Quality trumps quantity at Primm Valley Resorts

It has been a while since boxing was staged at Primm Valley Resorts. But after a nine-month hiatus, the sport returns to the Star of the Desert Arena on Friday with Guilty Boxing promoting a show, which will be televised on ESPN2 as part of its “Friday Night Fights” series.

The main event has former world lightweight champion Julio Diaz facing Herman Nogoudjo in a 10-round junior welterweight bout. The co-feature has Dominic Salcido meeting Guillermo Sanchez in an eight-round junior lightweight bout.

Michael Starr, vice president at Primm, said the plan was to have boxing be a regular staple at the Star of the Desert Arena. But after couple of promotions fell through and created gaps on the calendar, he decided to take a more cautious approach to booking fight cards at his property.

“We did 90 events last year, and I learned an important lesson — you’re better off having quality instead of quantity,” Starr said. “We’ve become very selective about what we bring to Primm, and I get calls all the time from promoters. But for us to do a show, it has to be quality, and it has to have value for our customers.”

Starr said this card fills those requirements, and tickets are as low as $10.

“We felt with the fighters who were headlining, this has the potential to be very entertaining,” he said. “We’re getting people from California. We’re getting people coming in from Canada. We’ll get people driving over from Las Vegas. It’s perfect for what we do.”

Diaz (36-6, 26 knockouts) has had his struggles the past couple of years. He has dropped three of his past five fights, including a loss to Juan Diaz in 2007 when he was stopped in the ninth round in an IBF/WBO world lightweight championship fight. His last win came in Las Vegas when he earned a 10-round unanimous decision over Fernando Trejo at the Hard Rock Hotel on Oct. 31, 2008. His most recent appearance was on July 31, when Victor Cayo beat him by unanimous decision in their 10-round bout.

Nogoudjo, who is from Montreal and is 18-3 with 10 KOs, scored a sixth-round technical knockout over Silverio Cruz on Feb. 6 in his most recent bout.

■ SHAW SOUNDS OFF — When junior welterweight Marcos Maidana pulled out of his July 17 fight in Rancho Mirage, Calif., with Timothy Bradley on Monday, he claimed to be suffering from a bad back. Gary Shaw, who promotes Bradley, believes it has more to do with Maidana’s spine — or lack of one.

“What happened was he got too close to the chicken coop and he got chicken’s disease,” Shaw said. “In my opinion, (Maidana) never wanted to fight.”

Maidana last fought at the Hard Rock Hotel on March 27, stopping Cayo in the sixth round to retain the WBA interim super lightweight title. The Nevada Athletic Commission gave Maidana a postfight clean bill of health, and it appeared everything was moving toward a fight with Bradley. But Maidana’s decision to pull out of the fight has Shaw scrambling to find a suitable opponent for Bradley. HBO, which was going to televise the bout, still is holding the July 17 date.

But Shaw said he can’t throw just anyone in with Bradley.

“I’ve got to get the right opponent for Tim,” he said. “Why should he be punished because the other guy is unreliable?”

■ GOLOVKIN-MUNDINE FIGHT — Top Rank put in a successful bid to promote the vacant WBA middleweight title fight between Anthony Mundine and Gennady Golovkin. But don’t look for the fight to be in Las Vegas.

According to Ivaylo Gotzev, who is an adviser to Golovkin, Australia is the likely place for the fight to land, probably in late July.

The purse bidding, which was done Monday at Wynn Las Vegas, topped out at $1,210,000 with Top Rank co-promoting with Epic Sports Management.

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