By James Slater: Promoter Eddie Hearn must have been tearing his hair out over the past few days! Yet another line-up change has occurred for the fast-approaching instalment of the international debut of “Prizefighter: The Heavyweights.”
First, Fres Oquendo was forced to withdraw due to the death of a close friend, then, no doubt causing Hearn more stress, former cruiserweight champ Juan Carlos Gomez had to pull out when he suffered visa problems and was not allowed into the U.K. Two quick replacements have been found; with unbeaten Romanian Lucian Bot taking the Gomez vacancy and once-beaten Kertson Manswell of Trinidad and Tobago taking over for “Fast” Fres.
The new (hopefully final) line up is not as strong as its predecessor, but with all the problems the tourney has suffered we can be grateful it is still going ahead on its planned date. When first announced (even before a close to full line-up had been made public) there was talk of at least one former heavyweight champion taking place, and rumours suggested names like Evander Holyfield, Hasim Rahman and James Toney would be on board, trying for the £32,000 prize money.
Toney WAS offered a spot, as he confirmed over the phone to this writer; but he was unhappy with the money. Vinny Maddalone of New York was also offered a slot and he was interested, yet said he needed more time to get ready. I’m not sure if Holyfield or Rahman were offered a place on Saturday’s card.
In any case, the final line-up is now as follows:
Kevin Johnson-Gregory Tony
Michael Sprott-Tye Fields
Mike Perez-Kertson Manswell
Lucian Bot-Konstantin Airich.
31-year-old Bot may be unbeaten at 14-0-1(5) but precious little is known about him. The Romanian has fought almost all of his fights at home and he has not met one instantly recognisable name. In fact, no less than 12 of Bot’s opponents failed to have winning records. Bot goes down as an underdog to win, but the beauty of “Prizefighter” is that anyone can win.
34-year-old Manswell, 20-1(15) has a better record, even if he has been KO’d. The man known as “Warrior” was blasted out by an impressive-looking Bermane Stiverne last time out, but he has banged out wins of his own over the likes of Luis Monaco, Cerrone Fox and Earl Ladsen. Manswell enters Saturday’s tournament holding a definite puncher’s chance.
Pure boxer Kevin Johnson must now be looked at as the favourite to win in my opinion, but the huge Tye Fields also has that puncher’s chance. Then again, former “Prizefighter” winner Michael Sprott cannot be counted out. The action still promises to be exciting on Saturday; even if the final line-up hasn’t turned out to be quite as sparkling as was hoped for.