Etienne; Wright bouts on tap
By Matthew Richardson in New York City (from FightNews.com)
Rising heavyweight, Clifford Etienne and former WBO Junior Middleweight Champion, Ronald "Winky" Wright were in attendance today at the L-Ray Restaurant in New York City to hype their upcoming bouts on HBO's KO Nation (September 9th).
Etienne (17-0, 12 KOs) was originally scheduled to fight unbeaten heavyweight Fres Oquendo, but Oquendo pulled out due to having to participate in a blood transfusion when his wife gave birth to a sick baby last week. Etienne is currently opponent-less but names being tossed around today were Fabio Moli and Charles Shufford with Shufford being the likely choice. Ironically, Shufford was slated to appear on the under card in a bout with Derrick Jefferson but Jefferson pulled out due to re-injuring his ankle.
In the co-feature, Winky Wright (39-3, 29 KOs) is coming off of a controversial majority decision loss to Fernando Vargas in December in which many fans thought "Winky" deserved the nod. But Wright doesn't think he'll be getting a rematch with Vargas any time soon saying, "If he beats (Felix) Trinidad, he's moving up. You know, nobody mentions my name. When somebody wins a fight they say 'I want to fight Trinidad, I want to fight Vargas', but they never say they want to fight me."
Wright will be fighting a rematch with a man he beat on a split decision 5 years ago, Bronco McKart. McKart is coming off of a KO Nation appearance himself in his last fight on June 10th when he won a 10 round unanimous decision over Jason Papillion. The winner of this bout will go on to fight the winner of the ESPN 2 Michael Lerma-JC Candelo fight on a December 16th installment of KO Nation. McKart was not in attendance at the press conference.
On the non-televised portion of the card, IBF Lightweight Champion, Paul Spadafora will participate in a 10-round non-title bout with an opponent to be announced. Spadafora (30-0, 14 KO's) was not in attendance due to his grandfather going into surgery.
"It was not a good week for the fighters on this card," former HBO head honcho, Lou DiBella said. If Spadafora is successful expect him to defend his title against his mandatory contender, Billy Irwin on the aforementioned December 16th show. The September 9th show will be broadcast on HBO live from the Mountaineer Racetrack and Gaming Resort in Chester in West Virginia. |
