Remember heavyweight contender JD Chapman? Last seen in a ring back in 2008 – this at a time when he was close to getting a fight with David Haye in England, the fall falling through at the eleventh hour – Chapman is set to return to action tonight. The 38 year old, who walked away, it was thought for good, with an impressive 29-0 (26) record, will face Tony Lopez in his home town of Arkansas. The fight will not be televised and Chapman is taking the fight on very short notice.
Chapman reportedly weighed-in at 294 pounds, to Lopez’ 259, so we don’t know if he’s in good shape or not. As per a report from Ring News 24, Chapman says he was offered the fight on Thursday of this week and he took it as he was already in training for a planned July return. As to why Chapman has left it so late in returning to the ring, he merely stated how he “never knew how much I missed boxing.”
This ring return really has come right out of the blue. Chapman, once trained by Michael Moorer and looking to really go places, has almost certainly left it too long to be able to launch a comeback that proves to be successful long-term, but who knows for sure?
Lopez (not to be mistaken for the great Tony “The Tiger” Lopez), is 47 years old and he is an MMA fighter, with a record of 64-32. He last fought in December of 2019. Who knows what we can expect to see tonight? If we even do get to see the Chapman-Lopez bout (again, there will be no TV coverage).
Chapman went pro way back in 2002 and he went on to pick up decent wins over the likes of Edward Gutierrez and Matt Hicks. Chapman was close to getting it on with Haye, new to the heavyweight division at the time, but for whatever reason that fight never came off. Let’s now see if Chapman can get his first win since February of 2008!