It always feels great to be right in the thick of things when it comes to a big fight week and such is the case with Saturday’s Miguel Cotto-Ricardo Mayorga bout in Las Vegas. While at the final press conference inside of the MGM Grand yesterday I was able to catch up to some familiar boxing luminaries and the talked wasn’t strictly just about the WBA junior middleweight title fight that lies ahead.
BoxingScene.com’s Rick Reeno learned that Bob Arum, who oversees Cotto, had some revealing news about another one of his star fighters as it looks like the proposed May 28th Nonito Donaire-Anselmo Moreno bantamweight unification tilt will now be heading to the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City as opposed to the Bay Area in California where it was originally going to take place. Donaire is weeks removed from a thrilling 2nd round TKO over Fernando Montiel at the Mandalay Bay, a performance that netted him the WBC and WBO crowns.
Several people were excited about the possibility of Donaire returning to his adopted hometown and Arum said last month that he was exploring possible venues in the area for the contest. Donaire trains out of the Undisputed Boxing Gym in San Carlos and he has a legion of followers around town that would have likely made for a good sell.
I initially was stumped as to why the bout would be heading out East but Reeno told me that it is simply because of welterweight contender Mike Jones, who will be seeing time as the evening’s co-feature attraction. Jones, a Philadelphia native, always sells well near his hometown and has built a huge following in Atlantic City.
Jones was last seen winning a clear decision over Jesus Soto Karass underneath Donaire’s blitzing of Montiel. The fight was a rematch of a November match that saw Jones barely come away with a majority decision after storming out of the gates against Karass inside of Cowboys Stadium in Dallas, Texas.
No word yet on Jones next foe.
