Michael McKinson’s manager told BBC that McKinson’s fight with Vergil Ortiz Jr. on Saturday is off after Ortiz was forced to withdraw. No confirmation on the reason, but the rumor is Ortiz has weight problems.
Blair “The Flair” Cobbs has offered to step in. Cobbs stated, “Michael McKinnon, it is time. Baby, never fear, Blair the flair is here. Woooooo! And I ain’t pulling out, baby. Come and get this work! You saw I was trying to get it, let’s get it! Let’s get this work baby because I’m gonna f**k you up. Let’s go! Woooooo!”
Golden Boy Statement:
Unfortunately, Vergil Ortiz Jr. has had to pull out of this Saturday’s main event vs. Michael McKinson after being diagnosed with rhabdomyolysis. Vergil is recovering well in hospital and is expected to make a full recovery.
“We wish Vergil a very quick and speedy recovery,” said Oscar De La Hoya, Chairman and CEO of Golden Boy. “As fighters, our first instinct is to fight whatever we have and tough it out. It takes a lot of courage to admit that something is wrong and get the care that you need. We are confident that we will be seeing Vergil in the ring again very soon.”
More information on the March 19 event will be announced shortly.
Standing by for further updates.
That’s too bad, I hope it wasn’t because of the weight.
I’m thinking Cobbs is looking at McKinson is an easier fight than Rocha.
Exactly… Blair talking like he’s really stepping up but it’s actually an easier fight than Alexis Rocha and probably for more money. Shrewd move.
Just googled rhabdomyolysis,,LOL! I learn something new each day! Seems to be a weight issue. Too bad if he has to go to Jr. Middle.
Yeah Pete. Sounds like a bad weight cut/overtraining issue.
Pete:
– I also googled it.
– “A breakdown of muscle tissue that releases a damaging protein into the blood.”
– Take care.
Prayers for him, it sounds like, he wasn’t hydrating enough…
Another Mexican weight bully with mediocre skills is forced to go fight people his own size. Nothing new here. David Benavidez is next
Chris the natural, he’s American.
Whetto- RIGHT….. Chris thinks everyone that is brown with a latino last name is Mexican. What a doof he is lmao
You’re being ignorant Tony. You know good and well that even Mexican Americans refer to themselves as Mexican all the time. You do as well, when it fits your narrative or agenda. David Benavidez is American but would you also say he isn’t self identified, and publicly identified, as Mexican? Of course you wouldn’t because that would be stupid. Don’t be stupid man.
“Michael McKinnon, it is time. Baby, never fear, Blair the flair is here. Woooooo! And I ain’t pulling out, baby. Come and get this work! You saw I was trying to get it, let’s get it! Let’s get this work baby because I’m gonna f**k you up. Let’s go! Woooooo!”
Don’t know much about this guy, but based on the above statement, he sounds like the missing link between boxing and wrestling
Along with fighting, he’s probably best known as the guy who does the commentary for GB undercards with, for who knows what reason, no shirt on.
LMAO!! Was unaware of that. Seems pretty fond of himself
I tell you what though the guys comes to fight.
Lucie question for you and USF if you see this. How do a prime Gerry Cooney and a prime Tommy Morrison do today?
I don’t think either would be threats to win a title. The biggest change, I think, in this most recent era as far as heavyweights has been that we now, consistently, see giant heavyweights coming up whose size isn’t a detriment and previously we did have a few and Morrison fought one of them (the best of them so far imo) in Lennox Lewis, I think heavyweights from even just 2-3 generations ago would struggle when you look at the top five and in there you have Fury, Joshua and Wilder and then there’s Joe Joyce right around there and then Hrgovic and even more.
But I think Cooney and Morrison would be what they were in their own time, for the most part. Really fun additions to the division. They’d win some fights that they shouldn’t on paper (either one of them against Dillian Whyte would be a lot of fun!) and they’d lose some, but I think guys like Fury, Usyk, Joshua…. wouldn’t have to worry about them much.
“But I think Cooney and Morrison would be what they were in their own time, for the most part. Really fun additions to the division.”
This about sums up the way I see it. They both had weaknesses that would be exposed in any era. A Cooney-Morrison fight would be fun. I think I’d lean towards Morrison, but wouldn’t bet on it. Both could punch, but neither took a punch all that well. I’d be curious how Holmes would do against today’s Heavyweights….
I think Larry would dominate today with his work ethic jab and ring intelligence. Sounds like you guys would think Ali would not be special with today’s heavyweights? I do agree with one of you who implied that size is more of an advantage today than not. A fighter named Mike the Giant White comes to mind who could not get out of his own way I think he was 6-10.
Mike White, Tye Fields, Julius Long who still might be active. And even if you go up a few steps to guys like Nicolai Valuev and Michael Grant, I think we have big guys today who’re considerably better than they are.
Holmes and Ali are all time greats. Maybe they would not have been as dominant as they were in their time, but unless you’re going wayyy far back, I like to think that great fighters would have adjusted. I think both Holmes and Ali would have done well in any era against any size of opponents.
Yes, Ali and Holmes were exceptional, and would have done just fine today. Either of them against Lewis would have been very interesting. I would rate Ali as the best in Heavyweight history, but it’s hard to tell what Ali-Lewis in their primes might have looked like. Ali probably beats Fury though, who’s very good, but might be a tad overrated.
I am going to give you a guy you will laugh at who I think is better than all of them today.. Michael Dynamite Dokes clean and sober and training balls to the wall would be on top. Also Evander Bowe and Foreman…
Just a little food for thought had a friend sit next to Holmes on an airplane and Holmes told him if Cooney had a couple of real tough fights before they fought that he would have been extremely hard to beat.
Dokes was fun Johnny. His fight with Holyfield was one of my fave heavyweight fights of all time. I just love watching that fight. But, unless you’re going way back in time, I don’t think he could have been on top of any era.
@Lucie Same with Dokes-Holyfield. Great fight that I’ve watched several times. The 8th round was the best of the fight IMO
Did you ever see the Dokes Ali sparring video? Dokes never ever trained 100% and was well known for his partying and drug use going back to his amateur days
@Johnny Yes. I remember an older Ali in the corner eluding a barrage of punches from Dokes. Good stuff.
Talking about Dokes is like talking about really, really older fighters for me. It’s hard to bring in someone like Louis or Dempsey because they fought such a long time ago, you have to make too many concessions for them. Size and style and all of that – even rules in some cases, like Jack with his neutral corner.
With Dokes, he would have basically had to have been a different person. Put a different person in Dokes’ body who was clean and who gave a damn and, with his natural abilities, you may have an all time great.
Just as Holyfield was a small heavyweight whose size never deterred him from greatness, I see Marciano in the same manner. There was something bundled up within the mindsets of those two boxers that refused to allow their smaller sizes to keep them back from attaining not only championship titles, but a place in the IBHOF as well. I see Joe Frazier in that light as well: it took a Muhammed Ali and then a huge George Foreman to defeat him. With Marciano, he was never defeated even though most of his later fights (against mostly Hall of Fame fighters) were all-out wars. His will to win was enormous, — as was his confidence. The fighters that they were, and the internal grit they all possessed in abundance, would place them no differently today than in their generation. Joe Louis, who held the heavyweight title 11-12 years, would stand at the top of the list today — as he’s arguably the all-time greatest.
Now, this is only my opinion in these matters and not at all intended to disparage anyone else’s. We each, though viewing the same subject matter, will have a lot of variation in how we each interpret things.
@Randy Don’t forget that George was only around 217 when he fought Frazier. Even he was smallish by today’s standards. Marciano was a legit top 5 all-time Heavyweight, but I can’t imagine him being competitive with someone like Lewis, or even W. Klitschko, even though I’d rate Marciano ahead of both on the all-time list. Tremendous fighter for sure, but at 5’10 184 pounds, that’s just too much of a size disadvantage. Would have been interesting if Marciano was around in the 70’s with Ali, Frazier, Foreman, Norton, Etc….
Exactly USF, it’s actually unfair to the older fighter. If you have a fighter today who is 5’10/184, that guy is cutting down to 175. He’s too small for cruiserweight and with the way people cut weight today, he may even try to get down to supermiddle. You wouldn’t take that guy and say your next fight is against 6’6/260 Joe Joyce. That’s almost 80lbs, it’s like wondering how….. Too Sharp Johnson would do against cruiserweights today.
I thought Mike White was at least 7′ tall. There is a photo online from probably the mid to late 80’s of White standing next to Frank Bruno. Made Bruno look like a midget.
He literally looks a good 10-12 inches taller than 6’3 Frank Bruno.
I’d take Morrison over Cooney too.
If non-puncher Bent ( who was smashed by Cruiserweight Herbie Hyde in his very next match) can do that to Morrison in one round, I think the Cooney that fought Holmes smokes him. Morrison was a face first banger, there to be hit with a chin that was not the most sturdy. And Cooney was more skilled and punched just as hard.
In Bent’s defense – Riddick Bowe did one of those “Best I Faced” features for Ring Magazine and he said the hardest puncher he ever fought was Herbie Hide.
Cooney didn’t have the greatest chin and defense either. And I could make the case that if a lightheavyweight — even one as great as Michael Spinks — could stop Cooney, then so could a legitimately hard punching heavyweight like Morrison. Morrison was also the better athlete imo.
Ortiz needs to move up in weight to young to deplete and dehydrate to a dangerous level
Wow…I know Ortiz, Jr. (Ortiz) is a solid 147 pounder, but I was hoping for him to fight 2-3 more times at 147. I wanted to see a scrap between Ortiz and Ennis at 147; but achieving/maintaining good health is a major priority in life. If Ortiz is unable to make 147, maybe we will later see a healthier Ortiz at 154.
Best of health to the young lion, Ortiz, Jr.
Would love to see Ortiz vs. Charles Conwell at 154!
Just read that Juan Carlos Salgado might be taking Ortiz’ place. Salgado’s last fight was against Ortiz almost 4 years ago and he was stopped in 3 rounds. He’s lost 8/9 and he’s 37 years old. I’m thinking McKinson might have a good shot at getting his third ko if it is Salgado.
Had he been with Eddy Reynoso and Canelo he’d make easily?? Why, that magic pill/tainted meat from México!! And before anyone slams me, think about it for a sec? You know it’s true!!
Yes one must admit that it is funny, Canelo, Valdez and that woman who was in his gym got caught.
Refund?
Am I the only one ho doesn’t know what Rhabdomyolysis is?
Most of us idiots (myself included), Googled it for self-education.