Melligen's opponent Adjaho ready for war

Anges Adjaho found himself between a rock and a hard place. In July last year, the 30-year-old veteran from Benin had his two-fight win streak broken up by a demoralizing ninth round knockout loss to Antonio DeMarco in a World Boxing Council (WBC) lightweight title elimination bout. Four months after that defeat, Adjaho separated from his wife of three years, with whom he had two children with. Forced to find another place to live, Adjaho found himself homeless sleeping in Miami, Florida's Showtime Gym. Then, this past December, Adjaho was released from his promotional contract with Don King Productions after a bitter argument with Carl King. Adjaho claims that he went to his then-manager Carl King's office in Miami to seek help. He says that King would not help him until he re-signed his promotional contract, which was set to expire in four months. A statement from Don King Productions' did not address the claims Adjaho made but stated, "Although we no longer represent Anges, we wish him the best and hope he achieves his goal of becoming a world champion." A career, once seemed so promising, had stalled with no signs pointing of hope. "It can destroy you," Adjaho, 25-2 (14 KO), said of his divorce and promotional turmoil. "It took some time for me to recover." They say it's darkest before dawn, and through his adversity he found light. With nowhere else to turn, Adjaho contacted Ricky Diaz, a trainer who had helped get him ready for his fight with Armando Cordoba in 2007. Diaz brought Adjaho from Miami to Buffalo, NY to train and start fresh. "I thank God that I found someone who cares about me," Adjaho said of Diaz. "My manager, he is like a father for me. So I have motivation now." "I saw that with the right training and people around him, this guy has a shot to become anything he wants to," Diaz said. Yet, with no promoter or big time manager, Adjaho found fight dates hard to come by. Diaz says that fights with top contenders Urbano Antillon and Julio Diaz – both in the opponent's hometowns – fell out and left Adjaho desperate for a fight. That's when opportunity came knocking. Mark Jason Melligen, an emerging welterweight contender from Cebu City, had hoped to avenge his recent loss to Michel Rosales. When Rosales pulled out on short notice, trainer Tony Martin explored every possible avenue to fill the vacancy. With his welterweight options exhausted, Martin looked further down the scale for answers. So Adjaho, who has never weighed more than 142 pounds for a pro fight, will try to upset the odds against the 18-2 (13 KO) southpaw Melligen this Saturday night at the Grand Sierra Resort in Reno, Nevada. The fight is scheduled for ten rounds and will be promoted by Top Rank and Let’s Get It On Promotions. Yet despite the recorded weight disparities, Adjaho is listed at 5-foot-9 while Melligen is 5-foot-7. Adjaho remains confident that on fight night, he will be the bigger man. "He walks around at 160 when he's not doing anything," Diaz said. "He's usually sparring bigger guys any way." "Is that what he thinks?" scoffed Tony Martin at Adjaho's claims of being bigger. "It doesn't matter what he thinks, we're not concerned with this guy. He's been out of the ring for a year and he's always fought at lightweight. He's fought a couple of good opponents, but we're not concerned." Melligen has a few advantages of his own; He's six years younger at 24 and has fought four times since Adjaho last stepped in the ring (going 3-1, with 2 knockouts in the process.) Since coming to the United States last year, Melligen has trained at the Mayweather Gym in Las Vegas alongside Floyd Mayweather Jr. Melligen says he hasn't sparred the undefeated star and potential Manny Pacquiao opponent in awhile, however. Adjaho and Diaz both recognize that the deck is stacked against them. If Adjaho is able to pull of the 'Hail Mary' win, all of their hard work and struggles will have been justified. "It's going to be a tough one, you never know in boxing," Diaz said. "He's been trained right and put a lot of hard work in the gym. We'll see Saturday night." "I'm always confident when I've been in gym," Adjaho said. "I'm African, I'm not scared of anyone." - JVP, GMANews.TV Ryan Songalia is a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America (BWAA) and a contributor to GMANews.TV. He can be reached at ryan@ryansongalia.com. An archive of his work can be found at www.ryansongalia.com. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/ryansongalia.