Derrick Harmon, Rocky Martinez, Danell Nicholson and Nate Jones share more than their Chicago roots. In the coming weeks they are scheduled for fights that could boost or break their careers.
Harmon (19-1-1) gets a major title shot, but it’s Mission: Near Impossible. On Feb. 24 in Tampa, he faces Roy Jones Jr., the undisputed light-heavyweight champion rated by many as boxing’s best pound-for-pound fighter.
It doesn’t look much easier for Martinez (34-4-1). Saturday night in Miami Beach, the junior welterweight takes on unbeaten Hector Camacho Jr. On a 10 p.m. HBO telecast that also features his father, ex-champ Hector “Macho” Camacho, Camacho Jr. expects to enter the nightclub arena on a motorcycle and dispatch Martinez as a steppingstone toward the top of the talented division. That’s where title unification fireworks are expected.
Champions Kostya Tszyu of the World Boxing Council and Sharmba Mitchell of the World Boxing Association also square off Saturday night in Las Vegas (8 p.m. Showtime telecast), with the winner expected to take on the third major title-holder, International Boxing Federation champ Zab Judah.
Nicholson (39-3), a 1992 Olympian, was among young heavyweight prospects until he was beaten by Andrew Golota and Kirk Johnson in 1996. He gets a chance to move back into position as the top contender in the International Boxing Federation. To do so he needs to knock off David Tua, whose championship aspirations were rudely sidetracked by Lennox Lewis in their Nov. 10 title fight. Nicholson-Tua is scheduled for March 23 in Las Vegas and a Showtime telecast.
Nate Jones, whose pro career has moved slowly, could give it boost with a victory March 3 over journeyman Obed Sullivan, who been in against the likes of Tua and Golota. Jones-Sullivan is slated as an undercard bout before the Evander Holyfield-John Ruiz World Boxing Association heavyweight title fight in Las Vegas.
Comeback detour: Michael Grant, the standout Harper High School athlete who rose to the top of the heavyweight ranks only to be knocked out by champion Lewis last April, has told advisers he wants to fight again despite nearly a yearlong layoff.
First there was a knee injury. Then last month his first comeback bout against Eliecer Castillo was canceled. Discovery of blood clots in Grant’s right shoulder and a rib bone pressing against a vein put him into the operating room instead of the ring. The clots were removed and the rib bone cut and reattached, said Grant’s adviser, Craig Hamilton.
“He’s facing four to five weeks of rest before he can resume training,” Hamilton said. “He won’t be fighting again until May or June.”
Until then Grant is seeking a new trainer, having parted with his longtime corner mentor Don Turner.
“Nothing against Don, but Michael has exhausted what Don can give him and he’s ready for a new start,” Hamilton said.
In this corner: Former heavyweight champion Ray Mercer, who turns 40 in April, joins the comeback ranks Feb. 11 at the Grand Victoria Casino in Elgin. Mercer (26-4-1) faces Jeff Pegues (18-7) in the main event. Middleweights Tito Mendoza (22-3) and Julio Garcia (19-0-2) head local promoter Dominic Pesoli’s undercard, which also includes 2000 U.S. Olympian Calvin Brock. He is slated to make his pro debut as a heavyweight against Zeb Kimbrough (4-6). … A title unification appears in the works among middleweights. IBF champion Bernard Hopkins is set to fight WBC title-holder Keith Holmes on April 14, with the victor to face the winner of a May 12 title bout between WBA champ William Joppy and challenger Felix Trinidad.
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