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Nelson to fight tonight at MSG
By Greg Gulas
YOUNGSTOWN
As South Side Boxing’s Willie Nelson prepares for tonight’s junior middleweight clash with Darryl Cunningham, trainer Jack Loew is methodically using their time together in the Big Apple to voice his displeasure with promoter Lou DiBella.
Nelson (21-1-1, 12 KOs), who is coming off elbow surgery, will square off against Cunningham (29-6, 11 KOs) on the undercard of the Sergio Martinez-Miguel Cotto WBC middleweight title fight.
According to Loew, it’s a fight that should have been the opening television bout, which would have earned his fighter at least 10 times more money.
“We’ve worked hard to position Willie to be at No. 3 in the world with a chance at a title fight by the end of the year, yet he was stripped of his NABF junior middleweight title due to inactivity,” Loew said. “We’ve been ready and disappointed since April and I am irate about the way things have unfolded. It’s just ridiculous.”
Nelson’s concern is just winning the fight.
“Darryl is a former WBF middleweight champ and he knows his way around the ring. He has the experience and we’re all aware that he has come up big in quite a few fights,” Nelson said. “I feel great, the elbow feels great. I’ve been training since February and have been ready to fight since April. I’m not enamored with the setting because it’s just another day at the office for me. I just cannot wait because I need to knock this ring-rust off me and continue to move forward.”
Loew spent Thursday night in Boston with yet another fighter, Daniel Martz and manager Pat Nelson, watching the 6-foot-7 heavyweight defeat Alex Santos at the House of Blues.
He said that he simply cannot believe how things have unfolded for Nelson over the past 10 weeks.
“We were supposed to fight James Kirkland in April and for some reason Lou let that slip away. The fight was supposed to take place in New York and be televised on HBO and that got pulled,” Loew said. “On May 24 we were supposed to fight Matthew Macklin and that slipped away as well. Macklin is now fighting someone else while our fight with Cunningham was supposed to be a TV bout against Andy Lee for our first big payday and Willie could have retained his title. Instead, we were stripped of our title. It seems as if our promoter has no pull anymore.”
Loew strongly believes things changed after Nelson’s elbow surgery, despite the fact that his fighter was coming off consecutive wins over Luciano Cuello for the NABF light middleweight title, a first-round TKO over Michael Medina and unanimous decision over John Jackson, both for the NABF light middleweight championship and a unanimous decision over Olympic silver medalist Yudel Johnson.
“I talked with co-promoter Steve Smith and he did all this work but the bottom just fell out. I begged for a fight, went through hoops and loops so you can understand my frustration and why I am so irate,” Loew said.
That could lead to a change.
“When Willie wins, and there is no doubt in my mind that he will win tonight, then look for him to break loose from Top Rank and Lou DiBella and perhaps align with Cameron [Dunkin],” Loew said. “The whole boxing world might just go, ‘Whoa!’ ”
As for Cunningham, Loew has cautioned Nelson not to take his opponent lightly and just fight his fight.
“Darryl is a journeyman with an excellent record and someone who comes to fight. Kelly [Pavlik] was supposed to fight him at the Covelli Centre but that never happened,” he said. “We are familiar with him and believe me, we won’t take him lightly.”
The fight is scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m.