Tszyu, Toney sustain injuries

Dean Juipe

Thursday, Jan. 22, 2004 | 9:33 a.m.

Injuries have been felt on two continents and disrupted what was to have been a unique doubleheader to be televised Feb. 7 by Showtime cable network.

First, a shoulder injury knocked undisputed junior welterweight champion Kostya Tszyu out of a title defense in Moscow. Then, James Toney's right Achilles' tendon ruptured while he was training Wednesday in California and that pulled the plug on the second half of the doubleheader, which was to have matched Toney against Jameel McCline at Mandalay Bay.

The end result, at least as things stand, is that Sharmba Mitchell's bout against Lovemore Ndou at Mandalay Bay has been elevated to the headline match. Mitchell was scheduled to face Tszyu as a mandatory challenger in Moscow, but when that bout was called off, Showtime asked promoter Dan Goossen to put Mitchell on the Toney-McCline card and provide an opponent.

"You've got to have some type of compassion for Mitchell," Goossen said. "Here he was preparing for a title fight that is now indefinitely postponed, and he had nowhere else to go.

"There may not be a direct financial reward for any of us, but this is one of those things that makes our business good."

There was never a thought, Goossen said, to calling off the Mandalay Bay half of the doubleheader after Tszyu's injury.

"No, that didn't come into play," said promoter Dan Goossen. "These are two separate promotions with tie-ins to Showtime."

Mitchell, 52-3, had been longing for a rematch with Tszyu since losing to him by seventh-round knockout Feb. 3, 2001, in Las Vegas, in a fight in which Mitchell injured a knee and was debilitated throughout the remainder of the bout.

The Feb. 7 card at Mandalay Bay will also include former middleweight champion Keith Holmes, who is now campaigning as a junior middleweight. The card will be in a room within the Convention Center that will seat approximately 6,000.

Goossen, meanwhile, will search for a substitute opponent for McCline.