by James Slater – The word is Nicaraguan wild man Ricardo Mayorga has pulled out of his scheduled Feb. 14th bout against the unbeaten Alfredo Angulo (FightNews.com, among other boxing sites, have reported the news). Promoter Gary Shaw, who is both angry about the 35-year-old’s withdrawal from the fight, and suspicious of Mayorga’s claims of having injured himself during training, now has to find a replacement foe for the unbeaten fighter known as “El Perro,” and quick..
Though the Mayorga-Angulo fight was just one bout of a scheduled three for St. Valentine’s day – Nate Campbell-Ali Funeka and Sergio Martinez-Kermit Cintron being the other two, world title, fights – Shaw still wants a third match to take place. Apparently, according to Shaw, Alfonso Gomez and Cornelius “K-9” Bundrage have been mentioned as replacements for the touted Angulo.
Neither of these two prospective match-ups are as appealing as the original 154-pound fight, but as late replacement fair they aren’t too bad. Out of the two, who should get the call – Gomez or Bundradge?
28-year-old Gomez has not fought since his failed WBA welterweight title challenge of Miguel Cotto back in April of last year, and as such would likely be suffering from ring-rust were he to step in for the Feb. 14th date. A good fighter who, as the stoppage loss to the then unbeaten Cotto showed, is below elite level, Gomez has fought up at light-middleweight before – most notable while taking part in “The Contender” TV show. Always gutsy and willing to give his all in the ring, Gomez might, just might, give the still learning Angulo a fair test.
As for “K-9,” the 35-year-old has been active. Winning his last fight against the odds, this former “Contender” star upset the unbeaten Russian up-and-comer Zaurbek Baysanguro via a 5th round TKO. This fight took place just this past December, and it’s likely Bundrage would jump at the chance to face Angulo. A good fighter who has only lost to the best, and rarely by stoppage at that, the always entertaining “K-9” would be a good test for Angulo.
The problem, however, is the fact that there are only ten days to go until fight night. Would Bundrage or Gomez be willing to come in at such short notice, even if Bundrage did fight so recently? In the past, fighters have scored their best wins when coming in in incredibly short notice; maybe one of these two name fighters will decide to go for it and do likewise.