Notebook: Cuadras-Sor Rungvisai II takes center stage as new main event on Feb. 5

Valdez-Stevenson unification; Carbajal family feud laid bare; new Fury-Whyte purse bid date; Quick hits; Show and tell

Jan 18, 2022

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The show goes on.

Even though former two-division world titleholder Jessie Vargas came down with Covid-19 last week and had to postpone of his junior middleweight fight with former titleholder Liam Smith, the rest of the Matchroom Boxing card on Feb. 5 (DAZN) will still move ahead, although at a new site, promoter Eddie Hearn announced on Monday.

The card was initially scheduled to take place at the Gila River Arena in Glendale, Arizona, but Hearn said “logistical and operational issues” caused the event to be moved a short distance to the Footprint Center in downtown Phoenix.

Hearn was able to keep the show on because the strong co-feature is now the new main event as former WBC junior bantamweight titleholders Srisaket Sor Rungvisai (50-5-1, 43 KOs), 35, of Thailand, and Carlos Cuadras (39-4-1, 27 KOs), 33, of Mexico, meet in a rematch for the vacant WBC title. Cuadras ended Sor Rungvisai’s first WBC 115-pound title reign via eighth-round technical decision due to an accidental head butt in May 2014.

“Srisaket and Carlos promises to be another brilliant battle,” Hearn said. “Carlos got the better of Srisaket in their first fight seven years ago, and there’s no doubt in my mind that this will be a real fan-friendly war with so much at stake.”

The winner is likely to face the winner of the third fight between junior bantamweight champion Juan Francisco Estrada and former champion Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez, who meet on March 5 in San Diego, also on DAZN. Whichever unification bout comes about it would be a rematch because all of four of them have already faced each other.

“I'm really looking forward to winning in this championship bout,” Rungvisai said. “I really want to become the first three-time WBC champion of Thailand. I also have an unfinished business with Juan Francisco Estrada.”

Said Cuadras, “I am very excited for this opportunity to fight for another world title. We are sparring 3-4 different southpaws that have a similar style to Rungvisai. We are ready to win, and I am training very well in the high-altitude mountains of the ceremonial center in Otomi in Mexico.”

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Also on the Feb. 5 card, blue chip junior flyweight prospect Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez (14-0, 10 KOs), 21, a southpaw from San Antonio, will face an opponent to be named.

Women’s bantamweight titlist Jamie Mitchell (7-0-2, 4 KOs), 36, of Las Vegas, will defend her belt for the first time against Carly Skelly (4-0-1, 0 KOs), 35, of England.

The card will also include Matchroom prospects: featherweight Raymond Ford (10-0-1, 6 KOs) against Edward Vazquez (11-0, 3 KOs) in a 10-rounder; newly signed junior welterweight Aaron Aponte (4-0, 2 KOs) versus Louis Jourdain (2-0, 1 KO) in a four-rounder; and light heavyweight Khalil Coe (1-0-1, 1 KO) against Stuart Twardzik (1-0-1 1 KO).

Valdez-Stevenson unification

Junior lightweight world titleholders Shakur Stevenson and Oscar Valdez, who are widely regarded as the best two fighters in the 130-pound division, are likely to meet on April 30 in a Top Rank Boxing on ESPN card.

Top Rank chairman Bob Arum said that is the fight the company is working to finalize. It would take place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena and headline an ESPN linear telecast on the weekend of the NFL Draft, which ESPN is also televising from Las Vegas.

I spoke to Arum about the fight as well as what he would like to do next with featherweight Emanuel Navarrete, who he has originally wanted to face Valdez, and former lightweight champion Vasiliy Lomachenko, who he originally waned to face Stevenson, and wrote about it for World Boxing News. Please read the story that broke the news here: https://www.worldboxingnews.net/2022/01/16/bob-arum-stevenson-valdez/amp

Carbajal family feud

Hall of Fame former junior flyweight champion Michael Carbajal will be rooting against his nephew, Keenan Carbajal (23-2-1, 15 KOs), 30, of Phoenix, when he meets featherweight titlist Leo Santa Cruz (37-2-1, 19 KOs) in 10-round nontitle bout on Feb. 5 (Fox Sports PPV) in the Keith Thurman-Mario Barrios co-feature at Michelob ULTRA Arena at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas.

Michael Carbajal was not happy to have his name invoked in the promotion of the fight and issued a terse release that pulled no punches on an estranged trio of family members — his brother Danny, nephew Keenan and niece Josephine — as he attempted “to clear any misconceptions that suggest or imply his support or endorsement of Keenan Carbajal.”

The release, emailed to boxing media as an “urgent message,” said: “Any assumptions that he is rooting for Keenan Carbajal are completely unfounded. To the contrary, Michael Carbajal will be rooting for Leo Santa Cruz to win and expects an early knockout victory. The animosity between Michael Carbajal and the Keenan/Danny/Josephine Carbajal faction absolutely cannot be understated. There is no merit to any claim that Michael has any involvement, association, or affiliation with Keenan, his fight career, or any part of his life.

“Further, Michael is not involved with Keenan’s trainer, Danny Carbajal, or Josephine Carbajal in any way, shape, or form. Michael Carbajal has never had and will never have any association with Keenan or any member of his team, which has misrepresented and violated the actual Carbajal family.”

Quick hits

The purse bid for the fight between heavyweight champion Tyson Fury and interim titlist and mandatory challenger Dillian Whyte has been briefly postponed. It was scheduled for Tuesday but will instead be on Friday at the WBC offices in Mexico City and via video conference. Fury (31-0-1, 22 KOs), 31, of England, is entitled to 80 percent of the winning bid and Whyte (28-2, 19 KOs), 34, of England, who is in arbitration with the WBC over the split, would get 20 percent.

Showtime’s next “ShoBox: The New Generation” on Feb. 18 will return to the site of its show earlier this month, the Caribe Royale Resort in Orlando, Florida. A source with knowledge of the lineup told Fight Freaks Unite that the tripleheader, which has not been announced yet, will be headlined by lightweight Jamaine Ortiz (14-0-1, 8 KOs) versus Nahir Albright (14-1, 7 KOs) in 10-rounder with two eight-rounders also on the card, super middleweight Joe George (11-0, 7 KOs) taking on Sean Hemphill (14-0, 8 KOs) in the co-feature and welterweight Paul Kroll (9-0, 6 KOs) against Marquis Taylor (12-1-1, 1 KO) in the opener.

Matchroom Boxing announced the Juan Francisco Estrada-Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez III undercard for March 5 (DAZN) at Pechanga Arena in San Diego. Featherweight Mauricio Lara (23-2-1, 16 KOs), 23, of Mexico, will face Emilio Sanchez (19-1, 12 KOs), 27, of Los Angeles, in the 10-round co-feature. The fight will be Lara’s first since a second-round technical draw against former titlist Josh Warrington in their September rematch of Lara’s massive ninth-round upset knockout win in their first fight last February. Also, San Diego-based Mexican lightweight Angel Fierro (19-1-1, 15 KOs), 23, will defend his regional belt against former featherweight title challenger Juan Carlos Burgos (34-6-2 21 KOs), 34, of Mexico, who has lost two in a row and is 1-5 in his last six. Two of Matchroom’s top prospects are also on the card: Los Angeles super middleweight Diego Pacheco (13-0, 10 KOs), 20, who is now being trained by Jose Benavidez Sr., meets Kosovo native Genc Pllana (9-3-1, 5 KOs), 28, in an eight-rounder, and lightweight Marc Castro (5-0, 5 KOs), 22, of Fresno, California, will face a foe to be named in a six-rounder.

The WBO granted a joint request from Matchroom Boxing, promoter of middleweight titlist Demetrius Andrade (31-0, 19 KOs), 33, a southpaw from Providence, Rhode Island, and Top Rank, promoter of mandatory challenger Janibek Alimkhanuly (11-0, 7 KOs), 28, a southpaw from Kazakhstan, to postpone the purse bid for the fight. The purse bid was scheduled for this past Saturday but has been moved to Thursday at WBO headquarters in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Minimum bid is $200,000, but they could still make a deal. The purse split will be either 75-25 or 80-20 in Andrade’s favor depending on whose home country the fight takes place in or a neutral site.

Show and tell

Deontay Wilder was 32-0 with 32 knockouts but had yet to face a serious opponent when he stepped into the ring as the mandatory challenger for then-WBC heavyweight titleholder Bermane Stiverne, a hard puncher who had knocked out perennial contender Chris Arreola on the sixth round of their rematch to win the vacant title in his previous fight. There were many questions surrounding Wilder. How would he deal with a bona fide opponent? What about his stamina? Would he be effective if the fight went deep after having knocked out all of his previous opponents inside four rounds? Wilder answered all of the questions against Stiverne. Although he went the distance for the first time, Wilder thoroughly dominated the fight, which I covered at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. He did not tire and won the title he would hold for a little over five years through 10 successful defenses via scores of 120-107, 119-108 and 118-109. The fight was on Jan. 17, 2015 — seven years ago on Monday. Here is a very scarce thin cardboard site poster in my collection.

Stevenson photo: Mikey Williams/Top Rank

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