Craig McEwan Sizing Up Kassim Ouma for Mayweather vs Ortiz Undercard

The off-TV undercard at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas is next on the list of matters to be finalized for the September 17 Mayweather vs Ortiz event, and there appears to be a decent start in the middleweight division. The Edinburgh Evening News reports that Craig McEwan will face Kassim Ouma.

"Ouma is going to be one of my toughest opponents - he took Jermaine Taylor the distance back in 2005 for both the WBO and WBC world titles," said McEwan. "He was also the IBF's world light- middleweight champion." ... "I need to show the American boxing people and Golden Boy Promotions, who back me, that my loss to Andy Lee was just a glitch and that I'm still a world-class performer.''

McEwan (19-1, 10 KO) has been out of the ring since his thrilling loss to Andy Lee on March 12. That was a fairly big step up in class for the 29-year-old Scott, and though he lost via final round TKO, he acquitted himself pretty nicely as both a guy who can compete with better fighters, and someone who can make for an exciting fight.

Ouma (27-8-1, 17 KO) can also make for fun fights still, and has had a mild little career rebirth following a very rough stretch. The 32-year-old Ugandan still has a lot of spirit, but he's just 2-6 in his last eight, and though four of those losses were close, his last fight was not. Ouma received a frankly undeserved title shot against WBA titlist Gennady Golovkin on June 17, and was stopped in ten. But he made a fight of it in Panama, and while he was overwhelmed late in the fight, I don't think it's a stretch to say Golovkin is a better fighter than McEwan. We'll see if the beatdown in the final three rounds of that fight has a negative impact on Ouma going into this fight, but if it didn't, Ouma can still be a tough out.