Boxing Breakfast: Agbeko Feeling Better, Zbikowski Suspension Lifted and More

Agbeko Feeling Better, Still Wants Mares

BoxingTalk.com interviewed Joseph Agbeko, who says he's feeling much better and is still looking forward to fighting Abner Mares. Agbeko had to pull out of his April 23 Showtime bantamweight tournament final with Mares due to a bout with sudden onset sciatica. He says he should be ready to go in June or July, but has no date from Showtime.

Fight Night Club

I hate just about everything about Golden Boy's Fight Night Club so I rarely make a point to watch it, but I did catch the main event last night because junior welterweight Frankie Gomez, 19, is one of my favorite prospects out there today. And he did not disappoint. Gomez (9-0, 7 KO) dropped Jason Davis (11-9-1, 3 KO) with a left hook-right hand combination in about 15 or 20 seconds, the first combination he landed, and the 29-year-old from Vancouver, Wash., was unable to get his legs under him, forcing the referee to stop the fight at 0:25 of the first round.

That might not seem noteworthy -- Davis' record stinks and he's gone winless in his last eight. But for Gomez to get him out that quickly is pretty special. Davis pushed Joel Casamayor to a way-too-close eight round decision in 2009, and even though he's been stopped early by Joan Guzman (fight changed to a no-contest after Guzman failed a drug test), Breidis Prescott (TKO-3) and Ernesto Zavala (RTD-3) in recent fights, to obliterate a guy on your first combination at age 19 makes Gomez someone to watch if you haven't been following him to date.

Zbikowski Suspension Lifted

Baltimore Ravens safety Tom Zbikowski talked to BoxingScene.com's Lem Satterfield -- who used to work for the Baltimore Sun, which is just trivia and not me saying he's biased or anything -- and confirmed that his suspension has been lifted. Zbikowski originally failed what can only be described as a shoddy and half-assed drug test by the Chickasaw Nation Boxing Commission in Oklahoma, but submitted to a more comprehensive second test and was clean. Five other fighters also "failed" the Chickasaw Commission drug test.

Zbikowski rightly says he's worried about his image, and even though I have made my sour and even "hater"-worthy feelings about his boxing career pretty well-known, let me be among those who say that I hope this doesn't damage his image. Whatever you think about Zbikowski as a boxer or a football player or whatever, he didn't really fail a drug test and doesn't deserve to have that as a cloud over his head.

Fight Chatter

• Heavyweight Seth "Mayhem" Mitchell (21-0-1, 15 KO) will face Evans Quinn (20-5-1, 18 KO) on the May 13 ShoBox undercard in Primm, Nevada. Mitchell -- a former football player for Michigan State University -- has been steadily improving as a pro boxer since turning pro in 2008, and has stayed busy. Quinn had losses to Kali Meehan (UD-12) and Sergei Liakhovich (KO-9) last year.
• Mzonke Fana's June 11 fight with Argenis Mendez has been finalized, as the two will meet in South Africa. The 37-year-old Fana (30-4, 12 KO) hasn't fought since beating rival Cassius Baloyi in September. Mendez (18-1, 9 KO) beat Baloyi in January at the very same venue he'll fight Fana.

After the Jump: Link Parade! and the Song of the Day

Link Parade!

• Cliff Rold says that a rematch between Bernard Hopkins and Glen Johnson still might be interesting.
• For those who are fans of NFC North teams, I'd like to offer my sincere condolences. Good luck running up the middle on the MIGHTY LIONS, suckers!
• Here's part two of Raymundo Beltran's series on sparring with Manny Pacquiao.

Song of the Day

"Dark End of the Street" by The Flying Burrito Bros.