Notebook: Espinoza 126 defense set vs. Chirino, then Ramirez rematch
Top Rank also schedules Janibek, 'Venado' Lopez title bouts, step-up fight for Muratalla; Marco Huck returns; Haney mandatory ordered; Adames foe for 1st WBC 160 defense; Quick hits; Show and tell
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Rafael Espinoza, boxing’s most recent Cinderella Man, will make his first defense of the WBO featherweight title against Mexican countryman Sergio Chirino on June 21, Top Rank announced on Friday.
The fight will headline a Top Rank Boxing on ESPN+ card at the Fontainebleau Las Vegas, confirming a previous Fight Freaks Unite report.
The main card will also include two 10-rounders: junior lightweights Andres Cortes and Abraham Nova squaring off in the co-feature and middleweight prospects Troy Isley and Javier Martinez, who were amateur rivals, fighting in the opener.
“We’re thrilled to be doing our first show at the beautiful Fontainebleau Las Vegas,” Top Rank chairman Bob Arum said. “Espinoza can be Mexico’s next great champion, but he has a tough assignment in Chirino. Andres Cortes and Abraham Nova is a great grudge match, and the winner will be in great position to challenge for a world title.”
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Espinoza (24-0, 20 KOs), 30, of Mexico, was unknown when he scored a dramatic and huge upset to win the title from Robeisy Ramirez in December in a 2023 fight of the year contender in which they exchanged knockdowns and Espinoza pulled out a majority decision.
The initial plan was for them to have an immediate rematch but Espinoza wanted one defense first, so he will fight Chirino and Ramirez (13-2, 8 KOs) is due to have his own interim bout on June 29. If they both win, the plan is for a rematch in the fall, according to Top Rank.
“I know that I’ll be facing a Mexican compatriot who is coming to win,” Espinoza said. “I will be ready to defend my title with a lot of grit and heart. And that’s what I’ll do in the ring, fight with a lot of heart and win my first title defense.”
Chirino (22-1, 13 KOs), 29, suffered his lone loss via second-round knockout in 2018 to Mauricio Lara, who went on to win the WBA featherweight title.
“We Mexicans are known for having a lot of heart and whenever there are two of us in the ring, it’s a battle,” Chirino said. “I'm happy for the opportunity, but at the same time, I know I've earned it. I’m coming for that belt. I have a lot of experience. There will be a problem in the ring, and that problem is Espinoza. But I will solve that problem and take home the victory.”
Nova (23-2, 16 KOs), 30, of Albany, New York, figured the fight with Cortes (21-0, 12 KOs), 26, of Las Vegas, was inevitable.
“We’ve been on a collision course for a long time. It was eventually going to happen,” said Nova, who is coming off a split decision loss challenging WBC titlist O’Shaquie Foster in February. “Andres has been nipping at my heels for a while, calling me out and running his mouth at press conferences. Well, he’s going to get a taste of what he’s been craving. Be careful what you wish for.”
Said Cortes: “This is going to be a painful night for Abraham Nova. He thinks I’m his ticket to another title shot, but I am going to plant him on the canvas. I’m ready for a title shot, and nobody, especially not Nova, will stop me from achieving my dream.”
Isley (12-0, 5 KOs), 25, a 2020 U.S. Olympian from Alexandria, Virginia, and Martinez (10-0-1, 3 KOs), 28, a southpaw from Milwaukee, fought four times as amateurs. Isley beat him in the finals of the 2016 and 2017 U.S. National Championships. Martinez avenged the losses by beating Isley at the 2018 U.S. National Championships and 2020 U.S. Olympic Team Trials.
“This isn’t the amateurs anymore,” Isley said. “Javier is going to see the difference in skill when we fight. He’s a tough fighter with a lot of heart, but that won’t be enough for him to win the fight.”
Said Martinez: “This is the end of the rivalry. We fought some great battles as amateurs, and this one is the tiebreaker. I’ve wanted this fight ever since I turned pro. I will show Troy that our last two amateur fights were not a fluke. I was the better fighter then, and I am the better fighter now.”
In preliminary bouts:
Las Vegas bantamweight Floyd Diaz (11-0, 3 KOs) will face Mexico’s Francisco Pedroza (18-11-2, 10 KOs) in an eight-rounder.
Las Vegas southpaw DJ Zamora (12-0, 9 KOs) will face Mexico’s Jose Antonio Meza (9-9, 2 KOs) in an eight-round junior lightweight fight.
Los Angeles junior bantamweight Steven Navarro (1-0, 1 KO), a 13-time U.S. national amateur champion making his Top Rank debut after recently signing, will face Juan Pablo Meza (7-3, 2 KOs) in a six-rounder.
Robert Garcia-trained featherweight Albert Gonzalez (8-0, 4 KOs), of Perris, California, meets Conrado Martinez (9-1, 0 KOs), of Odessa, Texas, over six.
Janibek, Muratalla card
WBO/IBF middleweight titlist Janibek Alimkhanuly, who Fight Freaks Unite previously reported was scheduled to defend in the main event of a Top Rank Boxing on ESPN card on July 13 at the Palms in Las Vegas, now has an opponent.
Alimkhanuly (15-0, 10 KOs), 31, a southpaw from Kazakhstan, who fights out of Oxnard, California, will make his fourth overall defense and first of the unified title against Andrei Mikhailovich (21-0, 13 KOs), 26, of New Zealand, a source with knowledge of the bout told Fight Freaks Unite.
Mikhailovich, who is the IBF’s top-rated contender at No. 3 (Nos. 1 and 2 are vacant), will be taking an enormous step up in competition and fighting outside of New Zealand for the first time.
According to the source, Top Rank inquired with PBC about the availability of WBC titlist Carlos Adames for a three-belt unification fight but the sides were not in the same galaxy on money and there were no further conversations.
Alimkhanuly unified the 160-pound belts by knocking out IBF titlist Vincenzo Gualtieri in the sixth round of an utterly one-sided fight in October.
Lightweight contender Raymond Muratalla (20-0, 16 KOs), 27, of Fontana, California, will face former junior lightweight titleholder Tevin Farmer, who has signed for the bout, in the 10-round co-feature, the source said.
After losing the IBF 130-pound belt via controversial decision to Joseph Diaz Jr. in January 2020, Farmer (33-5-1, 8 KOs), 33, a southpaw from Philadelphia, did not fight for 3½ years. Since returning in June 2023, Farmer has won three fights in a row at lightweight, most recently a first-round knockout of Allan Castillo on March 2.
‘Venado’ Lopez defense
IBF featherweight titlist Luis Alberto “Venado” Lopez will make his fourth defense against former WBO titleholder Angelo Leo on Aug. 10 at Tingley Coliseum in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where the Las Vegas-based Leo is from, a source with knowledge of the plans told Fight Freaks Unite of the fight that has not yet been announced.
The fight will headline a Top Rank Boxing on ESPN card after Top Rank made a deal with Leo promoter ProBox TV for the bout.
Lopez (30-2, 17 KOs), 30, of Mexico, traveled to Josh Warrington’s hometown of Leeds, England, and beat him by well-deserved majority decision to win the 126-pound belt in December 2022 and has been dominant in three successful defenses, a brutal knockout of Michael Conlan in Conlan’s hometown of Belfast, Northern Ireland; a one-sided decision over Joet Gonzalez; and, most recently, an eighth-round knockout of mandatory challenger Reiya Abe on March 2.
Leo (24-1, 11 KOs), 29, outpointed Tramaine Williams for the vacant WBO belt in August 2020 and lost it by one-sided decision to Stephen Fulton in his first defense in January 2021. Since then, Leo has won four fights in a row, most recently via 10-round unanimous decision over former title challenger Eduardo Baez on April 10.
Leo has been targeting Lopez. After Leo defeated Baez, he posted to his social media, “Got the job done last night with a dominant performance. I’m ready for Venado Lopez or any of the champions in the featherweight division.”
Ring magazine originally reported the fight and site but did not have a confirmation of the date.
Huck announces return
Former longtime cruiserweight titlist Marco Huck (42-5-1, 28 KOs), 39, announced on social media that he will end a nearly four-year layoff.
He is scheduled to return against Evgenios Lazaridis (19-5, 13 KOs), 36, a Greece native fighting out of Germany, in a heavyweight fight on June 29 in Berlin, Germany, Huck’s hometown.
After Huck suffered a 10th-round knockout loss to then-WBO cruiserweight titlist Oleksandr Usyk in the World Boxing Super Series quarterfinals in September 2017, Huck moved up to heavyweight but has boxed just three times and not since a win in August 2020.
“I am looking forward to finally returning after several years of a break,” Huck posted to social media. “I can finally announce my return to boxing. The passion for this sport has never left me and the anticipation of the challenges ahead fills me with enthusiasm.
“I will follow this route and I hope for your support. This always gave me the most strength during the battle. You have motivated me for almost two decades and gave me strength. You suffered, trembled and celebrated with me. I hope you are now completely on my side so that we will celebrate successful victories together.”
Huck was an all-action and dominating cruiserweight titleholder, holding the WBO title from 2009 to 2015 and making 13 successful defenses to tie Johnny Nelson for the division record for defenses.
Quick hits
Weights from Aguascalientes, Mexico, for the Matchroom Boxing/BXSTRS card on Saturday (DAZN, 8 p.m. ET): Eduardo “Rocky” Hernandez 129.9 pounds, Daniel Lugo 129.5 (WBC junior lightweight eliminator); Erika Cruz 121.1, Nazarena Romero 121.5 (for Cruz’s WBA women’s junior featherweight title); Randy Leon 140.3, Misael Cabrera 139.8; Criztec Bazaldua 136.5, Luis Fernando Ruiz 134.3; Leonardo Rubalcava 138.3, Roberto Nevarez 139.4.
The WBC has ordered junior welterweight titlist Devin Haney and mandatory challenger Sandor Martin to begin negotiations. If they don’t make a deal there will be a purse bid on June 18 with the 10 percent of the winning bid to stay with the WBC and go to the winner as a bonus with the remaining 90 percent of the winning offer to be split 70-30 in Haney’s favor. Although Haney (31-1, 15 KOs), 25, of Las Vegas, lost a majority decision to Ryan Garcia on April 20, he retained the 140-pound belt because Garcia was 3.2 pounds overweight. Martin (42-3, 15 KOs), 30, a southpaw from Spain, is best known for his decision win over Mikey Garcia that sent him into retirement in 2021. Martin has won two fights in a row since he dropped Teofimo Lopez in a split decision loss in a December 2022 nontitle bout.
The WBC announced that Carlos Adames, who was elevated to full middleweight titlist from interim titleholder when Jermall Charlo was stripped this week, will make his first defense against former junior middleweight title challenger Terrell Gausha, on June 15 (PBC on Prime PPV, PPV.com) at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. The bout will be on the undercard of WBA lightweight titlist Gervonta Davis’ defense against Frank Martin. Adames (23-1, 18 KOs), 30, of the Dominican Republic, is coming off his only interim title defense, a ninth-round knockout of former unified junior middleweight champion Julian Williams last June. Gausha (24-3, 12 KOs), 36, of Encino, California, moved up to middleweight for his last fight in September and won an eight-round majority decision over journeyman KeAndre Leatherwood.
In light of the knee injury suffered by three-belt light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev that forced postponement of his June 1 undisputed title fight with Dmitry Bivol and will keep sidelined until at least September, the WBO ordered Joshua Buatsi (18-0, 13 KOs), 31, and his British countryman and former title challenger Anthony Yarde (25-3, 24 KOs), 32, to meet for the interim title. The camps have 10 days to make a deal or the fight will go to a purse bid with a minimum offer set at $300,000. Either side can request an immediate purse bid if they don’t want to negotiate. Buatsi is the WBA mandatory challenger thanks to his decision win over good buddy Dan Azeez in February. Yarde has won two in a row since Beterbiev knocked him out in a mandatory fight in January 2023.
Yamileth Mercado (23-3, 5 KOs), 26, of Mexico, will make her seventh WBC women’s junior featherweight title defense versus Ramla Ali (9-1, 2 KOs), 34, a 2020 Olympian from Somalia, who fights out of England, on the Juan Francisco Estrada-Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez card June 20 (DAZN) at Footprint Center in Phoenix, Matchroom Boxing announced. “Ramla is a great fighter, but she will not take away my goal of unifying all the titles,” Mercado said. Ali avenged her eighth-round lone loss to Julissa Guzman by decision in an immediate rematch in November. “It’s hard to articulate how much this means to me,” Ali said of the title shot. “I’ve never really found any happiness or satisfaction so far in the milestones and achievements I’ve made. I truly feel that being crowned the WBC champion, which is something that I’ve always wanted since I picked up a pair of boxing gloves when I was 12 years old, finally gives me some peace in the long road of struggles that have gotten me to this point.”
Show and tell
After Sugar Ray Leonard stopped fellow Hall of Fame legend Thomas Hearns to become the undisputed welterweight champion in their epic unification fight, Leonard defended the crown by third-round knockout of Bruce Finch five months later. But Leonard’s next fight scheduled for three months after that against Roger Stafford was canceled when Leonard was diagnosed with a detached retina in his left eye, a training injury that was considered career ending in those days. Leonard had surgery to repair the retina but announced his retirement in November 1982. But 13 month later, Leonard announced he would return.
So, in his first fight in 27 months, Leonard faced Kevin Howard in a 10-rounder on HBO at the DCU Center in Worcester, Massachusetts, and showed rust. Howard shockingly dropped Leonard to his rear end with a right-left combination in the fourth round, the first time he had been down in his career. Leonard eventually stopped Howard in the ninth round but looked so bad that he once again announced his retirement. He stuck to it for three years before returning for a massive fight (and upset) of Marvin Hagler to win the middleweight title. Leonard-Howard took place on May 11, 1984 — 40 years ago on Saturday. Here is a full ticket from the fight in my collection.
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Photos: Alimkhanuly and Lopez: Mikey Williams/Top Rank; Hernandez-Lugo: Ed Mulholland/Matchroom Boxing
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