July to Face Virginian Woods In Philadelphia April 20!

The following news item comes with personal commentary.

BATB has learned that undefeated Suitland, MD cruiserweight Venroy "Hard Work" July will take on Danville, VA's Jaywon Woods in a six-round bout this Saturday, April 20th at the National Guard Armory in Philadelphia, PA.

July (10-0-2, four KO's) is coming off a second-round TKO of Zeferino Albino on February 25 in Millersville, MD.  Woods (9-1-1, five KO's) is making his second straight appearance at the National Guard Armory.  On January 13, Woods won a four-round unanimous decision over Rayshawn Myers.  Woods replaces Pedro Martinez, who had to back out of the bout.

This bout speaks to an interesting shift in the dynamic of the Beltway Boxing scene.  Speaking for the Beltway Boxing portion, the DMV has for more than 20 years been known as a haven for top flight boxers weighing 140 to 160 pounds.  With notable exceptions (Mark Johnson at flyweight and super flyweight, Erik Aiken at featherweight and Hasim Rahman at heavyweight), the world titles that Beltway Boxers have won during that time period have been between junior welterweight and middleweight and the majority of our contenders have been there as well.

However, the last five or six years have seen an increase in prospects in the cruiserweight division.  Along with July and Woods, you have the likes of Nick Kisner (10-0-1, five KO's), Russ Shiflett (12-0-1, five KO's) and Alex Guerrero (7-0-1, four KO's).  There are younger guys like Zakki Scott (2-0, one KO) and Andre Ward (1-1-1, one KO) -- who have faced each other already with Scott winning. There is also Tahir Thomas (2-0, one KO).

Down in Virginia, you have two guys who are just now getting back into competition in Terry Roy (7-3-2, six KO's) and Juan Carlos Robles (12-4-1, five KO's) and another Virginian who mysteriously stopped boxing in 2010 after notching the biggest win of his career in Adam Seal (8-1-1, seven KO's)  Seal knocked off Daniel Judah in his last bout.

Going into Delaware, there are Dan Biddle (8-2, five KO's) and Lamont Singletary (2-0, one KO).  Of course this seemed to begin when guys like Darnell Wilson and Emmanuel Nwodo were battling in the division.  Those bouts included a very exciting contest between the two, won in stunning fashion by Wilson in Staten Island, NY.

The question is of course -- what do we do about this?  Some people I have talked to would like to have some semblance of a DelMarVa cruiserweight tournament which would have something for the winner (maybe an automatic top 15 ranking in one of the governing bodies or some Delmarva belt).  Some say it's too early -- don't put these guys against one another until the bouts mean something.  When Wilson beat Nwodo, that bout was for Nwodo's USBA title. Some say we should wait until the boxers get to that level.

There are interesting arguments on both sides of the ledger.  I'm curious to see and hear what the Beltway Boxing fans think.