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By Arne K. Lang
In the lexicon of boxing promoters, the word “stacked” invariably precedes the word “undercard.” Matchroom honcho Eddie Hearn summoned forth the word “stacked” once again today while plugging Saturday’s show at the MGM Grand. In this instance, however, it wasn’t false advertising. Several of the eight bouts preceding the big wind-up give promise of being very entertaining.
Guadalajara will be well-represented. In addition to Canelo Alvarez, three others from that metropolis in Western Mexico will appear on the card – and two of them are matched very tough.
Gabriel Gollaz Valenzuela (25-2-1, 15 KOs) is matched against Cleveland southpaw Montana Love (17-0-1, 9 KO) in the chief undercard bout, a 10-round junior welterweight affair. Valenzuela is promoted by Canelo’s renowned trainer Eddy Reynoso and he comes in riding a 20-fight unbeaten streak but, nonetheless, he’s a big underdog vs. Love (pictured with the French bulldog that he brings to his pre-fight functions).
Guadalajara’s Christian Gomez, another Eddy Reynoso disciple, would seem to have a more difficult test. His opponent, Shakhram Giyasov, a stablemate of Dmitry Bivol, is unbeaten (12-0, 9 KOs) after a distinguished amateur career.
A 28-year-old Uzbek, Giyasov has been fighting at 140 but is moving up in weight for this 10-round welterweight tilt. In Gomez, he is meeting a fighter who has knocked out 20 of his 25 opponents while forging a 22-2-1 record. His opponents, to put it mildly, have been less than stellar, but Gomez must be accorded a puncher’s chance and he will certainly have the crowd in his corner on Cinco de Mayo weekend.
The inclination is to bet both underdogs. Asking both Valenzuela and Gomez to win would seem to be asking too much, but if we can get one of them home, we will turn a nice little profit.
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Don King Promotions has announced the date and venue for Trevor Bryan’s heavyweight title defense against Daniel Dubois. They will meet on June 11 in Miami, Florida at Casino Miami Jai-Alai, a refurbished fronton whose arena can hold 6,500.
Also appearing on the card will be Trevor Bryan’s most recent opponent Jonathan Guidry who confounded the experts by lasting 12 rounds with Bryan, losing a split decision. Guidry (17-1-2, 10 KOs) meets DaCarree Scott (7-0, 6 KOs) for something called the NABA Gold heavyweight title. The rotund Scott is the belt-holder, having won this trinket in his first 10-round fight by dint of a split decision over Ahmed Henry.
As recounted on these pages and in other reports, Jonathan Guidry resides in Louisiana’s Cajun Country in the town of Dulac and like many men in this part of South Louisiana, he earns his living from the water, harvesting shellfish. The 32-year-old father of four, a fill-in for Mahmoud Charr, could have easily mailed it in against Bryan but he had too much pride.
Guidry got no respect heading into that fight and he continues to get no respect. The release for the June 11 show says that Scott will be defending his title against “another Georgia slugger” in Jonathan Guidry from Dulac, GA.
It says something about the current state of Don King’s finances that he employs a publicist that flunked geography.
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Tommy Morrison’s two fighting sons, Trey Derek Lippe, aka Trey Lippe Morrison, and James McKenzie Witt, aka James McKenzie Morrison, born 10 months apart to different mothers, both turned pro in 2014.
Of the two, Trey Lippe Morrison was considered to have the higher ceiling. Veteran Oklahoma fight facilitator Tony Holden, who nurtured Tommy “The Duke” Morrison into a world heavyweight title-holder, invested more of his resources in Trey Lippe, sending him to Freddie Roach’s Wild Card gym in Hollywood to smooth out his wrinkles. “Trey has more raw power than his father,” Holden proclaimed, a bold statement considering that Tommy the Duke had one of the sport’s most fearsome left hooks.
Trey Lippe’s progress was retarded by a succession of injuries and it all came crashing down for him on Dec. 2 of last year when he was stopped in the opening round by former NFL linebacker Mike Balogun on a TrillerVerz card at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City. Lippe/Morrison was 18-0 with 17 knockouts heading in, but his opposition had been so poor that it would be written that the 38-year-old Balogun exposed him.
But don’t be too quick to write off the Morrison brothers. James McKenzie Morrison, supposedly the least talented of the two, rose to the occasion last week, scoring a fifth-round stoppage of previously undefeated (12-0) Hasim Rahman Jr. at the Virgin Hotels in Las Vegas. That elevated Morrison’s record to 20-0 (18 KOs).
That record needs to be put into context. Like his sibling, James McKenzie Morrison has been matched very carefully, thrust against a succession of palookas on the Midwest circuit.
But against Rahman Jr, he looked like a legitimate heavyweight contender. Unfortunately for James McKenzie Morrison, who bears an uncanny physical resemblance to his late father, the event was poorly promoted and attracted very little buzz.
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