Cannot tell you how pleased I was in hearing special lightweight Juan Diaz, was
forced to drop out of his April 23 WBA title defense against Ebo Elder, of
unranked under two of four sanctioning bodies - and 4th & 6th in respective
WBA, WBO rankings fame.
Granted, both fighters will now lose out on probably the best pay day of their
young careers - this one being a PPV affair- but for Ebo baby, I see the Diaz
gym sparring mishap a blessing in disguise.
As for the injury, a cut eyelid that took more than a few stitches, was a whole
different kind of lesson for the brain trust that has the undefeated "Baby Bull"
under its charge. My query is simple, "Why, a final week countdown to the big
pay day, was the extremely talented Diaz in a sparring session?" At this late
stage the kid should have been in a cooling down phase of bag punching, shadow
boxing, skipping rope, etc. If only to prevent a possible mishap.
But back to Elbo; the popular hometown favorite with the busy action style from
the southpaw stance, credits the lord for his successes. A neat resumé with
only a single loss while campaigning against the club fight crowd is where he’s
at.
A severe shortage of punching power, coupled with bravado, and twisted belief
he has a big edge over the opposition by having a higher authority working his
corner.
Hopefully, the self proclaimed punching evangelist will hear the word from the
man upstairs, and heed the warning there’s a message in the cancellation.
Now, with luck, maybe the oversized Jameel McCline could severely strain an
ankle while in a rush to the snack table, and with it the Brock pairing goes the
way of the Diaz-Elder fiasco.
That would bring us to a single main event, with Mosley and Estrada doing it for
bragging rights - and us fight fans getting to watch over free TV.
On that note, we all could join with Ebo and daddy with a loud, "Praise the
Lord" and pass the ammunition, and not the collection basket thank you.
