Assumptions are being made that Regis Prograis isn’t in that tough and will steamroll 20-0 Juan Jose Velasco come tomorrow night in New Orleans.
As one might expect, Velasco’s promoter begs to differ…
Sampson Lewkowicz spoke to NYF on Friday night and said his kid, from Argentina, is a very live underdog.
“All my fighters come to fight. Some win, some lose. This one is coming for the gold. Not for the money. He’s a 60-40 underdog however most likely it’s a good bet to bet Velasco,” Lewkowicz told me. “The pressure that the champion has fighting for the first time in his home town, in front of 4,000 people will affect him. I saw him at the weigh in, I think he was suffering to make weight. He had breakfast my guy!”
Velasco, Sampson continued, was a welterweight for the majority of his career, up to junior middleweight, but he made 140 without excess difficulty, he maintains. “Tomorrow he will be the bigger guy!”
Lewkowicz also mentioned his top clent, the 168 pound champion David Benavidez.
That boxer was in the news after he signed on with Top Rank, but the deal was scotched when a lawsuit was launched. Benavidez was and is under contract to Lewkowicz, but the promoter thinks an agent misled Bob Arum and the fighter. “Don’t miss Benavidez fighting Sept 8 in NY, versus Anthony Dirrell,” Lewkowicz told me. “I cannot talk too much because of the lawsuit, but I won’t let him go. We will do something good for boxing against a guy who takes advantage of young fighters, he will pay the price.”
Sampson said the Benavidez apologized to him, and the 168 pound ace is “still my own son, like all my fighters.”
Listen to Woods’ podcast here if you like.