“What crossroads?” asks defiant former WBO Light Welterweight World Champion Kendall Holt when asked if his next fight could make or break his career.
“After I beat Julio Diaz, I’ll back in the top five in the world!”
Holt (26-4, 14 KOs), who faces former IBF Lightweight Champion Diaz tonight in the main event of the Gary Shaw Productions and Thompson Boxing event at the Chumash Casino Resort in Santa Ynez, California, and live on ESPN Friday Night Fights, does have a point.
It is a stretch to say a fighter rated #8 WBC, #10 WBA, #15 IBF and #8 WBO, who was considered one of the best junior welterweights in the world, and had the consensus #1 fighter in the division on the floor less than two years ago, will be finished if he loses one more fight.
Still anyone who saw his performance against South Africa’s Kaizer Mabuza in 2010 might feel differently.
Holt looked like a shadow of himself, laying on the ropes taking punishment without firing many of the flashy, powerful combinations that have become his stock and trade.
So what’s going to be different?
“My preparations have been totally different for this fight. I have corrected my problems with balance and improved my leverage. Count on a faster and harder-hitting Kendall Holt than you’ve ever seen before.”
Holt says he takes nothing away from opponent Diaz, but doesn’t foresee having any problems with him. “I respect Julio. He’s a tough veteran and a world champion. He’ll do what fighters always try to do to me, which is to put pressure and go to the body, but I have an answer for that: power. I’m going to be hitting so hard he won’t be able to take it.”
Despite what the experts are saying, Kendall Holt isn’t boxing tonight to prove he’s not finished. Tonight’s fight will be about getting the fighter he truly wants back into the ring.
“I’m going to beat Timothy Bradley in a rematch and then fight him again in trilogy. That’s what I’m going to do.”
