By Ryan Maquiñana
Unbeaten middleweight prospect Donyil Livingston has been added to Saturday’s fight card at the Churchill County Fairgrounds in Fallon, Nev., where he faces Roberto Yong in a four-rounder.
The 27-year-old Livingston (5-0, 3 KOs), of Palmdale, Calif., breathed a sigh of relief after a scheduled bout on the undercard of Marcos Maidana-Robert Guerrero fell through. An injury to Guerrero’s shoulder caused the whole Golden Boy-promoted San Jose show to be canceled.
“My trainer told me that I’ve been training hard to fight, so when they told me the San Jose fight fell apart, I jumped at the chance,” Livingston said. “He’s coming off a big win, so he’s going to be aggressive and I expect a good fight.”
Livingston was reportedly 178-23 with 83 knockouts as an amateur but took several years off only to rediscover his zeal for the sport. Since then, he has been busy in his brief 14-month pro career where he has honed his craft at the Wild Card Boxing Club with veteran trainer Eric Brown.
“At times, I tried too hard to looking for the perfect shot, and I’ve been working with my trainer on using my instinct more and letting things go, and letting things come to me. Mentally I’m more solid, physically I’m more solid, and the passion is there.”
One month ago, Livingston scored a fourth-round knockout of Cameron Allen in Cabazon, Calif., on an ESPN2 Friday Night Fights undercard.
“I would like to close this year out 10-0,” Livingston said. “I’m 27 right now, and I believe we should be fighting contenders from that point on.”
Yong (4-3, 3 KOs), an Arizona-based fighter, is on a two-bout win streak capped by a recent first-round stoppage of debutant Jeff Fletcher last Saturday. In fact, he has fought three times in the last 44 days.
Super middleweight Derek Hinkey takes on Anthony Bartinelli in Saturday’s “Fallon Fights” main event, with exciting jr. lightweight Lonnie Smith fighting on the undercard.
The Aug. 27 show is promoted by Reno-based Let’s Get It On Boxing.
Ryan Maquiñana is the boxing correspondent at Comcast SportsNet Bay Area. He’s a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America and The Ring’s Ratings Advisory Panel. E-mail him at rmaquinana@gmail.com, check out his blog at www.maqdown.com or follow him on Twitter: @RMaq28.