After a disappointing turn of events that postponed his long-awaited return to the ring, Bahamian professional boxer Tureano Johnson, along with members of his management team at Golden Boy Promotions are ready to give it another shot in the coming weeks.
Johnson's return to the ring was originally supposed to take place last Saturday. However, the fight was scrapped after Johnson didn't make weight for the middleweight division, and his opponent Antonio Gutierrez turned down a deal from Johnson's team and walked away from the fight.
Gutierrez refused to make a financial deal, which was estimated to be in the neighborhood of $40,000, as a matter of principle. According to Johnson's attorney, Jim Thomas, there was a feeling that Gutierrez simply wanted no part of Johnson in the ring.
"I don't think we ran into a fighter with principle; we ran into a fighter who wouldn't possibly win and would not fight under any circumstances, including us giving Mr. Gutierrez all of the money from the fight, 100 percent, so we got absolutely nothing," he said in an interview with Boxingscene.com. "He still said no over the difference of 1.6 pounds. That's how far Tureano was."
Thomas said that although there's no definitive date set for Johnson's next fight, he hopes that it comes very soon.
"As soon as possible," Thomas said when asked when he wants Johnson to get back in the ring. "If we had a fight next week we'd do it. We're going to fight within the next six weeks and it'll be a quality opponent."
As for now, Johnson remains the International Boxing Federation's (IBF) mandatory No. 1 contender for Gennady "Triple G" Golovkin's middleweight title - a position that Thomas hopes remains the same, despite the debacle surrounding the last fight.
"I don't think it (his position) should change," he said. "If I was a decision maker it would not. I'm hoping it does not. I'm hoping we stay right where we are, because we did everything we could to get in there and fight and this guy calls it principle. I call it something else."
Johnson's last fight was on October 17, 2015, a decision on points over Irishman Eamonn O'Kane. Since then, he had been sidelined with a shoulder injury.

Click here to read more at The Nassau Guardian