Ahmed replaces Cota against Fundora on Saturday
Ahmed unsuccessfully challenged Gilberto Ramirez for the WBO super middleweight belt in 2018
Another day, another COVID-induced change to this Saturday’s Errol Spence Jr.-Danny Garcia pay-per-view. This time, it’s super welterweight veteran Jorge Cota, who is out of his title eliminator against rising prospect Sebastian Fundora. In his place steps former super middleweight title challenger Habib Ahmed, who “had been in training as a potential replacement on this card.”
The 29-year-old Ahmed (27-1-1, 17 KO), a PBC undercard regular, has had two noteworthy fights since leaving his native Ghana. The first saw him mollywhopped by “Zurdo” Ramirez in 2018, while the second ended in a No Contest after three rounds with Alantez Fox this past August. He ostensibly doesn’t pose much threat to Fundora (15-0-1, 10 KO), who’s riding high after strong wins over Daniel Lewis and Nathaniel Gallimore.
According to the press release, the fight is still scheduled to take place at 154 pounds despite Ahmed never fighting below middleweight. That said, “Wild Hurricane” was scheduled for a super welterweight tussle a week from this Saturday and was under 160 for his win over Juan De Angel last year, so it might just be a case of him actually cutting weight this time.
We’re three days away from fight night; let’s see if the main event and the PPV opener between Josesito Lopez and Francisco Santana can stay intact.