The drought known as February is behind us and now we look towards the rest of the year to give us the fights and the news we want and/or expect. With that said we have some news coming down the boxing pipeline in this, your latest edition of Around the Ring:
1.Not The Same “Rocky” – It was announced this past Friday that WBO super featherweight champion Roman “Rocky” Martinez injured a hand and would not be defending his title against the #1 mandatory, Mexican Miguel Berchelt, this upcoming Saturday night. It was no secret Martinez’s promoter, PR Best Boxing, weren’t too keen on the match up and were pushed into a purse bid they ended up losing. They went so far to seek for legal help in the matter but to no avail. Now their fighter has gotten hurt and will bypass the fight. Berchelt will be facing #6 ranked George Jupp of England for the interim strap.
2.Chavez Jr Gets Hurt, Again – A couple of weeks ago, Julio Cesar Chavez Sr. went public with his disgust of how his son, former WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr, is conducting his camp in Big Bear, CA. Chavez Sr. revealed his son “escaped” the camp a couple of weekends ago and traveled down to the city. Chavez Jr. defended himself by saying he has a problem in his left heel and was getting it checked out. Now his left heel is back in the news as it is the reason why he needs to push back his proposed challenge for the WBC super middleweight title against champion Badou Jack. Chavez Jr says he needs three weeks, the time his doctor recommended him not train, which would take the fight back into May. He says he might need perhaps until June to be ready for the fight.
3.Rigo No-Go – After a number of visits to the English consulate in Russia, it has been confirmed Guillermo Rigondeaux will not be traveling to Liverpool to face James Dickens this Saturday night because a lack of a visa for the UK. What at first just looked like a delay due to a Russian national holiday now has turned into a nightmare with Rigondeaux not fighting this weekend. The Cuban was in Russia for his boxing camp in preparation for the showdown which he hoped with a win would secure him a fight against unified 122-pound champion Carl Frampton.
4.Margarito Comes Back – This past Saturday night we saw the return after four and a half years outside of the ring of Antonio Margarito of Tijuana, Mexico. For many in the venue in Mexico City and watching on TV that what we saw was only a shell of the Mexican warrior we saw in wars against Miguel Cotto, Paul Williams among others. It turned out it might have been since his opponent, Jorge “Maromerito” Paez jr, a natural super lightweight at best dropped him in the sixth round. Margarito still did enough to close the show and win a unanimous decision. He admitted afterwards that perhaps he is not ready for the big fights but might be willing to fight again.
5.Matthysse Out – Argentinean tough guy Lucas Matthysse has declared not to be ready come back to the ring as he intended on the under card of Saul Alvarez vs Amir Khan in Las Vegas on May 7th. He stated his eye, which he hurt in his last fight against Viktor Postol, is not recuperated enough for him to return. It might be more than that since recently he posted on his personal Facebook account that perhaps he just doesn’t have the will anymore to continue his career.
