Two titles on the line tonight
The fighters are the only thing that isn’t big about tonight’s nationally televised world championship boxing showdown at Northern Quest Casino.
Manuel “Mantecas” Medina and Cassius “The Hitman” Baloyi weighed in Tuesday at the Casino for tonight’s 12-round, IBF/IBO super featherweight championship fight, with each veteran weighing 130 pounds.
The main event, along with a 10-round junior lightweight bout between Koba Gogoladze (18-1, seven knockouts) and Tyrone Harris, 15-1, 13 KOs will be carried live on ESPN2 beginning at 7 p.m.
As of Tuesday afternoon, tickets were still available.
Baloyi, 31-2 with 16 knockouts, puts his IBO super featherweight belt on the line. The IBF belt is vacant. The 31-year-old from South Africa has won world titles in three different weight divisions and fought in 19 world title bouts in four weight divisions.
Medina, 66-14 with 31 knockouts, has held the IBF featherweight world championship three times and claimed featherweight titles from the WBC and WBO.
The Tijuana, Mexico, native has fought 21 world championship bouts in two weight divisions. Medina, 35, began his professional career at age 14.
Baloyi is in just his sixth pro fight in the United States and his first since September 1998. Medina told a boxing Web site that tonight’s fight will be his last, regardless of the outcome.
Gogoladze, 33, of Philadelphia, represented the Republic of Georgia in the 1996 Olympics. Harris, 25, was the 2005 Golden Gloves champion.