by James Slater – Colombian banger Breidis Prescott will be in action on Saturday night’s big bill in New York that is topped by Amir Khan defending his WBA 140-pound title against former IBF light-welterweight champ Paulie Malignaggi. And the man who wrecked Khan inside a minute back in September of 2008 will be looking to score a win that he will hope leads him towards a return with match.
Badly needing a win after having lost his last two outings, both on points, the 27-year-old will step up to 140-pounds and face Washington’s Jason Davis.. With all due respect to the 28-year-old with the 11-6-1(3) pro record, Prescott will almost certainly get himself the stoppage he and his team are looking for. Set, somewhat optimistically, for eight-rounds, Prescott-Davis will take place a while before Khan and Malignaggi get going, but if Prescott does score a devastating KO he may steal the show – especially if the two main events of Khan-Malignaggi and Victor Ortiz-Nate Campbell are dull affairs.
Davis, a pro since 2005, is coming in off five straight defeats; three of them coming by stoppage. Even worse, the one-year older man was taken out inside a couple of rounds by former super-featherweight titlist and relative non-puncher Steve “Two Pounds” Forbes; this loss coming back in March of last year. It’s safe to say, if Forbes could stop Davis, Prescott will do so; even if he is moving up in weight from 135-pounds.
Davis has met some other good fighters aside from Forbes, but he has lost to all of them. The then undefeated Mauricio Herrera took him out inside 5-rounds in August of last year, and former super-featherweight and lightweight ruler Joel Casamayor won a wide eight-round UD over Davis in September of 2009. In going the distance with the Cuban, Davis acquitted himself pretty well, but in his most recent outing he was retired on his stool after the 3rd-round of his fight with Ernesto Zavala in March – Davis will do extremely well to last more than a few rounds with the long-armed, lethal-punching Prescott!
Prescott’s team cannot really be blamed for putting him in “safe” on Saturday night, as he really cannot afford to even struggle against another opponent, much less lose to one. Should he do as expected and blow Davis away at the weekend, I think Prescott will look to stay busy, perhaps by fighting every other month, as he picks up momentum he hopes will lead him into a rematch with Khan. Of course, things will alter drastically if Malignaggi beats Khan on Saturday and maybe if this is the case Prescott will be left without a big fight to chase.
Promoter Lou DiBella, who has signed a co-promotional deal with the Colombian, did tell ESPN.com that he can foresee a Prescott-Khan II even if Malignaggi does upset the 23-year-old.
“Breidis still needs a little more work, but he punches like a mule and he holds a win over one of the hottest guy in the [140-pound] division, which means there’s a big rematch for him down the road” DiBella said. “I don’t know how big it will be after Paulie beats Khan, but I’m sure it’s a fight that Khan, a proud, young kid, wants to avenge.”
But is Khan desperate to wipe the slate clean by avenging his sole pro loss? If he does lose to Malignaggi, Khan may have nowhere else to turn apart from towards a rematch with the man who beat him in a mere 54-seconds almost two years ago!