Upcoming Bouts: Holt vs Tackie, Woods vs Tarver, Moorer vs Gross

Matthew Hurley: The WBO’s number two ranked junior welterweight contender Kendall Holt, 22-2 with 12 KOs returns to the ring on Thursday, February 7th at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas to take on Ben Tackie, 29-8-1 with 17 KOs in a ten round bout. Holt was last seen losing by eleventh round technical knockout to WBO champion Ricardo Torres in September. Tackie has lost his last two fights by ten round decision to Alfonso Gomez and Freddy Hernandez.. On the undercard, Vanes Martirosyan, 18-0 with 12 KOs will meet Michi Munoz, 20-1 with 13 KOs in a ten round bout. The card will be televised on the Versus Network.

On April 12th Clinton Woods, 41-3-1 with 24 KOs will make the fifth defense of his IBF light heavyweight belt against IBO titleholder Antonio Tarver, 26-4 with 19 KOs at the St. Pete Times Forum in Tampa, Florida. The title bout was added to Showtime’s presentation of WBC light heavyweight champion Chad Dawson, 25-0 with 17 KOs defending against former champion Glen Johnson, 47-11-2 with 37 KOs. The championship doubleheader will air live beginning at 9:00 pm Eastern Standard Time.

Former heavyweight champion Michael Moorer, 51-4-1 with 39 KOs will fight Shelby Gross, 16-3 with 13 KOs on February 8th at Sheikh Rashid Hall in the Dubai World Trade Center. Moorer last fought in October winning a split decision victory over Roderick Willis. He is currently on a five bout winning streak since losing to Eliseo Castillo by unanimous decision in 2004. Gross, a natural cruiserweight and on the shelf for nearly two years, last fought to a second round no-contest against Bobby Gun in 2006. Moorer, a former light heavyweight champion, won versions of the heavyweight title against Bert Cooper, Evander Holyfield and Axel Shulz.

Junior welterweight contender Henry Bruseles, 25-3-1 with 14 KOs will face Rob Frankel, 21-7-1 with 4 KOs on February 1st at the Coliseo Rafael G. Amalbert in Juncos, Puerto Rico. Frankel is a late substitute for Chad Brisson who pulled out of the fight. The bout is part of a Telefutura telecast that will also feature featherweights Mario Santiago, 18-1 with 13 KOs and Edel Ruiz, 29-18 with 20 KOs.

Finally, on this weeks ESPN’s ‘Friday Night Fights’ featherweight contender Monty Meza-Clay, 26-1 with 17 KOs takes on former IBF champion Eric Aiken, 16-8-1 with 12 KOs at the Pittsburgh ExpoMart in Monroeville, PA. Meza-Clay was last seen in the ring in November when he stopped Pasqual Rouse in the sixth round. Aiken lost his last fight by ninth round technical knockout to Thomas Mashaba in November. He won the IBF title in an upset over Valdemir Pereira in May of 2006 by eighth round disqualification at the TD Banknorth Garden in Boston on the Ricky Hatton – Luis Collazo undercard. He lost the title in his first defense against Robert Guerrero by eighth round technical knockout.