Rising stars in Oklahoma…
By Robert Przybylo
BPrzybylo@opubco.com
This weekend offers a unique opportunity to Oklahoma boxing fans. There is a big event Saturday night at the Buffalo Run Casino in Miami, and it features what might soon become a who’s-who of the sport.
Main event features Ronald Hearns, son of “The Hitman” Tommy Hearns. I’ve seen Hearns, Ronald that is, fight a couple of times. He’s not at world-class yet, but he hasn’t even come close to hitting his ceiling.
But if that’s not enough to entice you, how’s this for some of the prelim fighters: The Dirrell boys, Anthony and Andre. Heavyweight contender Chazz Witherspoon. U.S. Olympian Gary Russell Jr.
And if you need some local flavor Oklahoma City welterweight Carson Jones continues to have his name out there. This will be his fourth fight this year. I gotta applaud Jones’ determination right now. He’s been in rough spots before in terms of fighting people he wasn’t ready for or not getting fights but right now, whoo, he is smokin’.
And if Jones can win, he’s already got bout No. 5 of this year lined up in Tulsa the first week of May against Michi Munoz. The two were scheduled to fight last September at the Cox Convention Center, but Munoz pulled out extremely late in the deal.
Anyway, got the time, got the money, the Miami show should deliver. It might be one of those nights where you can say “I saw him before he became world champ.”
***
The only female MMA fight worth mentioning is starting to pick up steam. There are reports of Gina Carano taking on Cyborg, most likely in the summer.
Carano is the whole package (from a marketing perspective) while no female fighter has impressed me with her ability like Cyborg.
The two seemed to be on a collision course in the Elite XC but with that promotion folding, it just delayed the inevitable. What will be interesting is if the public would accept this as the A-side attraction or will it be relegated to a B-side deal?
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Weekend fights were, what’s a good word, well, they’re over. Vitali Klitschko took care of business against Juan Carlos Gomez.
I’m getting real sick of the paw “patty cake” jabbing that is going on. It seemed like the first couple of rounds that’s all Gomez and Vitali were doing.
But Vitali found his groove and gave Gomez a gradual but extensive beating. After dropping Gomez in the seventh, it was finally called off in the ninth.
In Florida with the mix MMA and boxing card, it was Roy Jones Jr. winning via fifth-round TKO against Omar Sheika. Eh, I didn’t see it, but it’s just tough to get excited.
My last image of RJJ was him bragging about “going the distance” against Joe Calzaghe. He never attempted to try to win that fight, and that peeves me still.
Sheika has always been what I dub “an ESPN2 fighter.” He’s been involved in some great battles with Scott Pemberton, but he’s not a real measure of what RJJ has left. Sheika was tailor-made for Jones.
In the main event of the MMA side, it was former WWE wrestler Bobby Lashley winning a unanimous decision against Jason Guida and earning $40,000 in the process.
Sounds like he dominated, but had some issues in the third round and almost got caught in a guillotine. I had no issues when Lashley was a WWE wrestler, and I have even less issues with the guy now.
He’s raw, but he could be a stud. It was a valuable experience, if not an unspectacular win. I’ll be keeping an eye on him.
Be back later this week with some news on Mo Lawal and Johny Hendricks.
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