By Thomas Gerbasi - It’s been said that no one is owed anything in this life, and most would agree with that adage. But then you hear stories like that of Monty Meza-Clay and while you don’t want to hand him anything, it would be nice to see him at least put in a position to shine.
That might very well be tonight, when the 33-year-old from Rankin, Pennsylvania takes on local rival Rod Salka in a bout that may just be for the minor WBC FECARBOX lightweight title, but which also could propel him into a position where he can challenge for a world title in 2015.
At 36-3 with 22 knockouts, you would have assumed that the 12-year veteran would have gotten that shot already, but despite getting oh so close, it’s never materialized. There was that 2006 loss to Edner Cherry, a TKO defeat to Jorge Solis in a 2009 IBF title eliminator, and a subsequent defeat to Fernando Beltran five months after the Solis bout.
Those were the inside the ring trials. Outside of it there were the legal issues early in his career stemming from an incident in which he was wrongfully assaulted by police officers when questioned about gunshots being fired. Meza-Clay had nothing to do with it, but was beaten anyway. He sued, eventually winning a settlement, but just days after the lawsuit was filed, he was charged with selling cocaine. Again, he was cleared of any wrongdoing, a victim of retaliation for suing the department.
