Reid returns to ring tonight in Nashville

BY MIKE HOUSER

Appeal Sports Writer

With five locals slated to be on Let's Get It On Promotions' seven-bout card in Fallon on Aug. 29 and a proposed matchup between Jesse Brinkley and Joey Gilbert still a possibility for sometime in December, Northern Nevada boxing fans have a lot to look forward to.

And if all goes well tonight on ESPN2's Friday Night Fights, another boxer who trains in the area could be in a televised fight.

Jonathan Reid, who along with Brinkley and Gilbert was one of 16 competitors on the NBC reality boxing show "The Contender," leaves his temporary residence on the Dresslerville Indian Reservation in Gardnerville and will return home to Nashville, Tenn., to compete on the card.

Reid, 34-10-4 with 19 knockouts, will meet Maxim Vlasov, 12-0 (4), of Samara, Russia, in an eight-round super middleweight bout.

If either the co-main event (Harry Joe Yorsey-Jason Lettovlier) or the main event (Fernando Beltran Jr."Takalani Ndlovu)"ends early, then Reid-Vlasov would be televised, according to Reid's trainer, Quentin Blue Horse.

Blue Horse, who founded The War Party amateur boxing club and also resides on the Dresslerville Rez, said he believes activity will result in Reid returning to his winning ways.

The 35-year-old Reid, who in 2000 unsuccessfully challenged Bernard Hopkins for his IBF middleweight title and dropped his bout to Brinkley on "The Contender", has lost his last six contests (including two while under the tutelage of Blue Horse) and nine of his last 10, but he's still competitive in his fights.

Blue Horse said Sunday that the 5-foot-11 Reid had been training at Freddie Roach's Wild Card Gym and Justin Fortune's Gym in Los Angeles and is prepared to end the winning ways of the 6-foot-3 Vlasov.

"My goal is to keep him as active as possible," Blue Horse said of Reid, who is reportedly beginning to let his hands go as of late. "We'll get to Nashville and do some light stuff and get his water weight down."

Following his meeting with Vlasov, Reid is slated for an Oct. 11 bout in Mexico City against an opponent to be named. If all goes as planned, Blue Horse said his charge will face contender Deandre Latimore for a regional junior middleweight belt Oct. 11 in St. Louis, Mo.

"We're going to stay in training and stay sharp," Blue Horse said. "We have a big fight in front of us."

The bout with Vlasov also gives area fans another local fighter to root for in Reid, who is near the top of a long list of genuinely good guys in the sport.