Joshua Pagan and Maliek Montgomery will face off in a crossroads battle, but a local water issue in Puerto Rico nearly knocked out the event.
Puerto Rico is facing a water crisis after a water pipe broke, leaving many without water. As a result, the fight card, which is scheduled for Thursday, has moved from the Coliseo Pedrin Zorrilla in San Juan, Puerto Rico, to the Coliseo Roberto Clemente, also in San Juan.
“We received notice from the original venue that, under the circumstances, the event could not move forward there,” Salita told BoxingScene. “I’m very grateful to Javier Bustillo of Universal Promotions, who worked closely with us and local city officials to secure an upgraded venue at the historic Roberto Clemente Coliseum.”
“Many locals don’t have water for basic daily needs like showers or tap water,” Salita said. “We were told the issue is being worked on, but when we went into town this evening, we saw firsthand that many businesses had to close their doors.”
Earlier in the day, the event held a press conference ahead of the bout. The promoters of the two fighters say the matchup draws comparisons to classics from years past.
Salita, Pagan’s promoter, compared the bout to the 2007 middleweight bout between Kelly Pavlik and Edison Miranda, as well as the 1999 heavyweight bout between Ike Ibeabuchi and Chris Byrd.
“It is one of those fights, where two really tough guys who could really fight and had great amateur careers, that are great professionals who really have a lot of skill, are bold enough to put it on the line,” Salita said. “I believe this fight has all the drama to be one of the greatest prospect fights of the year, and of recent times.”
Britton Hardin, the senior director of Fighter Operations at OTX, sees the bout as Miguel Cotto versus Zab Judah, only his fighter, Montgomery, will play the role of Cotto. It is a tad ironic since Pagan is a Puerto Rican fighter from Grand Rapids, Michigan, fighting in Puerto Rico for the second time in his career.
“J.J. [Pagan] does a lot of flashy things, and he has been able to do that against the level of opponent that he has been able to fight,” Hardin told BoxingScene. “But when you have someone who has mastered their style and mastered their craft, [is] consistent and fighting at their best, you tend to have the young buck go into those deep waters and drown. That’s always Maliek’s ambition to drown his opponent.”
Salita countered, saying: “The longer the fight goes, the better it is for Pagan.”
Montgomery, 20-1 (18 KOs), is coming off a loss to Jeremy Hill in March. It also comes after Montgomery, a 30-year-old from Macon, Georgia, had two ill-fated attempts to make the junior lightweight limit, and now has opted to fight at lightweight.
“I felt like I was on a certain trajectory with that last fight that I had, and because of the performance, it is throwing me off my trajectory,” Montgomery told BoxingScene. “I think this puts me back on track to be where I want to be in the sport in the best of ways.”
Pagan, 13-0 (4 KOs), despite having an unbeaten record, sees it as a high-stakes fight.
“It is a crossroads fight for both of us,” Pagan, 25, told BoxingScene. “This has a lot of implications; it is a big moment for both of us. It will bring us to the next level.”
Regardless of the narratives around the fight, the bout nearly didn’t happen.
“Sometimes, things happen that you could never imagine, and in those moments, leadership is about adapting quickly and making the right decisions under pressure,” Salita said. “As the saying goes, the show must go on. This event is bigger than just boxing. It’s a symbol of resilience.”
