Lacy-Mendoza Wednesday!

July 22, 2008

By Francisco Salazar

Super Middleweight contender Jeff Lacy wants one more crack at a world title. Epifanio Mendoza wants to derail those plans and earn a title shot himself.

Both fighters will face off tomorrow night in a 10 round bout at the Morongo Casino Resort & Spa in Cabazon, CA.

The bout will headline a seven-bout card, presented by Golden Boy Promotions. The bout and portions of the card will be televised as part of Wednesday Night Fights on ESPN2.

It will be a battle of hard-hitting fighters in the Southern California desert. Both fighters have a combined 41 knockouts in their 51 victories.

Lacy, (23-1, 17 KO's) from St. Petersburg, FL, has not fought since a 10 round unanimous decision over Peter Manfredo in December.

Lacy entered the professional ranks with a lot of hype behind him. He was the 1998 United States Middleweight amateur champion and was a member of the 2000 U.S. Olympic team.

He stopped his first 13 out of 16 opponents within a span of three and a half years, earning him a title shot against Syd Vanderpool for the vacant IBF Super Middleweight title. He would stop Vanderpool in the eighth round in October of 2004.

He would go on to successfully defend the title four times before losing the title in his only professional defeat at the hands of Joe Calzaghe in March of 2006.

Lacy, who is ranked number 10 by the IBF and number 12 by the WBC, now fights under the Golden Boy banner after being promoted by Gary Shaw Productions.

Mendoza, (28-5-1, 24 KO's) from Barranquilla, Colombia, is coming off a fourth round stoppage at the hands of Chad Dawson in September. Mendoza was challenging Dawson for the WBC Light Heavyweight title.

It is a far cry when Mendoza began his professional career in 1999 fighting as a Super Welterweight.

After knocking out his first 15 opponents, Mendoza arrived in the United States with little fanfare. That changed when he shocked the boxing world by scoring a first round knockout over then-unbeaten Tokunbo Olajide in October of 2002.

After his victory, Mendoza went winless in his next three bouts. He got back to his winning ways when he knocked out Rubin Williams in the first round in June of 2003.

Mendoza's other significant bout came in June of 2006, when he was knocked out by hard-hitting Middleweight David Lopez in Fort Worth, TX.

In the co-feature, Jose Armando Santa Cruz hopes to get back to his winning ways as he takes on Cristian Favela in an eight round Lightweight bout.

Santa Cruz, (25-3, 14 KO's) from Lincoln Heights, CA by way of Michoacán, Mexico, is hoping to rebound from a 12 round split decision defeat to Joel Casamayor in November. Most of the assembled media felt that Santa Cruz should have won the fight.

Prior to the Casamayor bout, Santa Cruz had won two bouts in a row.

Santa Cruz won the interim WBC Lightweight title in May of 2006, when he stopped Chikashi Inada in the sixth round. His reign was short-lived as he lost the title three months later to David Diaz. Santa Cruz was comfortably ahead as he was hurt and eventually stopped in the 10th round.

Favela, (16-16-5, 10 KO's) from Los Angeles, CA by way of Los Mochis, Sinaloa, Mexico, fought just four days ago in Los Mochis, where he fought to a 10 round draw against Efren Guerrero. Just how strong or weak he will be on Wednesday from his bout on Friday remains to be seen.

Favela has been quite busy in 2008. Wednesday night's fight will be Favela's seventh bout this year.

He is not a stranger to the viewers of Wednesday Night Fights. Last month, he fought against former Olympian and prospect Vicente Escobedo, losing an eight round decision. 10 days later, he knocked out winless Valente Rojas in the fourth round of a scheduled eight round bout.

Despite his record, Favela has been known to pull off the occasional upset. In November of 2003, he scored a 10 round majority decision over Willie Jorrin and earlier this year, defeated Sergio Rivera over 10 rounds.

Hard-hitting unbeaten prospect Daniel Jacobs will face Gabriel Rivera in a six round Super Middleweight bout.

Jacobs, (7-0, 7 KO's) of Brooklyn, NY, is coming off a first round stoppage earlier this month against Julio Perez in Hidalgo, TX.

He is a two-time National Golden Gloves champion, winning in 2004 and 2005. He was also the 2006 United States Amateur Middleweight champion.

He made his professional debut on the Floyd Mayweather-Ricky Hatton undercard in December, stopping Jose Jesus Hurtado in the first round.

Rivera, (7-3, 4 KO's) from Harlingen, TX, has not fought since a six round unanimous decision defeat to Billy Thompson almost two years ago.

He began his professional career winning six out of his first seven bouts. However, he has lost two of his last three and will hope to turn it around at Jacob's expense.

A set of unbeaten brothers hope to stay unbeaten after Wednesday night. Featherweight Carlos Velasquez (7-0, 6 KO's) will take on an opponent to be determined, while his brother Juan Carlos (8-0, 4 KO's) will take on Baladan Treviso in a six round bout.

Also on the card will be unbeaten Bantamweight Kaleisha West (9-0, 1 KO) taking on Cynthia Tallmadge (2-1, 2 KO's) in a six round bout.

Tickets are on sale and could be purchased for at the Morongo Casino Resort & Spa box office or by calling (951) 755-5391. Tickets are priced at $125, $75, and $35.

Doors open at 5PM, with first bell at 5:30PM local time. ESPN2 will begin broadcasting the event at 9PM ET/ 6PM PT.

Joe Tessitore and Teddy Atlas will call the action live from ringside for ESPN2.