The first and only man to hold the Elite XC lightweight title, KJ Noons, will officially make his return to boxing one week from today when he faces Alejandro Bogarin (8-6-3, 2 knockouts) at the Expo Center in El Monte, Calif., on Thursday, November 13.
Bogarin is a 29-year-old Mexican fighter who is coming off a knockout loss in July to Fransisco Santana. He was eventually knocked out by a body shot in the fight, but Santana worked him over pretty good throughout the bout.
Based on his record and his six career losses by knockout this looks like a winnable fight for KJ.
KJ sports an impressive professional boxing record of (7-1, 5 knockouts), but has not competed in a licensed match in well over a year. He'll come in riding a three-fight win streak in the sport. His one loss came on a razor close decision to Daniel Stanislavjevic almost three years ago.
He signed on with Pro Elite under the circumstances that he could pursue both his mixed martial arts and boxing careers. When he won the 160-pound title last November over Nick Diaz his focus obviously began to turn more toward MMA.
But the Hawaiian native never lost his desire to box.
When he and Elite XC could not agree to terms on a rematch with Diaz, he was stripped of his title. Because of that, Noons decided to switch back to boxing for the time being or until the two sides could work out their differences.
Now that Pro Elite has filed for bankruptcy a return to mixed martial arts is more likely for Noons in the future. The issue now is who the apparent free agent will sign with and just how far he actually chooses to pursue this boxing thing.
Time will tell.
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