By Jake Donovan


Nashville, Tenn. - There was no drama at the scales, in fact any production to speak of. All fighters made weight in virtual anonymity save for a brief photo op between the evening’s main players.


Saturday night’s show is headlined by the 12-round super middleweight title elimination bout between former Olympic teammates Jermain Taylor and Jeff Lacy. Despite false rumors of both fighters struggling to squeeze into a super middleweight uniform, Taylor and Lacy each came in under the 168 lb. limit. Taylor was 167.6, while Lacy tipped the scales at 167.2 lb.


Taylor (27-2-1, 17KO) enters the fight coming off of a nine-month layoff, the longest of his pro career. Even longer has been his last win, which was last May when he took a decision over Cory Spinks in Memphis, about three hours west of Nashville. The Spinks fight was his last successful defense of the lineal middleweight title, after which he would suffer back-to-back losses to Kelly Pavlik.


As bad as it’s been for Taylor, it’s been even worse for Lacy (24-1, 17KO). The first member of the Class of 2000 to capture a major title, Lacy’s stay at the top came to a crashing halt after being dominated by Joe Calzaghe in their March ’06 super middleweight unification match.


Lacy has since won three straight, but drawing more criticism than praise after each performance. The worst of the bunch came in his last fight, when he was badly rocked and also forced to contend with multiple fouls en route to a points win over Epifanio Mendoza this past July on ESPN2.


The winner of Saturday’s bout, which airs live from the Vanderbilt University Memorial Gymnasium in Nashville, Tenn. (HBO, 10:15PM ET/9:15PM local time), becomes the mandatory challenger to the last man standing in a December 6 vacant title match between Carl Froch and Jean Pascal. The loser gets to think long and hard about what he wants to next do in life, as one more run toward the top is most likely not in his future.


HBO will only broadcast the main event, pairing it up with an exclusive replay of last week’s pay-per-view offering, Joe Calzaghe’s 12-round slaughter of Roy Jones Jr. Because of this, plenty of notable undercard action will go unrecognized, save for whatever ringside reports make its way to print and publishing.


Leading the undercard is a welterweight co-feature with similar implications to the evening’s main event. Kermit Cintron (29-2, 27KO) returns for the first time since losing his alphabet title to Antonio Margarito earlier this year, and also in his first fight under the DiBella Entertainment banner. Anxious to get back into the mix, he engages in as 12-round bout with former junior welterweight titlist Lovemore N’Dou (46-10-1, 31KO).


The winner moves into position to fight in a final eliminator for the right to challenge Joshua Clottey sometime in 2009.


Chazz Witherspoon (23-1, 15KO) fights in Tennessee for the second time in as many bouts, though his last trip to the Volunteer State proved to be disastrous. The second cousin of former heavyweight champ Tim Witherspoon, Chazz received his first HBO slot this past June, but was lit up and put down against Chris Arreola at the FedEx Forum in Memphis.


Saturday night, he hopes to return to his winning ways. In order to do so, he’ll have to get past Adam “Swamp Donkey” Richards, the only male fighter on the show in which the hometown crowd can claim as their own.


The fight is something of a breakout opportunity for Richards (21-1, 14KO), whose resume doesn’t exactly sparkle. But unlike most in the mid-south, the Murfreesboro native was wise enough to relocate, as he’s spent the past few years under the watchful eye of world-class trainer Ronnie Shields. He’s in the best condition of his life, which is good since Witherspoon represents far and way the best opponent he’s ever faced.


Below are the complete weigh-in results for Saturday’s show, in reverse running order:


Main Event – 12 rounds, Super middleweight (HBO, airs after PPV rebroadcast)

Jermain Taylor 167.6 lb vs. Jeff Lacy, 167.2


Non-televised undercard

Kermit Cintron 146.4 vs. Lovemore N’Dou 145.2 – 12 rounds, welterweight

Chazz Witherspoon 229.2 vs. Adam Richards 217.6 – 10 rounds, heavyweight

Deontay Wilder 207.2 vs. Ethan Cox 201.8 – 4 rounds, heavyweight

Mandy Sharrow 132.4 vs. Lisa Bolin 137.4 – 4 rounds, lightweight

Allan Green 172.8 vs. Carl Daniels 170.8 – 8 rounds, light heavyweight

Jonathan Nelson 163.6 vs. Cory Jones 162.6 – 6 rounds, super middleweight

Fernando Guerrero 160.8 vs. Gevonte Davis 162 – 6 rounds, middleweight


Light heavyweight contender Shaun George was originally scheduled to make his DiBella Entertainment debut on Saturday, but was scratched from the show for unspecified reasons.


The bout is presented by DiBella Entertainment, in association with Golden Boy Promotions and Prize Fight Boxing.


Jake Donovan is a voting member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Comments/questions can be submitted to JakeNDaBox@gmail.com.