Ward, Miranda weigh 167.5

Ward, Miranda weigh in at 167.5!

Mark E. Ortega

Ultimateboxingresults.com

May 15, 2009

Tomorrow night, 2004 U.S. Olympic Gold medalist Andre Ward [18-0, 12 KOs ] will meet his toughest test as he takes on Edison Miranda [32-3, 28 KOs ] in the headlining bout of a special edition of ShoBox: The New Generation live from the Oracle Arena in Oakland, California . The six-bout card is promoted by Goossen-Tutor Promotions with help from Warriors Boxing and Antonio Leonard Promotions.

The bout marks the first time in Ward’s career that he will fight in Oakland, the star’s hometown. Ward has fought numerous times in the Bay Area, specifically San Jose, but has never had a bout actually take place in his hometown, and the reaction to tomorrow’s fight is that this has been a long time coming.
In Ward’s last fight, he impressively won every round against Henry Buchanan back in February en route to a twelve-round unanimous decision. In that fight, his opponent was unwilling to engage him in any exchanges. In Miranda, Ward meets an opponent who will be coming forward in search of a knockout, a characteristic we have yet to see in an opponent of Ward for quite some time.

At today’s weigh-in, both fighters came in a half-pound shy of the super middleweight limit of 168 pounds. At the stare down, Miranda elected to force his forehead into Ward’s while giving a deep stare. For the first time in the build-up for this fight you could see Ward reacting to Miranda’s antics, mumbling words to his opponent for the duration of the stare down.

Ward has been criticized for how slowly he has been moved since turning pro following his gold medal victory in 2004 and he will look to shut down those critics with an impressive victory tomorrow night in front of an estimated crowd of seven to nine thousand Bay Area fight fans. Somehow this will be the first fight to take place in Oakland in nearly three years, with the last event also being a Goossen-Tutor promoted card headlined by the exciting sixth-round TKO victory from Robert Guerrero over Gamaliel Diaz in a rematch that also took place in a ShoBox main event.

In another televised bout, John Molina, Jr. [16-0, 12 KOs ] will meet veteran Frankie Archuleta [ 25-6-1, 14 KOs ] in an eight-round bout contracted at 132, just north of the super featherweight limit of 130. Archuleta, a 12-year veteran who never quite reached title challenger status, is expected to give Molina a stiff test. Archuleta’s last fight was an exciting one that saw him get stopped by Martin Honorio in five rounds. Molina has fought twice in 2009 already, compiling wins over tough Ghanaian Joshua Allotey [KO3] and Carlos Vinan [TKO2]. Molina came in at 132 pounds while Archuleta weighed 128 pounds.

In the opening televised bout of a triple-header, 2008 U.S. Olympian Shawn Estrada [5-0, 5 KOs] of Hanford, California will meet Brooklyn, New York’s Cory Jones [5-5, KO] in a four-round super middleweight bout. Jones was a late substitute for Oakland native Tony Hirsch who had to pull out of the fight due to a torn rotator cuff. Jones is expected to force Estrada to go a few rounds, something which only one previous opponent was able to do. In nearly all of Estrada’s previous fights, his opponents have fallen over the moment Estrada touched them, and while Jones’ record is not spectacular, he has gone a few rounds with a few prospects [TKO4 by Matt Korobov]. Estrada will outweigh his opponent by more than five pounds, weighing in at 164.5 while Jones came in at 159.

Daly City, California native Karim “Hard Hitta” Mayfield [8-0-1, 5 KOs ] will meet battle-tested Roberto Valenzuela [49-46-2, 40 KOs ] in a six-round bout contested at 152 pounds. In four of Mayfield’s ten professional bouts he has defeated undefeated fighters; in this bout he will meet an opponent with nearly 100 professional bouts (which includes over 500 rounds) under his belt. Valenzuela’s ledger includes fights against Jose Luis Castillo [TKO6 by], Andre Berto [TKO1 by], Antonio Pitalua [TKO3 by], Demetrius Hopkins [L8], Antonio DeMarco [TKO1 by] and Luis Carlos Abregu [TKO6 by]. Every fight in which Valenzuela has stepped up in level of opposition he has failed to come out on top. Mayfield weighed in at 150 pounds and Valenzuela tipped the scales at 149 pounds.

In a six-round super bantamweight bout, Goossen-Tutor prospect Rico Ramos [9-0, 5 KOs ] of East Los Angeles will take on veteran Trinidad Mendoza [24-20-2, 19 KOs ]. Ramos began his career at a torrid pace, fighting eight times in seven months before sustaining an injury that would sideline him for half a year. Ramos returned to the ring on the Williams-Wright undercard, earning a six-round decision victory over Gino Escamilla. Ramos is looking to get back on a similar pace to how he began his career, and this fight marks the second time in a little more than a month that he will enter the ring. Mendoza is another veteran fighter on this card who has met a lot of good fighters in the ring, falling short in nearly every instance. His record includes losses to former title holders Danny Romero [L12], Israel Vazquez [TKO7 by], Jhonny Gonzalez [TKO3 by], and Daniel Ponce de Leon [TKO2 by]. Ramos weighed in at 124.5 while Mendoza came in a half pound lighter at 124.

Mel Crossty [3-0, KO] of Cincinnati, Ohio will meet Jaime Rodriguez [ 4-4-2, 2 KOs ] of Reno, Nevada in a four-round super featherweight bout. Crossty weighed in at 130 pounds while Rodriguez came in at 131 pounds.

The televised portion of tomorrow night’s card will begin at 9PM ET / 6PM PT and will feature three televised bouts. Tickets, priced at $125, $75, $50 and $25, are on sale at the Oracle Box or online through Ticketmaster at www.ticketmaster.com or by calling Ticketmaster at (800) 745-3000 or through Ticketmaster Outlets at the following outlet partners: select Macy’s stores and select Ritmo Latino stores.