Notebook: Injuries knock 'J-Rock' and Gamboa off upcoming Showtime cards

Cobbs aims to step up; KSI now a promoter; Quick hits

Two upcoming Premier Boxing Champions events with Showtime have taken a hit due to injuries.

Former unified junior middleweight world titlist Julian “J-Rock” Williams and former unified featherweight titlist Yuriorkis Gamboa have both withdrawn from their upcoming bouts.

Williams (27-2-1, 16 KOs), 31, of Philadelphia, was due to face Brian Mendoza in a 10-round junior middleweight bout on the Showtime PPV card headlined by Gervonta Davis versus Mario Barrios on Saturday night at State Farm Arena in Atlanta.

However, Williams suffered an elbow injury during a recent training session and is out of the fight, a PBC source told Fight Freaks Unite, confirming BoxingScene’s initial report.

PBC is seeking a replacement to face Mendoza (19-1, 13 KOs), 27, an Albuquerque, New Mexico, native fighting out of Las Vegas.

Williams was supposed to fight for the first time since he lost his unified 154-pound title by upset fifth-round knockout to Jeison Rosario in Philadelphia in January 2020 and then had an eye procedure. He was also supposed to have his first fight since switching trainers from Stephen Edwards to SugarHill Steward.

Gamboa (30-4, 18 KOs), 39, a Cuba native fighting out of Miami, was due to challenge interim junior lightweight titlist Chris Colbert in the Showtime main event on July 3 at Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, California. However, Gamboa suffered a soft tissue injury around his clavicle during a recent sparring session, adviser Tony Gonzalez told Fight Freaks Unite. Gonzalez said the injury was not serious but bad enough that Gamboa’s doctor ordered him to lay off long enough that he would not be able to fight on July 3.

PBC is looking for a replacement to face Colbert (15-0, 6 KOs), 24, of Brooklyn, New York, who is due to make his second interim title defense.

Cobbs wants to step up

Welterweight Blair “The Flair” Cobbs hopes to step up his opposition following an impressive fifth-round knockout of Brad Solomon (29-4, 9 KOs) on Golden Boy’s Jaime Munguia-Kamil Szeremeta undercard on DAZN on Saturday at the Don Haskins Center in El Paso, Texas.

“I believe I showed that I deserve a big fight against a name opponent after my stoppage of Solomon,” said Cobbs, a 31-year-old southpaw from Las Vegas. “There’s a lot of big fights out there for me and I just want an opportunity. I'm ready to fight all the big names in the welterweight division. Anyone who is ranked in the top 10, I’m coming for you.”

Cobbs (15-0-1, 10 KOs) has won eight fights in a row since a fourth-round technical draw with Mario Esparza, who could not continue after an accidental head butt, in a scheduled four-rounder in 2018.

Cobbs trained for the fight with Solomon with Hall of Fame trainer Freddie Roach

“Freddie Roach has been a tremendous help in my development over the past year during the pandemic,” Cobbs said. “All of the Wild Card fighters came out on top this past weekend and the vibe we share in the gym is unbelievable. When you’re around great fighters at Wild Card, it gives you a confidence like you wouldn’t believe because you know you’re training at the best boxing gym in the world, with the best trainer. When I land that big fight, everyone will see that I belong with the elite in boxing.” 

KSI turns boxing promoter

“KSI” Olajide William Olatunji, his management team at Proper Loud and promoter Wasserman Boxing (the former Team Sauerland) announced they have formed a promotional company geared toward staging celebrity and crossover boxing events.

KSI’s lone pro fight resulted in a six-round split decision win over fellow social media personality Logan Paul in a 2019 cruiserweight fight that headlined a card at Staples Center in Los Angeles,

“Since beating Logan Paul, I’ve been plotting my next move in boxing,” KSI said. “Whenever I make a move, it’s always big. I’m excited to announce that I have partnered with the Sauerland brothers, Wasserman Boxing and Proper Loud to create my own boxing promotion. Get ready for some incredible events featuring the biggest names from the world of sport and entertainment.”

Kalle Sauerland, the head of global boxing at Wasserman, said, “This is a major move for the boxing and entertainment industries. KSI is a mega-star with huge crossover appeal. He knows how to market himself and he knows how to sell events. He will bring a new audience to the sport of boxing.” 

The company’s first event is to be announced.

Quick hits

Kazuto Ioka (26-2, 15 KOs), 32, of Japan, will defend his WBO junior bantamweight title against mandatory challenger and former unified strawweight titlist Francisco Rodriguez Jr. (34-4-1, 24 KOs), 28, of Mexico, on Sept. 1 in Tokyo, Rodriguez promoter Promociones del Pueblo announced on Monday. They had been ordered to commence negotiations on June 1 and given 30 days to make a deal or a purse bid would have been called. Ioka, who has won titles in four divisions from strawweight to junior bantamweight, will be defending his 115-pound title for the third time.

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Welterweight Fazliddin Gaibnazarov (9-1, 5 KOs), 30, who won a 2016 Olympic gold medal for Uzbekistan before signing with Top Rank, is off of the Vasiliy Lomachenko-Masayoshi Nakatani Top Rank Boxing on ESPN+ undercard on Saturday night in Las Vegas. Gaibnazarov was scheduled to face Quinton Randall (8-0, 2 KOs), 30, of Houston, in an eight-rounder but issues obtaining a visa forced Gaibnazarov’s fight to be canceled.

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Former super middleweight and middleweight world titlist Felix Sturm (42-5-3, 18 KOs), 42, who exited a nearly five-year retirement in December, outpointed German countryman James Kraft (19-1-1, 10 KOs), 24, to notch the second win in a row of his comeback on Saturday in Hamburg, Germany. Sturm won 99-93, 97-94, 96-94. On the undercard, former super middleweight titlist Vincent Feigenbutz (33-3, 29 KOs), 25, stopped German countryman Nuhu Lawal (27-9, 15 KOs), 39, in the ninth round. The wins by Sturm and Feigenbutz set them up to fight each other in the fall.

Show and tell

One year after Lennox Lewis knocked out Mike Tyson to retain the heavyweight title he was scheduled to return against Kirk Johnson in the main event of an HBO PPV card with Vitali Klitschko due to fight Cedric Boswell in the co-feature. The show was a prelude to Lewis facing Klitschko that fall if they both won. However, when Johnson dropped out two weeks before the fight due to a chest injury, something very unusual happened. Lewis and Klitschko agreed to dispense with the interim bouts and face each other instead on short notice. HBO put up around $10 million to take the fight off pay-per-view and put it live on the network.

The fight at Staples Center in Los Angeles — the first heavyweight world championship fight in L.A. in 45 years — turned out to be a classic. It is the best heavyweight title fight I have ever covered other than the Anthony Joshua-Wladimir Klitschko 2017 fight of the year in London.

Lewis and Klitschko rumbled in an intense slugfest from the opening bell. Klitschko rocked Lewis several times but Lewis returned the favor and tore open a horrendous cut around Klitschko’s left eye in the third round. The cut was so severe that the fight was stopped after the sixth round with Klitschko up 58-56 on all three scorecards and begging to continue. Lewis retained the title in what turned out to be the final fight of his Hall of Fame career. Klitschko would go on to win the vacant title and never lost again. The fight was 18 years ago on Monday. Here is the program in my collection.

Williams photo: Stephanie Trapp/TGB Promotions; Cobbs photo: Sye Williams/Golden Boy