BoxRec

Apparently John v Rocky Juarez has stalled. This was going to take place on the undercard to Casamayor v Marquez., Sept 13.

John's team said Juarez took too long to agree to the fight and they went elsewhere with John - WBA featherweight champ - being in demand. John is getting stick on many US forums saying he's a joke and wants to be protected at home.

However, he's down to face Asiku in Jakarta July 26. We all know that Asiku is no walkover based on the KO wins of Callaghan and McKeever in the UK. No one wanted to fight him for his Commonwealth title over here. He's a killer, but he's been avoided and this lack of comp has probably hurt his development. Ebough for John to beat him at home, but he could make for a good fight.

After that, John fights unbeaten WBA mandatory Hiroyuki Enoki in Japan.

Good fights and it would be good to se Asiku fight for a world title. He was easily the best in the UK whne he was over here, IMO.

Callaghan and McKeever aren't exactly tough fighters though, any domestic level guys will walk over them though.

No one else would fight Jackson. He can only beat what's in front of him. Callaghan and McKeever are known for being tough fighters and Asiku stopped 'em both early.

Jackson really needed fights like Nicky Cook etc. Now he's in the deep end and probably won't have learned enough as a pro. But he's a very good fighter & I think he can give John a good fight.

Yeah its not the fact that Asiku beat Mckeever and McCallaghan - its the manner in which he beat beat them which suggests he may be world-class. Good to see John stepping out of his comfort zone and taking on some tough challenges. Lets face it, every dominant champ through history has had some soft touches for title defenses but lets hope now John can fulfil his potential and takes on the toughest challenges out there. He should be aiming at a unification with Luevano or Linares down the line.

More of a case of Jacksons promoter not paying his opponents enough to take him on.
They offer poor paydays then he won't find someone willing to fight him.

Old bones Ian wrote:More of a case of Jacksons promoter not paying his opponents enough to take him on.
They offer poor paydays then he won't find someone willing to fight him.

yeah, he is risky but brings no money to be fair. would have been nice to see someone put it on the line & go for it, but there are so many titles out there.

I'd like to see Asiku fight Choi the Mongolian Featherweight who beat Derry Matthews.

Hopefully this fight will be happening. The well informed Scott Mallon, who talked to Team John around the time of these rumours, says they didn't mention anything about an Asiku fight. Seems like John's international adviser has been talking to BS about John-Asiku & Enoki, but that fighter/trainer and whoever else may not know anything about it. We'll have to wait this one out.

I think Asiku has the same level of talent as Agbeko, the IBF bantam champ. Asiku's career has been handled even worse than Agbeko's of recent. Jackson needs fights and rounds. He's 29 and I think he has to grab the opportunity for a world title fight, if the chance is there.