Kelly Pavlik withdrew from his June 27th middleweight title defense against Sergio Mora due to a staph infection. Top Rank President Todd duBoef hopes to reschedule the fight for some time in September. This fight was supposed to headline a Top Rank pay-per-view and while the main event has been canceled, the show will still go on. Juan Manuel Lopez will be moving into the main event as he defends his super bantamweight title against Oliver Lontchi.
The card is dubbed Latin Fury 9 and will also feature bantamweight champion Fernando Montiel and his title defense against Eric Morel. Rounding out the fight card will be Mike Alvarado vs. Paulie Malignaggi in a light welterweight bout and Vanes Martirosyan vs. Andrey Tsurkan in a light middleweight contest.
I can’t say I’m disappointed with this news. I had very little interest in seeing Pavlik vs Mora. Mora has been more business man than boxer since his stint on The Contender and he lost all of my interest in him following his run on the show.
Juan Manuel Lopez is a stud. When he fights, I watch. I’m not going to pretend that I know anything about Oliver Lontchi. I don’t. But I am still going to order Latin Fury 9. The only problem will be trying to explain that it’s not a porno when it comes up on the cable bill.
