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A fixture of the fight scene for the last decade plus will make his last stand this weekend in NYC, and there will be a battle for pound for pound supremacy the week after, also in NYC, with the big room hosting Miguel Cotto’s adios engagement, and the MSG Theater playing home to a ring general tussle between Vasyl Lomachenko and Guillermo Rigondeaux on December 9.
We will enjoy the back and forth and marvel at the fistic wizardry, the strength and skill and courage displayed…and as always, hope like hell that all parties involved are doing it clean, not taking any shortcuts, via a chemical hand up.
For those that care…and some don’t, some concede that the age we are in in suggests it should be an every man for himself deal, that scientific superiority is part of the skill set for A grade professional athletes…they will be happy to know that VADA is being tasked with doing PED testing for the two main event clashes we can look forward to.
“What is the testing for the Miguel Cotto vs Sadam Ali fight?” I asked Eric Gomez, an executive with Golden Boy Promotions, which is putting together Cotto’s final foray, and placing select bouts on HBO.
“VADA,” Gomez told me Thursday.
The 37-year-old Cotto, who did a family meeting and had a unit decision that he’d not fight beyond 2017, and Ali, 29, will vie for the WBO 154 pound crown.
And then, on December 9, a hot ticket clash, between two gold miners, Olympic standouts Vasyl Lomachenko, who owns a record which suggests he’s in the prospect stage, but is in fact seen by the pundit class as among the top one, two, or third best fighters on planet Earth.
The 9-1 29-year-old faces a magnificent Cuban whose counter-punching is a thing of beauty, for those partial to that brand of beauty. Guillermo Rigondeaux, age 37, is 17-0, and hasn’t been consistently very active all told since turning pro in 2009. Now promoted by Roc Nation, Rigo will be hopping from 122 to 130 for this one. Loma has been boss of that hood for his last four fights so many think Rigo won’t be able to comfortably climb this ladder.
But aside from that, Carl Moretti from Top Rank told us that VADA is handling testing for the Loma v. Rigo mashup.
Good stuff; let the best men win.