Karl Freitag
Editor-In-Chief
Fightnews.com

Q&A: Leon Margules!

August 12, 2008

By Karl Freitag

Photo: Kurt Freitag

Tell us about the big "Heavy Hitters" fight card on Wednesday at the Seminole Hard Rock LIVE Arena and live on ESPN2.

Joel Julio, I guess, is set to fight for the world title if gets by this one and Joe Greene is moving down in weight so he's ranked number four at middleweight with the WBA, and now he's fighting for a WBA title, so I'm assume he'll get a very significant rating at 154 if he's successful. He's in with a tough guy, Ricardo Torres' brother, he's never been down, it's a good fight.

Why was the decision made to move him down in weight?

When he trained for Francisco Mora in New York, the fight was at 160. It was a twelve round fight and it was for the NABO and NABA title, well two days before the fight he was only 156, and if he did have an achilles heel, he was a small middleweight. So it was natural he should make 154, because it's only two more pounds, and he'll be a big strong guy at 154 as opposed to a small middleweight. That's why the decision was made. He's very young, so that's why he can do that stuff.

What else is happening?

Raul Marquez is fighting Arthur Abraham on October 4 in Bamburg, Germany, pay-per-view back to the U.S. We're going to bring Miranda back, he'll fight November or earlier. Glen Johnson is number one, we're trying to make a fight with Shaun George, we're seeing if we can get that fight done. Meanwhile, Sylvio Branco's fighting Adrian Dioncanu on October 4th. The winner is mandated to fight Johnson for the world title, he's locked into that. Sultan Ibragimov is taking a long vacation, and when he comes back, only he knows that answer. We're waiting for him to decide what to do. Juan Urango wanted to fight Timothy Bradley but Bradley didn't want to fight, so he's fighting Edner Cherry of all people. Juan's waiting to see what's happening. He'll probably fight in the fall while he's waiting, but that all depends on what happens between Malignaggi and Hatton, because if the winner decides not to fight Ngoudjo, then it will between Ngoudjo and Urango for the vacant IBF title.

Questions? Comments?