CARL DAVIS DRUMOND vs DERRIC ROSSY

FRIDAY A.M. UPDATE:

Please see last paragraph of the Drumond-Rossy preview for an update.

It’s getting close to that time when ESPN drops Friday Night Fights for the last four months of the year, so we’d better enjoy it while we can. This Friday we have the junior welter bout between prospect Victor Cayo and veteran Julio Diaz as the main event, with heavyweights featured in the chief supporting bout when Carl Davis Drumond meets Derric Rossy in a 10-rounder.

Drumond, a well-muscled fighter from Costa Rica, impressed me in his losing fight with Ruslan Chagaev last February. He boxed well against a much more experienced opponent, and with a little more confidence I think he could have won. As it was Chagaev, was able to outsmart him and outwork him just enough to take a lead on points before the bout ended on a head clash after six rounds. Although no fighter wants to suffer a cut, my impression was that Chagaev felt a sense of relief to get out with a win.

Before the Chagaev bout, Drumond had one of those “built-up” records, with 26 wins in a row against carefully selected opponents. He did show ability against Chagaev, though, and at the fairly advanced age of 34 he can, I feel, make progress and be featured in a big fight or two — as long as he gets past Rossy.

Although Drumond is the favourite, Rossy looks like being a good test. Leaving out Chagaev, I would say that Rossy is probably a step up from anyone that Drumond has faced. The 29-year-old from Long Island, NY, has lost only two fights and the defeats were against world-class heavyweights, Eddie Chambers and Alexander Dimitrenko. He couldn’t handle Chambers’s sharp skills and hand speed, but he was doing well against Dimitrenko until he got caught in the fifth.

Rossy has given some sound boxing displays. He comfortably outpointed the ageing but still somewhat dangerous Ray Mercer and he outclassed Shannon Miller in a New York State title bout.

Drumond looks the better fighter based on his showing against Chagaev, but it is possible that Chagaev, after well-documented injury and illness issues, had deteriorated more than we realised. If you disregard the Chagaev fight, Drumond and Rossy are well matched.

I think that Drumond looks the more solid of the two, he might have gained in confidence from having boxed almost on even terms with Chagaev, and he is the house fighter on a Warriors Boxing show, so I am expecting him to win a competitive bout. However, I didn't like Drumond's weight of 237 pounds, which is more than he has ever weighed and eight pounds more than when he met Chagaev. It may mean nothing. Maybe he has been increasing his strength training and has packed on more muscle. I still like Drumond in the fight, but his weight raises one of those question marks that make one feel uncomfortable about one's choice. As an editor of mine in London many years ago would announce when making a change of plans: "All bets off!"

Also on the show, the latest of the Cuban amateur stars to defect to the U.S., junior lightweight Luis Franco , makes his pro debut in a four-rounder. Franco boxed in the 2004 Olympics, losing to Vitali Tajbert in the featherweight quarter finals. “He’s going to be really good,” Franco’s trainer, Orlando Cuellar, told me from Miami. “He has the talent you’d expect from a member of the Cuban team but we’re working on making him more professional in style, blocking and countering, not moving around so much. He’s a future champion for sure.”