Grant vs Zumbrun

June 30th is the real 'Night of the Old Gits' with Holyfield, Savarese, Akinwande and Donald lacing them up again, but our next comebacking HW at the moment is Michael Grant tonight.

He's fighting Billy Zumbrun in an eight-rounder on ESPN2's Wednesday Night Fights, with crusty old Tommy Gallagher in his corner.

So, any predictions?

If Grant is going to mean anything, he needs to recapture some of his 90s form and knock Zumbrun about for a stoppage loss by the middle rounds. If he instead fights like his usual 2000 self, it could be a lacklustre points win. And of course, Zumbrun does have a chance too...though I think the Bowe fight flatters to deceive.

 

Even Boxrec doesn't have his fight result updated yet due to that.
I didn't think it was planned to be a dark match, but there you go. Gonna have to scrabble around for details on this one.

 

Jerry Glick at Secondsout.com put up a ringside fight including this :

Comebacking, former title challenger, Michael Grant, 42-3 (32), Atlanta, GA, 255, finally put his punches together and stopped tough, but limited, Billy Zumbrun, 21-9-1 (11), Ogden, UT, 226, at 2:17 of the fifth of eight scheduled rounds.

 

That's kind of you. I must admit, I'm a sucker for an underdog and I would like Grant to at least finish with a bit of respectibility. He was 255lbs too, so as always his dedication in training remains intact.


More detailed report from Glick at Secondsout.com :

The show opener was a special heavyweight affair between 255-pound Michael Grant, who hasn’t fought in two years against journeyman, Billy “The Kid” Zumbrun. Grant, who challenged Lennox Lewis for the title back in 2000, is on the comeback trail.

Grant, 42-3 (32), looked rusty and told that to this reporter as he left the ring. The good news is that he worked well behind a jab, but didn’t start sending the right hand after it until the fifth. When he did he had the 226-pound Zumbrun, from Ogden, UT, in deep trouble. As Zumbrun, 21-9-1 (11), attempted to grab him, Grant, from Atlanta, GA, kept slipping out of Zumbrun’s grasp and landed more power shots that convinced referee Jim Santa that it was time to end it at 2:17 of the fifth round of eight scheduled.

Throughout the fight the shorter Zumbrun continuously tried to rush inside but while he did manage to land some wild swings, he was never able to land anything meaningful.