Bryan, Wilson, Joppy ALL ON January 7 NY Card!

Anybody who knows anything about boxing knows that bouts on a card change all the way up to fight time. All we can do is keep up with the changes.

With that in mind, here is the latest news (I think) on three local boxers scheduled to be on the January 7 Zab Judah-Carlos Baldomir card at the Theatre at Madison Square Garden.

According to a press release that appeared on Fightnews.com, Lloyd "Jabba" Bryan of Capitol Heights, MD IS indeed scheduled to face the IBF number one-ranked cruiserweight Steve "USS" Cunningham. The undefeated Cunningham is in line to face the winner of the co-feature cruiserweight unification bout between WBA/WBC champion Jean-Marc Mormeck and IBF titleholder O'Neil Bell.

There was a report that Bryan would not take this bout and Silver Spring, MD cruiserweight Darnell "The Ding-A-Ling Man" Wilson was in line to face Cunningham. The press release is not saying that, but it IS saying that Wilson will be on the card against former heavyweight contender Owen "What the Heck" Beck. I am not sure if Wilson will move up to heavyweight for this bout or will Beck move down to cruiserweight. Wilson comes into the bout with a record of 18-2-3 with 15 knockouts. Wilson's last bout was a 10-round unanimous decision loss to Vadim Tokarev in Kazan, Russia in August 2005. Beck is 24-2 with 18 KO's. Beck's two losses came in his last two bouts, a ninth-round knockout at the hands of Monte Barrett in a WBC/IBF title elimination bout and a split decision loss to Ray Austin in September of 2005.

Meanwhile, former three-time WBA Middleweight champion William Joppy will be on this card. Joppy (35-4-1, 26 KO's) will be facing Eric "The Hurricane" Howard of Crossville, TN. Howard, (11-9-1, six KO's) has lost his last two bouts and will be stepping into the ring for the first time in almost a year. Joppy last fought in July of 2005, scoring a third-round TKO over Rashaan Abdul Blackburn in Charleston, SC.

If this changes, I'll let you know.