Notebook: 135 titlist Mason, Bell embrace short-notice pairing
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WBO lightweight titlist Abdullah Mason and contender Albert Bell, fellow Ohio fighters who have known each other through the years, have unexpectedly been matched with each other.
Initially, Mason was scheduled to make his first defense in a Cleveland homecoming bout against former two-time IBF junior lightweight titleholder Joe Cordina. However, last Thursday came the news that Wales’ Cordina, who is facing an assault charge stemming from a Feb. 27 incident at a Cardiff gas station, was denied a visa to travel to the United States for the bout.
So now it is Bell, who recently signed with TGB Promotions, who will get the shot in the main event of the Top Rank card on Saturday at Cleveland University’s Wolstein Center in what is the first installment of “The Fight” series, which will be a monthly DAZN card that will simulcast on linear cable channels TNT and truTV (8 p.m. ET), giving wider exposure to the fighters.
Mason has taken the change of opponent in stride. No big deal, he said at the promotional news conference on Thursday.
