Although GSFS was notified on Friday that unbeaten featherweight prospects Victor “The Viper” Valenzuela and Carols “Mina” Zambrano were set to meet October 16 in West New York, both parties informed us that the bout is off.
According to Manager Nelson Fernandez, Zambrano will now fight Lante Addy, 8-5 (5 KO’s), of Ghana due to Valenzuela’s unwillingness to fight a ten rounder. Fernandez also said that Valenzuela, who hails from Passaic, stated that it had to be an eight round bout even though he’d loquaciously challenged Zambrano.
“On Friday, (Valenzuela’s promoter) John Lynch accepted the fight, but later in the evening they said the purse wasn’t acceptable and they wanted more money,” said Fernandez. “(Promoter) Mike Indri told them that there wasn’t any more money available and (Valenzuela’s team) than insisted the fight be eight rounds.”
Fernandez was also shocked that Zambrano-Valenzuela was axed over two rounds.
“He called (Carlos) out saying he wanted the fight but the fight was (scheduled for) ten rounds (all along), not eight.” “That’s like me calling the Yankees and saying I have the best baseball team out there but I only want to play three innings instead of nine because I don’t have a nine inning team. It was (always a) ten round fight and he was the one calling us out, not (vice versa).”
Although Fernandez said the fight was previously set, Valenzuela’s team claims that brief negotiations had taken place but nothing was agreed upon due to the aforementioned issues.
“I never made arrangements to make the fight for ten rounds and the only reason we discussed it was because (Zambrano) was having a problem finding an opponent,” said Valenzuela’s Co-Manager Sal Alessi.
Alessi also believes he would have done wrong by his fighter if he were to put him in a ten round bout against a well regarded and unbeaten opponent on short notice.
“How am I going to get Victor ready (for a ten round fight) on 11 days notice?” “He wanted the fight but I can’t do that to him and I can’t jump him from (fighting) six (round bouts) to ten.” “We discussed the fight making the fight hypothetically (if they didn’t) find an opponent, but the fight wasn’t going to be ten rounds under any circumstances. Zambrano only wanted a ten round fight and we weren’t willing to do that.”
But as they say, the show must go on.
Zambrano, a North Bergen based Peruvian, will now face an opponent who went the distance with hard hitting fighters in Teon Kennedy, Jorge Diaz, Kiko Martinez and 2008 Olympic Gold Medalist Guillermo Ringodeaux.
“We have a few tricks up our sleeves but I think this fight is going to go the distance,” said Fernandez. “He’s got a high defense and his last four opponents have been unbeaten guys, so we expect to get ten good rounds out of (Addy).”
The good news is that Fernandez and Alessi each cited their 30 year friendship, and while the situation was frustrating, the bout could be revisited without any complications or animosity. Even though it’s now out of the immediate picture, a fight between Zambrano, 11-0 (5 KO’s), and Valenzuela, 8-0 (1 KO), appears to be a feasible option for both sides in the future.
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