Mendez vs. Usmanee on The Move to Turning Stone, 8/23

The August 23 super featherweight title fight between Argenis Mendez and Arash Usmanee is on the move.

The bout was originally targeted to take place in Las Vegas as a potential independent pay-per-view, It will now be staged at the Turning Stone Casino in Verona, New York, serving as a revised season-finale on ESPN2 Friday Night Fights.

News of the move first broke on ESPN.com, suggesting a leak from an inside source considering that the participants weren’t even aware of the confirmed change in locations until reading about it online.

“I guess we’re heading upstate,” Jose Nunez, Mendez’ longtime manager, said to Boxingscene.com when prompted for comment. “It was mentioned to us, but I guess it’s definite. (It) doesn’t matter where the fight takes place – Vegas, upstate New York, wherever. ‘Genis is coming to take care of this dude.”

The show will also mark the official promotional debut of former heavyweight king Mike Tyson, whose Iron Mike Promotions - which formed last month - is intimately affiliated with Acquinity Sports, Mendez’ promoter. Acquinity CEO Gary Jonas is a 50% partner in IMP, while Acquinity Sports VP Henry Rivalta serves as President of Boxing Operations for the newly formed company.

Tyson’s involvement in the show helped convince ESPN to extend the Friday Night Series one more week. Its originally finale was to take place on August 16 at U.S. Cellular Field in Chicago, the baseball stadium that serves as home for the Chicago White Sox.

Instead, the season will end with Mendez’ first defense of the 130 lb. belt he acquired via a one-sided 4th round knockout of Juan Carlos Salgado in their rematch this past March. The title-lifting effort avenged a disputed points loss in Salgado’s home country of Mexico back in Sept. 2011.

Mendez’ dominant showing in March earned the Dominican the distinction of becoming the first fighter under the Acquinity Sports promotional banner to win a major title. The Florida-based company hit the ground running in early 2012, but came up short in its first title fight when Joan Guzman dropped a technical split decision to Khabib Allakhverdiev in their vacant 140 lb. title fight last November. 

The win by Mendez (21-2, 11KO) serves as a significant part of the tremendous run Acquinity continues to enjoy. Juan Carlos Payano enjoyed a breakout win of sorts, climbing off the canvas to otherwise dominate and eventually stop Jundy Maraon in their ESPN2-televised clash of unbeaten bantamweights last month in New Jersey.

Payano earned a future bantamweight title shot with the sensational win, but will mark time with a stay-busy fight on the undercard of the August 23 show. An opponent is still being sought for the tentatively scheduled bout, as there has been no word on progress in previous negotiations with former titlist Roberto ‘La Araña’ Vasquez.

The showcase for Payano is one of three previously agreed-upon slots that remain on the show.

Included among the lot is a light heavyweight crossroads clash between unbeaten Isiah Thomas and faded former light heavyweight king Glen Johnson, as well as an interim featherweight title fight between unbeaten Claudio ‘The Matrix’ Marrero takes on Argentina’s Jesus Cuellar. The bout will be for an interim featherweight title, a consolation prize for Marrero (14-0, 11KO) who was previously in negotiations for a hoped-for featherweight title fight with Nicholas Walters.

A win for Marrero will help push forward with such a clash, or allow the unbeaten Dominican to move on to bigger and better things. The same cannot quite be said for Mendez, who – even with a dominant win next month – is locked into an eventual mandatory title defense against Rances Barthelemy.

The announcement of Mendez fighting Usmanee was met with surprise, given his mandatory obligations. The timing of the announcement came moments after Barthelemy earned the title shot after knocking out Thailand’s Faisan Sakkreein in the 2nd round of their sanctioned eliminator this past June on ESPN2. Barthelemy made it to that point, however, on the strength of a highly controversial points win over Usmanee this past January.

Many felt that Usmanee won with plenty of room to spare, only for the three judges to instead score in favor of the unbeaten Cuban. The fact that Usmanee instead gets first dibs at Mendez is viewed by many in the industry as justice being served.

It’s also fitting that the Afghanistan-born boxer, now based out of Canada, earns the distinction of headlining both the premiere and the finale for the 2013 season of ESPN2 Friday Night Fights. The odds and matchup of styles also suggest he also stands a chance of coming out on the losing end of both of those fights. That said, Mendez isn’t leaving anything to chance, not paying any mind to the mandatory that waits in the wings or the expectation that he’s supposed to win big next month.

“All of my focus is on August 23. I’m not looking past that fight,” Mendez insists. “Barthelemy worked his way to the top, but he still has to go through me. After August 23, I’ll begin to work with my team on a game plan to beat him. Right now, it’s all about getting past (Usmanee).”

Jake Donovan is the Managing Editor of Boxingscene.com, as well as a member of Transnational Boxing Ratings Board and the Boxing Writers Association of America. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox