James Toney vs. Fres Oquendo in Talks For July

By Joe Harrison

At the Chicago press conference to promote the June 28 showdown between Manny Pacquiao and David Diaz, heavyweight contender Fres Oquendo made an appearance and took some time to tell BoxingScene.com about the current status of his career. He discussed why he hasn’t been in the ring and what may be next for him.

Oquendo tells BoxingScene that his team is currently in talks to match him against comebacking heavyweight James Toney for the first week of July.

“That’s just the politics of boxing. You know how it is sometimes. I’m a good fighter. Hopefully I’ll get one of several opportunities. First I was supposed to fight Chris Arreola on June 20th on Showtime, but they pulled out at the last minute. Now he’s fighting some other fighter, lesser known than myself. There’s another opportunity out there, James Toney. They’re negotiating right now for the first week of July. So hopefully I’ll get this, it’ll be a big fight this year.”

When asked who he would wish to fight the most, Oquendo answered, “Samuel Peter, that fight would be the perfect fight made for me. Styles make fights, and I think I’m the fighter to beat him.”

“Ya’ll stay tuned. First week of July, I’m going for James Toney, get that in my belt. After that I’m going for Samuel Peter or (Wladimir) Klitschko for this Fall.