Young Dick Tiger Faces Montano Tonight in Main Event at Universal

Hyperbole is the lifeblood of boxing. So when a fighter comes along with the nickname “Sledgehammer,” the temptation is to roll your eyes and pretend you didn’t hear it.

With Jaime (the Sledgehammer) Montano, that may not be so easy. The welterweight has the numbers to back up the hype: 25-3 with 22 knockouts.

The problem is, Montano, a native of Quechehueca, Mexico, has never fought outside his native land. There’s no way to gauge the quality of his opponents.

The guessing game about his ability, however, should stop tonight.

The 20-year-old Montano will meet Charles Nwokolo of Nigeria in tonight’s 10-round main event at the Universal Sheraton Hotel in Universal City. Nwokolo calls himself Young Dick Tiger, taking the name of his late uncle, the former middleweight and light heavyweight champion.

Nwokolo, 22, won his first 14 fights, 12 by knockout, along with the African welterweight title. He made his American debut last month at the Universal Sheraton, winning a unanimous 10-round decision over Rigo Lopez.

Tonight’s semi-main event is a scheduled eight-round super lightweight match between Elias Madrid (21-0-1, 16 knockouts) of Sylmar and David Guerra (12-6, eight knockouts) of Lansing, Mich. Madrid hasn’t fought in two years because of ankle and rib injuries.

Also on tonight’s card, welterweights Otis Pimpleton (3-1, two knockouts) of Sepulveda and Eric McNair (2-1) of Los Angeles meet in a six-rounder; middleweights David Kilgour of Encino and Domingo Nieves of Van Nuys each will make their professional debut in a four-rounder, and heavyweight Tony Crawford of Escondido fights for the first time professionally against Levi Billips (0-1) of Los Angeles in another four-rounder.

The fight card begins at 8:15.