Kendall Holt Begins His Comeback
PONTIAC, Mich. –Former junior welterweight belt-holder Kendall Holt returned from an almost year-long layoff to flatten Lenin Arroyo in the first round of their welterweight bout at the Silverdome on Friday.
Holt (26-4, 14 KOs) caught Arroyo (20-15-1, 4 KOs) with a devastating left hook just one minute and 50 seconds into the fight that sent the Costa Rican down for the count as the Paterson, New Jersey native shimmied in victory. Afterward Holt admitted to Stiff Jab he hadn’t broken a sweat.
“It was great, my mentality has been a lot better,” Holt told Stiff Jab after the fight.
It was a welcome easy victory for Holt in his first fight since his upset loss to South African Kaizer Mabuza after six one-sided rounds last February. That fight also came after a long layoff following Holt’s loss of his WBO 140-lb. title in a unification bout against Tim Bradley in February 2009.
After fighting just twice in two years Holt told ESPN’s Dan Rafael he hopes to stay busy in 2011, fighting as many as five times over the next 12 months. He recently signed with promoter Gary Shaw and indicated he hopes for another shot at the junior welterweight title.
Holt’s manager is Giants running back Brandon Jacobs, who told us at the post-fight press conference that he hopes to build his man up slowly since he’s been so inactive of late. His next fight is already slated for March 12th at Foxwoods Casino in Connecticut on the undercard of Sergio Martinez-Sergiy Dzinziruk.
“He got it done early tonight early after a little layoff,” Jacobs said. “We want to set him up, build things up gradually.”
However, Jacobs said Holt would leap at a chance to fight undefeated junior welterweight Vernon Paris of Detroit’s Kronk Gym or Baltimore’s Tim “Pitbull” Coleman, who was scheduled to fight Paris on Saturday night but pulled out at the last moment.
Both men are considered rising prospects, though Coleman has more buzz after his show-stopping third-round knockout of Patrick Lopez on Friday Night Fights on October 1. For his part Holt said he had no preference, but either fight would make a nice undercard for an upcoming television bout.
Our view is that Coleman would clearly present a more formidable challenge. Paris did not impress at the Silverdome against veteran Emanuel Augustus and the late-round fade is starting to become something of habit for him. Despite plenty of hand speed and boxing ability we’re not sure Paris could present as many problems for Holt as Coleman, who has already demonstrated he possesses world-class power.
–Gautham Nagesh from ringside.