By Jake Donovan
Sergio Mora knew what he was saying no to eight years ago, and the circumstances that would come with the decision. Then an unbeaten boxer still with some profile from having come out on top during the first season of the boxing reality series The Contender, the chance arose to face Jermain Taylor—at the time the undefeated middleweight champion of the world.
Rather than take the road trip to Memphis—barely two hours from Taylor’s hometown in Little Rock, Ark.—and the opportunity to fight on HBO, Mora decided against the fight.
When Taylor regained a portion of the belt last October in Biloxi, Miss., the Los Angelino was dialed up for the first title defense. This time around, he wasn’t saying no.
Only this time around, fate had a different plan in mind. Rather than a title shot, Mora’s trek to the gambling capital of the Gulf Coast is ‘just’ another fight. With Taylor jailed and likely not seeing the light of day for quite some time, Mora is left to face late replacement Abraham ‘Abie’ Han for a regional title Friday evening on ESPN2 Friday Night Fights.
“It’s disappointing, no question,” Mora (27-3-2, 9KOs) admits of the circumstances, though grateful for the chance to still fight this weekend. “I wanted that second world title, and this was the perfect opportunity. I was looking forward to fighting Taylor – we have a long history with each other, back to the amateurs.
“I still get to fight this weekend. I’m still getting paid well for the fight, and I’m confident my next fight will be for a world title.”
The chance to fight for a title completely bottomed out after Taylor’s latest run-in with the law. The fight was already in jeopardy after it was mentioned between camps that the defending titlist suffered a rib injury while training on the Saturday preceding Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
It was officially scrapped on the holiday itself, when Taylor completely went off the deep end. Having made the tabloids on two separate occasions within the past six months, the former undisputed middleweight king and now current alphabet titlist was arrested on Martin Luther King Jr. Day on a slew of charges from an incident at a parade in Little Rock.
Taylor was released on bail, but the level of crimes for which he was charged was a violation of the condition of his release from his arrest last August, as he currently awaits trial for having shot his cousin during a violent dispute in his home. The MLK incident resulted in bond revocation from his previous release, with Taylor forced to surrender to the Pulaski County Sheriff Department two days later.
Meanwhile, his pending challenger was forced to play the waiting game regarding the February 6 show at Beau Rivage Resort & Casino in Biloxi, Mississippi—or if there would even be a show at all.
“I was winding down in training for the weekend when I first caught wind of the fight being canceled,” Mora recalls. “By that Sunday, I kind of knew it was coming. So now I have to wait a little longer for my second championship.”
Mora’s lone taste at the title level came in back-to-back fights in 2008. An upset win over Vernon Forrest in June ’08 made him the first Contender graduate to capture a major title, winning a belt in the 154 lb. division. The glory was short-lived, losing the belt in their rematch three month later, the very last fight of Forrest’s career before suffering an untimely fate when was he was shot and killed the following July.
It’s been a long road back to respectability for Mora since then. He comes into Friday’s fight having won four straight, though not before hitting the worst stretch of his 14-plus year career. The loss to Forrest was his first as a pro, going 2-3-1 over his next six fights spray painted over a four-year span.
Worse than any of the losses was a Sept. ’10 draw to former three-division champ Shane Mosely, a night where neither fighter came out shining. A concentrated effort has since been made to add entertainment value to his game, enough to where a pair of close, disputed losses to Bryan Vera were somewhat forgiven.
Four wins have followed since the second loss to Vera, along with enough appeal to prompt high-powered adviser Al Haymon to add him to his massive stable of more than 150 fighters. Plans are slowly—yet loudly—leaking out regarding his future stranglehold on the industry, with series already in queue on NBC (and its affiliate networks) and Spike TV, and more to come on BET and CBS Sports Network, in addition to his continued business with Showtime.
A title win by Mora would have fit ever so nicely into those plans, but a chance for that fate will have to wait at least one more fight. Even at that, there’s no guarantee that he will be next in line.
The extent of the IBF’s involvement in Friday’s headliner in Biloxi is its regional title at stake. Mora and Han are both ranked by the sanctioning body (14th and 15th, respectively), but a request for their fight to serve as an eliminator for the #2 position in its middleweight rankings was denied.
Still, Mora is confident the future is as bright as ever these days. Not the thoughts of no title at stake this weekend, the fight not necessarily moving him towards the top of the queue or his having recently celebrated his 34th birthday are enough to bring him down.
“All things considered, I’m not in a bad spot at all,” an optimistic Mora theorizes. “This situation could have been a lot worse. I remember feeling down when my chance to fight Kelly Pavlik (who dethroned Taylor in Sept. ’07) for the championship (in June ’09) was canceled after he suffered a staph injury.
“Back then, I didn’t have the support I have now. Al Haymon is non-stop. His people called me the moment everything began to happen with Taylor, and assured me there was already a backup plan.
“I’m not going to start hemming and hawing about not fighting for a title (this weekend). There’s a long term plan in place for my future in this sport, one in which that championship title will be around my waist.”
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