking stupid questions, it’ll be you. Now [expletive] off!”
Results From Last Week
– Nick Acevedo defeated Jeff Fraza in a first-round Contender matchup.
– Steve Forbes won a unanimous decision over Freddy Curiel to finish the first round of the Contender matchups.
– Otis Griffin, winner of FOX’s Next Great Champ, dominated Nelson Zepeda for a unanimous decision.
– Alfonso Gomez got an 8th round TKO victory over Carson Jones.
– Ishe Smith knocked Oscar Gonzalez down three times in their fight before it was stopped in the second round. Gonzalez took the fight on short notice.
– Some people not involved with reality TV fought this weekend. One of them was super featherweight Koba Gogoladze. Koba earned a ninth round TKO over Fred Neal after Neal was knocked down three times in the round.
– After upsetting Vivian Harris last year, Carlos Maussa was the victim of an upset last week. Maussa lost a unanimous decision to Manuel Garnica, a man taking his second fight in the last six years.
Spit Bucket
If you like blood, then you should check out the latest episode of The Ultimate Fighter 4.
Eugene Tierney has loads of random baseball thoughts.
Daniels looks at what could have been for the 2006 Boston Red Sox.
I’m still not sure if I want to see Beerfest.
If you missed the Emmy’s, Josh Clinton has all the results from the evening in television.
