A potentially action-packed brawl of a Shobox main event is near set for February 5, as Rick Reeno reports that super middleweight contenders Sakio Bika and Allan Green are close to an agreement to face one another. Reeno says the show could potentially be a triple-header, and if that's the main event and knowing Shobox's reputation for providing good action fights, it could be a hell of a night at the fights.
Bika (28-3-2, 19 KO) has been rendered persona non grata since winning "The Contender" in 2007, the finals being an instant classic, eight round war against Jaidon Codrington. Before the show, Bika was best known as a challenger to Joe Calzaghe's super middleweight throne in 2006, giving Calzaghe one of his very few really tough fights. He also lost to Lucian Bute in 2007 before going on the show and getting his career back on track, at least in theory.
The only time the exciting Bika has been on American TV since the "Contender" series ended, he pulled an Incredible Hulk all over Peter Manfredo Jr. on Versus, stopping him in the third round.
Green (29-1, 20 KO) is one of those fighters I always have a hard time figuring out. He has a weird tendency to look at his shoes in the middle of a fight, and there have been nights where he looked like nothing close to a serious contender. He, too, is best known for a fight with Jaidon Codrington, when he blitzed Codrington and knocked him out through the ropes in 18 seconds back in 2005. His only loss came on HBO to Edison Miranda in 2007, and since then he's rattled off seven straight wins against so-so competition (some solid, some "eh").
Bika-Green could be a complete war and has Fight of the Year potential for as long as it lasts. I get the feeling that with Bika's solid beard and love of getting in there and brawling, he's going to run over Green at some point, but Allan's power should make it a hell of a fight if he's on his game that night.
Either way, you can't ask much more of a Shobox than to pit two top ten fighters in a division, and it's great to see Bika getting back on American TV. He's earned it.