Young middleweight prospect Ardreal Holmes has taken a two-year hiatus from the sport to become a mainstay on national television. The people at Showtime must have seen something special in him.
The rest of us will learn a lot about Holmes when he faces his late replacement Vernon Brown in “ShoBox: The New Generation” in a 10-round middleweight bout Friday at Deadwood Mountain Grand in Deadwood , South Dakota.
Holmes (11-0.5 KOs) last fought in November 2019, when he stopped Jose Antonio Abreu in three rounds.
“The long layoff is due to the pandemic and just waiting for the right opportunity to come,” he said. “I was dealing with a lot of things at the time, deaths in the family, so part of it was that I was mentally prepared to take advantage of the opportunity when it came.”
Do you think Ardreal Holmes (left) has a height advantage over Vernon Brown? Amanda Westcott / Showtime
He continued: “After such a long break, I am very excited about this opportunity. I just stay positive and stay positive and here we are. ”
Holmes was a brilliant amateur boxer in the mid-2010s, culminating in his replacement on the 2016 US Olympic team.
And the product of the Flint, Michigan boxer, kept his momentum going like a pro, using his unusual height (6 foot-2), long throw, straight forward and ability comprehensive to win out of his 11 matches.
He now hopes to continue where he left off against a solid opponent in Brown who has replaced the injured Mekhrubon Sanginov. He was scheduled to fight in the feature match.
“I feel good for this fight,” said Holmes. “There was nothing that I didn’t expect. I’m tall so everyone’s plan is to come forward and put pressure on me, but I’m expecting him to move forward and I plan to catch him on the way in. “
Brown (13-1-1, 9 KOs) fought at 140 pounds in his most recent bout, Fabian Lyimo’s second-round knockout last February. And he said he was most comfortable at 147, although he was set to face £154 on Friday’s card. And the Chicago boxer is 5 feet 7.7 inches shorter than Holmes.
Still, Brown, an aggressive boxer who once compared himself to Marvin Hagler, seemed confident.
“Accepting the war late is not a big deal,” he said. “I have been trained. I am very excited about this opportunity and I feel good. … I’ve been up and down, my last fight was 140, but I’m used to big guys, so this shouldn’t be a problem.
“I played against a few men 6-2, so I was ready. It’s been a year since February since my last game, and I’m ready to get my feet wet again. I feel well.”
