Fana-Mendez off! Fana to be stripped?
Mark E. Ortega
Leave-it-in-the-ring.com
May 11, 2011
Wednesday saw news break that the IBF
super featherweight clash between South African based defending
champion Mzonke Fana [30-4, 12 KOs] and #1 contender Argenis Mendez
[18-1, 9 KOs] of Brooklyn, New York has been scrapped from its
original date of June 11th in South Africa's Carnival City
due to Fana claiming he does not have a trainer or proper training
facilities to be ready for his mandated defense.
The IBF may decide to strip Fana, which
could leave the IBF title up for grabs. With the number two spot in
the rankings vacant, and #3 Jason Litzau locked in against Golden Boy
Promotions prospect Adrien Broner for June 18th on HBO, it
leaves Mendez without an obvious opponent to fight for the newly
available belt.
One name that may not be on the tip of
everyone's tongue but could make the most sense is newly inserted
into the rankings Eloy “The Prince” Perez [21-0-2, 5 KOs] of
Salinas, California, who has been shutting out opponents on
Telefutura Solo Boxeo cards the past year plus and has been looking
to step up in competition. Perez is coming off another lopsided
decision victory over Alejandro Rodriguez last month in San Francisco
and has Golden Boy Promotions behind him, which helps make this fight
a bit more possible.
Mendez has Lou DiBella behind him, and
the fight makes perfect sense for the proposed Golden Boy
pay-per-view set for July 30th that is tentatively going
to be headlined by Erik Morales in Las Vegas, Nevada. Neither Perez
or Mendez have much drawing power yet, but as an opening telecast
fight it serves as an intriguing evenly matched battle that puts
Perez in a position to pick up a world title when all other potential
opponents were seemingly avoiding him. It also gives Mendez an
opportunity to showcase his skills on a major card, which is
something DiBella hasn't been able to do yet despite him being on the
brink of a title.
Fellow undefeated Luis Cruz balked at
the chance to fight Perez earlier this year, as did Litzau and other
quality names.
A fight between the two just makes too
much sense, which all but kills any hope of it coming off. Perez has
been looking to make the jump in competition as he shuts out each
lightly paid opponent Golden Boy has found him for their Telefutura
cards as of recent. By putting Perez in with Mendez, they would be
taking a huge gamble. They would also finally give themselves a
chance to make Perez relevant with the top of the division. It could
also give them an attractive opponent for their more touted prospect
Broner, who didn't look sensational in his HBO debut but has retained
the darling status over at Golden Boy Promotions.
Let's see if these two sides can get on
the same page and put this one together.
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