by James Slater – Two big fights have now been called off this week..
First we read the bad news that told us how the Timothy Bradley-Marcos Maidana light-welterweight title fight had been called off (after already having been postponed once, due to the Argentine’s bad back – which has apparently not been sorted out), and now we are informed that the intriguing IBF super-middleweight elimination battle between Sakio Bika and Jesse Brinkley is also off..
According to Fight News, Brinkley has only just recovered from flu, and has been unable to train properly for the fight that was set for Quebec, Canada. It is unclear what Bika will do now; and it is also unclear who reigning IBF 168-pound champion Lucian Bute will now face in his next bout – which is reportedly planned for July 24th in his native Romania (BoxRec have the fight up, with Bika set to face a TBA).
Either the Bika-Brinkley fight will be re-scheduled, or, perhaps, Bute will fight Bika next, and then take on Brinkley after that. Bika, who has complained bitterly in the past about not being able to secure the big fights he wants, will sure be hoping he walks into a rematch with Bute; who widely out-pointed him in an IBF eliminator back in June of 2007.
The May 28th show, televised by ESPN2, will still go ahead, but now the also intriguing Librado Andrade-Eric Lucas clash will be the main event of the evening.
Speaking of this fight; Mexico’s Andrade faced Bute in his last outing back in November, where he was sensationally stopped for the first and only time in his pro career. The 31-year-old knows he simply has to rebound from the 4th-round body shot KO, and that a win is essential against 38-year-old veteran Lucas. Former WBC super-middleweight champion Lucas, who has fought just once since his January 2006 10th-round TKO loss to Mikkel Kessler, will likely face a determined and dangerous Andrade on the 28th.
The ESPN2 card would have been an excellent one had the Bika-Brinkley “Battle of the Contenders” gone ahead as planned, but as things are, the show will still be well worth watching.
It will also be very interesting to see who Bute, regarded by many as the best in the word at 168-pounds, takes on in his July “homecoming.”