These days welterweight contender Mark Jason Melligen can be found inside of Floyd Mayweather’s personal gym on a daily basis as he gears up for his next fight, a showcase on the February 19th Fernando Montiel-Nonito Donaire bout at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, Nevada. With still over three weeks to go Melligen appears to be in tremendous shape and is coming along well in camp. Melligen’s foe next month is 27-1-1 Gabriel Martinez, a tough customer from Sonora, Mexico whose most notable bout was an April 2008 loss to Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez in which he suffered a swollen cut eye before seeing the fight halted ten seconds into the 12th round. Melligen has a lot of momentum coming off of his 2010 campaign and figures to have an edge over the 23-year old.
<--- Slideshow: Images of Mark Melliegn training at Floyd Mayweather's gym
If that is the case and Melligen is successful he very well could be in line for some notable fights late this year. Melligen’s trainer Tony Martin revealed that there have been whispers about a possible clash between his charge and former Contender star Alfonso Gomez, a bout that would take place on May 6th in Las Vegas the night before Manny Pacquiao’s duel with Shane Mosley at the MGM Grand.
Martin loves the possibility of the fight coming off.
“It would be fantastic,” Martin stated. “It really would be a good fight. The two have totally different techniques. Alfonso comes at you. Mark knows how to box. Alfonso is tough and Mark uses his brain. It would be one hell of a fight and I could see Mark winning as well.”
I asked Martin if the card would take place at the nearby Hard Rock Hotel and Casino but he insisted it might end up at the Mandalay Bay, possibly inside of the House of Blues. But Martin is hesitant when discussing such a proposition, as he revealed that Melligen wouldn’t be seeing any time if the May 6th card was in any way connected to Pacquiao’s MP Promotions.
“But the problem there is that [we] are not tied up with Manny Pacquiao Promotions,” he continued. “We are a different entity like Nonito Donaire. If that becomes a sort of Manny Pacquiao-Michael Koncz promotion, then we won’t be interested. We only represent ALA Promotions and we have a four-year promotional contract with Top Rank.”
Koncz’s name has been called into question these days as the finger was pointed at him after it was revealed by ABS-CBN’s Dyan Castillejo that the manager had yet to inform his star fighter of the blockbuster deal that will now see his fight with Mosley on Showtime Pay-per-view as opposed to HBO. The fact that Pacquiao wasn’t in the mix with the negotiations has people wondering what exactly Koncz is up to behind the scenes.
Martin can’t speak too candidly on the Canadian but obviously isn’t rushing to do business with him either.
“I don’t really want to get involved with him. What he does with Manny Pacquiao is his own business. You read a lot in the press and sometimes you have to read between the lines. Who knows what the real truth is. Only time will tell. It seems to me that Michael Koncz isn’t liked by a lot of people and there must be a reason for it.”
Chris Robinson is based out of Las Vegas, Nevada. He can be reached at [email protected]
