Boxing Breakfast: Julio Cesar Miranda-Brian Viloria Delayed and More

Miranda-Viloria Date Changed and June 4 Notes

Steve Kim reported yesterday that the flyweight trinket bout between Julio Cesar Miranda and Brian Viloria won't take place on June 4, but will happen sometime during the month of June. Miranda-Viloria was set to be part of the Zbik-Chavez undercard, which also has Vanes Martirosyan v. Saul Roman, and (tentatively) Rafael Marquez v. Mike Oliver, plus another Tom Zbikowski fight and that delayed comeback fight for Christy Martin.

Also taking place that night, on Showtime from Boardwalk Hall, is Carl Froch v. Glen Johnson in the Super Six semifinals. Here's a sad fact: The Chavez show on HBO will draw more viewers than Froch-Johnson. Fighting off TV on that undercard will be Zsolt Erdei, taking on Dawid Kostecki.

Go Fight Live will also be broadcasting on 6/4, with the third fight between 44-year-old Johnny Tapia (58-5-2, 30 KO) and Frankie Archuleta (27-8-1, 14 KO). They first met in March 2004, with Archuleta earning a split decision win, and Tapia got revenge in April 2005. In the years since their last fight, Tapia has had well-publicized battles with some personal issues, and Archuleta has become a bit of a doormat for prospects.

Fight Chatter

• If you think it's bad that Jorge Arce keeps getting big fights due to his reputation as an all-action warrior, even though it's been years since he's truly been competitive at the upper levels of the sport, it's even worse that his brother Francisco keeps getting big fights. Francisco has never been very good. Francisco (31-6-3, 22 KO) will take on Hugo Ruiz (27-1, 25 KO) in Los Mochis on May 14. Ruiz's knockout record is pretty, but it's been against light competition. Actually, who's better now? Francisco or Jorge?
• In order to fight Kevin Mitchell, John Murray has vacated the European lightweight title. Murray-Mitchell is probably more money for Murray than anything the EBU would have mandated for him as a title defense, and should be a good fight. It's a tough comeback for Mitchell and a fight that makes sense for Murray.
• The date for Gennady Golovkin v. Kassim Ouma has changed to June 18, still in Panama. The fight has been paired with the Anselmo Moreno-Lorenzo Parra bout, and Luis Concepcion's first step back after losing to Hernan Marquez. That will be a card we cover before the Saul Alvarez-Ryan Rhodes show that night on HBO if TV Max televises.
• 21-year-old South African heavyweight prospect Flo Simba (10-0, 9 KO) will face veteran Francois Botha on June 4, according to BoxingScene.com. Botha (47-5-3, 28 KO) is so bad now that he was dominated by rickety Evander Holyfield last year, plus Botha has more fights scheduled than fights he actually fights nowadays, but I imagine this is a solid payday for him. Maybe that means it'll actually happen.

Quick Note

ESPN.com boxing writer Dan Rafael's wife has responded to treatments and is now cancer-free. I don't care how you feel about Dan Rafael's opinions on boxing, this is wonderful news and Bad Left Hook wishes he and his wife the very best.

Link Parade!

• In case you missed it, James DeGale says he turned down a shot at (it is assumed) the WBO super middleweight belt held by Robert Stieglitz in order to fight George Groves. I don't see why he wouldn't, to be honest. Once you get past that "world title" jive, it is first of all unlikely that Stieglitz would have actually fought DeGale, and second of all he probably wouldn't have made much more money to go on the road to fight Stieglitz. There are likely plenty of major title shots in DeGale's near future.
• I admit, I laughed when reading this on Monday. I can tell you that yes, Manny Pacquiao drives insane amounts of web traffic. I admit to trying to find good reasons to write about him as much as I possibly can. I wish I got paid per click. Goddamn it. Ah, well. At least I have all of YOU people! Am I right?!?!
• Our boy Martin Tucker will be featured in the Toledo Free Press on Wednesday. We'll try to get you a link to that on, you know, Wednesday. But I wanted to mention it now, too.
• The Ring has part one of a multi-part series up right now covering Raymundo Beltran as he serves as a chief sparring partner for Manny Pacquiao. Beltran (24-4, 16 KO) will fight himself on May 13, facing Sharif Bogere. Bogere was supposed to face John Molina Jr. that night on ShoBox, but I haven't seen Bogere-Beltran listed as a ShoBox fight. It would be a good one, though.
• Happy birthday to Cornelius "K9" Bundrage. He turned 38 yesterday.
  

Song of the Day

Arthur Alexander, even though he has a strong cult following in large part thanks to the internet age, still doesn't get enough due. Arthur was a pioneer of country-soul and a damn fine artist, whose songs were covered by The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Hollies, George Jones, and Dr. Hook, among others. In 1993, after being out of the music business for many years, he began a comeback. A month after signing a new record deal, he died of a heart attack at the age of 53.