Michael Katsidis Won't Fight Robert Guerrero on March 5
Michael Rosenthal of The Ring reported last night that Michael Katsidis has decided to not fight on March 5 against Robert Guerrero, with devastating floods in Australia given as the reason for the pull-out on the bout. This is the second time that Guerrero and Katsidis have tried to get together for a fight, and in both cases, legitimate reasons blocked the fight from happening. Last year, Guerrero pulled out when his wife fell ill.
The two were going to fight on HBO, which would have been paired with Saul Alvarez's next bout. Alvarez is still tentatively scheduled for the date, and HBO still has it open. Zab Judah is also fighting Kaizer Mabuza that night in New Jersey, but that's not part of the same card. Rosenthal says that Golden Boy is pushing a fight between Jason Litzau and Adrien Broner, which I would have to say is a pretty good first HBO fight for Broner, a 19-0 (16 KO) prospect from Cincinnati, about whom I've heard mixed analysis over the years but haven't seen enough of myself to make any judgment calls.
Katsidis-Guerrero could be revisited later in the year, I'd guess. You have to give Katsidis credit for even intending to take a March fight with someone as good as Guerrero after the beating he took from Juan Manuel Marquez in November. But that's Michael Katsidis for you.
End of the Line for Joan Guzman
After failing a drug test following his knockout of club fighter Jason Davis on the Khan-Maidana card in December, Joan Guzman has been released from his contract by Golden Boy Promotions.
Guzman tested positive for a diuretic banned in Nevada, not a steroid or other performance-enhancing drug of note, though as always you have to note that diuretics can be used as masking agents for those drugs. Guzman also didn't make weight for the fight, which is his standard, and ruined any plan that HBO and Golden Boy had to foolishly match Guzman with Khan this year.
At this point, you can consider Joan Guzman all but done. He'll keep fighting, somewhere, for someone, but it's over now. Guzman was at one time one of the slickest, most avoided fighters in the sport. Those days are long gone. He has completely destroyed what was once a promising career, and he's 34 years old now. He will have wasted opportunities to make some good money and really make his mark on boxing. He had that level of talent. But he threw it away. That's how it goes sometimes. Hell, there was a time when some felt Guzman (at 130 pounds) was the most dangerous fight in the world for Manny Pacquiao, back when Manny was really starting to peak, or so we thought. With no promoter and the doors closed at TV networks, his career is effectively finished.
Expect the WBC to name him an interim champion next week.
Say No to Khan-Prescott II
Dan Rafael posted something I'd expect out of someone who doesn't really follow boxing, but not from ESPN's lead boxing voice. It centers on Rafael wondering just why, oh why, Breidis Prescott isn't being considered as Amir Khan's opponent. How many times do people need to see Prescott lose before they accept that his win over Khan was a fluke? Prescott has shown nothing in his career outside of a 54-second knockout of a cold Khan. That's all he's ever done that's been impressive. Even his better wins were struggles, and none of them are that good to begin with. Prescott has lost to Kevin Mitchell and Miguel Vazquez since beating Khan. His wins have been nothing special. Why is there this need with some people to see Khan blow Prescott out? And believe me, if it happens, Khan will absolutely shred Breidis Prescott. This isn't the 2008 Amir Khan anymore. This is a Freddie Roach-trained, confident, 140-pound Amir Khan who is better than he was then. Prescott, frankly, probably isn't even as good as he was then. Khan stood up to a barrage of shots from Marcos Maidana. Do we actually need to waste a fight of Khan's career on Prescott at this stage? And calling down "unknown to American fans" on John Murray and Paul McCloskey is pointless, as Prescott also has zero name in the States. The biggest win of his career wasn't even televised here.
Past that, there are some interesting tidbits in Dan's blog, including talk of Joel Julio-Delvin Rodriguez on FNF and his thoughts on a few other things. I don't mean to slam Rafael with this, it just seems almost childish to me that anyone thinks Khan NEEDS to beat Prescott. Prescott has been terribly exposed, and not in that way that everyone uses "exposed" all the time. He's really been exposed.
However, I'm going to throw a poll onto this post at the bottom. Do YOU want to see Khan-Prescott II? Do you think it's necessary?
Odds and Ends
Mark Staniforth of Sporting Life brings us an intriguing new idea: Evander Holyfield is too old and should retire.
Eric Raskin of The Ring has a good piece on HBO and the Montiel-Donaire fight, which oh my God, appears to actually be happening.
Top Rank's Facebook has some shots of Miguel Cotto and Ricardo Mayorga together. Mayorga looks a lot bigger than Cotto.
Don King and Gary Shaw are begging people to ignore the ticket sales and just focus on the Alexander-Bradley fight on January 29. I will meet this halfway and give them credit for getting out of casinos. That's fine, I agree with Shaw that he's right that people have said they should do that, and they've done it. Kudos, gentlemen. However, you picked maybe the worst possible location for this fight. King makes the point that it's TV that matters, and he's right. That's where most of the money is coming from, and both he and Shaw did a great job with HBO. But still, this fight never should have gone to Pontiac, Michigan.
One last late addition, and this is just for the gamblers, perhaps. I'm not one (my damned wife won't let me bet our money on sports, can you believe this crap?), but I found Kevin Iole's recent story interesting.