Big News on the fight front.
Hello Everyone,
Some huge events have transpired that have caused some significant changes. Although Saol Roman was under an agreement to not fight before the Feb 18th event, His manager an he decided to take a fight last Saturday Jan 29th in Mexico against Michael Madina 24-3-2 disregarding a warning that they risked being dropped from the Salisbury ESPN card if they took the fight.
Although Roman stopped Madina in the second round of the scheduled 10 round fight, he was forced to come off the floor to get the job done. The word we have gotten from Mexico is that Roman has a nose injury and can not fight Fernando Guerrero on Feb 18th. Had he not stuck his nose where it should not have been, that would not have happened.
Obviously the conduct of Roman is very disturbing, but one has to consider the very real possibility that Roman had no intention of honoring his contract, nose or no nose. It may be as simple as the many others opponents that got a last minute case of the "weakened heart syndrome" as fight time approached. Roman, who fought as recently as Dec 17th 2010, had no good reason to jeopardize this televised main event by pushing a fight into his schedule with only 3 weeks until fight time.
The reality is, this can be looked at as good news or bad news. The bad news is that the poster and billboards have advertised Roman as our opponent and he is not.
The good news is that a real warrior is coming to Salisbury with the tenacity,heart, and ring experience that will make this fight, one heck of a tough test for Fernando to pass and guarantee the fans a night they will remember. After approving Derrick Findley for this fight both ESPN and the NABF have expressed great anticipation of this really interesting match up.
Derrick Findley of Gary Indiana 17-4, brings with him a resume of having met some of the top super middleweghts in the world, including Olympian Andre Dirrel now 19-1. and a member of the Showtime Super Six Tournament,featuring the top six Super Middleweights in the world. Findley has also faced super middleweight and Olympic Gold Medalist Andre Ward, still in line to win the Super 6 tournament. Findley's opposition has been against better fighters at better points in their career than Roman. Recently, Findley went 8 rounds with Russian Olympian Matt Korobov, after being edged out on points in a hard fought battle.
Findley also shares a common opponent with Guerrero and routed Michael "The Midnight Stalker" Walker in 8 rounds with a unanimous decision. Guerrero Fought Guerrero here in Salisbury back in April of 2010. As far as the test and the fight, Findley may very well push Guerrero harder and further than Roman, especially when Guerrero had been getting ready for the style of Roman and Findley is much different. Findley is much stronger than Roman and can handle Fernando's power better.
"There is no reason to worry about it" said Manager and trainer Hal Chernoff, This sort of thing happens in boxing and you just have roll with it. Findley has been in with the best Super middleweights out there like Dirrel and Ward and it will be very hard to show him something he has not already seen, but that is exactly what Fernando intends to do. I have have faith in the system we built and the people in our corner but most of all I have faith in Fernando. I don't care hoe much a change like this can throw a fighter off, Fernando will find a way to get his job done, he will defend this house.
I just watched The Fighter, starring Mark Wahlburg, which is the true story of "Irish" Micky Ward. The same type of last minute switcheroo happened there. Does this sort of last minute substitution happen a lot in modern boxing?
ReplyDeleteI got lost some where in this. What was meant in the second paragraph where it said he was forced to come off the floor to get the job done? Thanks.
ReplyDeleteHe came off the floor means he was knocked down during the fight.
ReplyDeleteLast minute substitutions normally only happen in fight of this magnatude when there is an injury. What you have to understand about boxing is there is no one commission or commissioner that can enforce rules like the NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL and others have.
It would be nice if Fernando would fight someone other than some bum that gets signed 2 weeks prior to a fight. Seems like every fight is like this. He usually always has a fight lined up and never has an opponent until a couple weeks prior to the event. I know this time was not his fault but its always the same situation. I will be glad when there is finally some competition. Say what you want about this Findley guy, but Guerrero will have him on his back like all the rest before him. Definitely not the matchup I was anticipating. I bought ringside seats for this BS!
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