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Barrett has August bout pushed back to September

By Dylan Butler

After sparring at the Morris Park Boxing Club in the Bronx last month, Monte “Two Gunz” Barrett said he just wanted to stay busy in the ring, to fight as often as he could.

But for the second time in less than a month the South Jamaica native had his scheduled 10-round heavyweight bout with John Sargeant postponed.

The July 26 main event at Roseland Ballroom was pushed back to Aug. 24 at the Sands Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City, N.J., but Barrett will again have to wait to enter the squared circle. His promoter, Bronx-based attorney Joe DeGuardia, pulled him out of that bout because of a venue conflict to headline a fight card scheduled for September at a location in the New York City area yet to be determined.

“It’s just part of the game, you have to have patience,” Barrett said. “Everything will go the way that I want it.”

Barrett would have fought Sargeant (22-3) on July 26, but because of a low blood platelet count — a genetic condition Barrett said the New York State Athletic Commission had prior knowledge of — he was not cleared to fight.

Barrett said the commission had a letter from his doctor dated in 1996 explaining while he has a low blood platelet count — his platelets are larger than average. But when the commission requested a new letter, Barrett could not get one from his doctor in time to save the fight.

Barrett (25-2, 15 KOs) and his management team were hoping for a bout against the former undisputed heavyweight champion of the world, “Iron” Mike Tyson and when Barrett was a no-show at Roseland, it further fueled the fire of speculation that a deal had been struck.

With a bout scheduled for Aug. 24, the Barrett team believed the former all-city outside linebacker on the 1987 John Adams city championship football team and former two-time Golden Gloves champion would be available for a possible bout with Tyson, who was training for a Sept. 8 bout.

But when Tyson reportedly inked a deal last week to fight Denmark’s Brian Nielsen in Copenhagen, DeGuardia was quick to try and get Barrett for his next card in September.

“I’m not going to base my decisions on Tyson because, while he is a money fight, he’s unstable,” said Barrett, who last fought on June 8, defeating former heavyweight champion “Terrible” Tim Witherspoon in a split decision. “It’s an opportunity like none other in boxing, but Tyson was basically Plan B. If I get it, I get it, but if I don’t I still have a job to do and that is to maneuver myself up the rankings to get that title shot.”

While he will not fight in Atlantic City later this month, Barrett has gotten back in the gym where he says he will spar three times a week and continue to train.

“I’m still looking to fight four or five times before the year is up,” Barrett said. “I’m still going to stay busy.”

In other local boxing news, Queens-based promoter Tommy Gallagher is hoping to put on the fifth installment of Thoroughbred Boxing, a series of bouts held at the Aqueduct and Belmont race tracks, on Sept. 29. Acard that was initially going to be held this month and feature former junior lightweight champion Regilio Tuur was shelved, Gallagher said.

Tuur, a former Queens resident, was to headline last month’s card at Aqueduct when his opponents, Freddy Cruz, was deemed not medically fit to fight by the New York State Athletic Commission.

The August card was initially going to be the first fight of Tuur’s comeback, his first in more than four years since retiring as WBO champ, but Tuur, Gallagher said, has returned to Holland and has made no concrete plans to fight.

Headlining the card now scheduled for September will be junior welterweight Pedro Saiz, a Dominican Republic native out of Washington Heights, with Whitestone heavyweight Richie Melito as a tentative co-feature.

Anthony Bosco contributed to this story.

Reach Associate Sports Editor Dylan Butler by e-mail at Timesledgr@aol.com or call 229-0300, Ext. 143.