by Fox Doucette
2008 US Olympian Sadam Ali (14-0, 8 KOs) continues his march through the prospect ranks of the welterweight division in his backyard of Brooklyn on Saturday night when he faces Dominican tomato can Franklin Gonzalez (15-9, 10 KOs), a five-time stoppage victim, at the Aviator Sports Complex.
Ali, besides his one-and-done Olympic appearance, is probably best known to American television audiences for his lights-out performance against John Revish on Friday Night Fights last May 20th. This is not to say that Ali knocked out Revish. Nay, in this case the lights literally went out, forcing the fifth round to be delayed for 16 minutes in boxing’s answer to a baseball rain delay as lighting was restored. Ali went on to win the decision, but he was staggered by a left hook in the eighth and final round, raising questions as to the quality of his chin.
Franklin Gonzalez, for his part, is the classic professional loser, a “jobber” in wrestling parlance, who shows up, loses to a hot prospect, cashes his check, and lives to fight another day. Curiously, Gonzalez actually won his last fight against a 16-1 opponent, picking up a four-round unanimous decision win over Eddie Hyland in a fight that was supposed to be a showcase fight for the guy with the better record. Whether this was a fluke or a sign that Gonzalez has some fight in him is an open question that will surely be settled by the fists of Sadam Ali one way or another.
Franklin Gonzalez has been stopped five times; all of Ali’s knockout wins have been against guys with very suspect whiskers. If this fight goes the distance, it may prove a scathing indictment of Sadam Ali’s ability to punch at the professional level beyond the hobo circuit.
This fight is not scheduled to appear on television; tickets, for those in the New York area, can be had from the Aviator Sports Complex box office or by ticket outlets serving Aviator events.
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