Holt regrouping after bizarre loss curbs title hopes

Kendall Holt feels as if he is back to square one, and he's none too happy about it.

The 26-year-old junior welterweight from Paterson, N.J., thought he was on the verge of capturing the WBO title on Sept. 1 over Ricardo Torres. But a bizarre 11th round resulted in a technical knockout loss.

Holt claims he was hit in the head by objects thrown into the ring in Barranquilla, Colombia. Supposedly, a full can of beer clipped him in the sixth round.

In the 11th round, Holt, who was ahead on two of the three judges' scorecards, claims someone from Torres' corner grabbed his leg. Moments later, he was rocked by a left hook and Torres was all over him. Referee Genaro Rodriguez stopped the fight, and Holt later lodged a formal protest with the WBO.

The protest was denied, the decision stood, and Holt, currently rated No. 2 by the WBO, has to work his way back to the top for another title shot.

The road back begins Thursday when Holt (22-2, 12 knockouts) faces veteran Ben Tackie in a scheduled 10-round bout that headlines a card at the Hard Rock Hotel.

"It's funny, but during the whole training camp for that fight, I thought I would get a fair shake, even though I was fighting in his hometown," Holt said. "I wasn't even worried about it. Now that I look back on it, it's something that's going to haunt me the rest of my life unless I get another shot at him."

Holt said the loss to Torres has provided him with plenty of motivation.

"It was heartbreaking," he said. "I had worked so hard for this opportunity. I was six minutes away from being world champion and getting the big money. I feel like I was cheated."

Holt knows if he doesn't beat Tackie (29-8-1, 17 KOs), his dream for a rematch with Torres will be shattered.

"This is a big fight for me," Holt said. "Losing is not an option. I've trained really hard.

"Ben Tackie is a solid guy. He's been where I am. And I want to get what's rightfully mine from (Torres). So I have to win this fight."

• COTTO IN BRONX? -- If Bob Arum has his way, Yankee Stadium will host one more boxing match before it closes for good later this year.

Arum promoted the last fight in the legendary ballpark, Muhammad Ali's 15-round unanimous decision victory over Ken Norton to retain the heavyweight title in their third and final meeting on Sept. 28, 1976.

Now the promoter wants to have welterweight Miguel Cotto fight there July 26. Cotto's opponent would be Kermit Cintron or Antonio Margarito.

First, Cotto is looking to retain his WBA belt in Atlantic City on April 12 against Alfonso Gomez. Cintron and Margarito will square off on the same card with the winner probably meeting Cotto in the Bronx come late July.

Cotto has a huge following among New York's large Puerto Rican population. A fight in Yankee Stadium would carry additional cache given it would probably be the last boxing event in the ballpark, which will be replaced by a new stadium across the street in 2009.

No formal talks have taken place with the Yankees about using the stadium, but Arum, who spent this past week on a vacation cruise and was unavailable for comment, was hoping to begin a dialogue with the team in the next couple of weeks now that he has finalized the Atlantic City card for April.

• HOPKINS-CALZAGHE TICKETS -- Tickets for the April 19 light heavyweight fight between Bernard Hopkins and Joe Calzaghe at the Thomas & Mack Center are supposed to go on sale Wednesday. However, as of Saturday, the prices were still being determined. Planet Hollywood, the fight's sponsoring hotel, will set the ticket prices.

Reportedly, 7,000 of the 19,000 available seats have already been set aside for Calzaghe's British fans who plan on making the trip to Las Vegas. The hotel is selling packages for the fight on its Web site. A three-night stay at Planet Hollywood and two lower-level tickets for the fight was going for $5,113.77 per person.

Contact reporter Steve Carp at scarp@reviewjournal.com or (702) 387-2913.