Does Lomachenko Still Have Enough Blue-Book Value to Motor Past Lopez?

Published

4 years ago

October 14, 2020

Does-Lomachenko-Still-Have-Enough-Blue-Book-Value-to-Motor-Past-Lopez?

In December 2017, a few days prior to Vasiliy Lomachenko’s dominant performance against Guillermo Rigondeaux, who quit on his stool after six rounds at the Theater at Madison Square Garden, noted trainer and ESPN boxing analyst Teddy Atlas was unabashedly exuberant in his assessment of the Ukrainian southpaw’s myriad qualities. To Teddy’s way of thinking, Lomachenko, who went into the Rigondeaux fight with a 9-1 pro record, already had stamped himself as a potential all-time great.

“He’s David Copperfield,” Atlas, referencing the famous magician, gushed of the then-29-year-old Lomachenko. “He makes you think something’s happening over here because that’s what he wants you to think. Look, I had Lomachenko rated in my top 10 pound-for-pound after one pro fight. Yeah, I did, and I know why I did. And I know why I have him No. 1 now. He was born to fight and has been trained to do just that almost from the time he came out of his mother’s womb.

“Mentally, physically, emotionally, technically … he’s the best at all of it, or close to it. It’s no accident he is where he is. He’s the whole package. There are guys you can argue that have better separate pure athletic skill sets, but Lomachenko puts the whole package better than anybody.”

As Loma (14-1, 10 KOs) counts the days down to what arguably is the most compelling, most-anticipated matchup of 2020, Saturday night’s ESPN-televised lightweight unification showdown with 21-year-old firebrand Teofimo Lopez (15-0, 12 KOs) in Las Vegas’ MGM Grand “Bubble,” Atlas’ lofty praise of a seemingly flawless fighter remains unchanged. Well, maybe a little. To Teddy’s way of thinking, predicting the outcome of a fight, any fight, is like shopping for a quality used car. Blue book value matters. A vehicle being considered for purchase might be exquisite on the outside, but before a prospective buyer takes the plunge it always is advisable to check under the hood.

Three 135-pound titles – the WBA and WBO ones held by Lomachenko and the IBF version held by Lopez – will be on the line, as well as the unofficial “franchise” designation conferred upon Loma by the WBC, separate and apart from that sanctioning body’s recognition of Devin Haney as its standard-issue lightweight champion.

There are reasons why Lomachenko, now 32, is a fairly substantial favorite, at -400 according to the Vegas sports books compared to +300 for Lopez. In a poll of so-called experts by one boxing website, Lomachenko was seen as the winner by 18 of 20 respondents. But Atlas sees the matchup as potentially problematic for a still-great practitioner of the pugilistic arts whose heavy wear and tear over a lifetime of highway usage might soon, if not immediately, require a tuneup.

“It’s a dangerous fight for Lomachenko,” Atlas said. “He might have been better off if the fight had happened two years earlier. I don’t judge a fighter’s age chronologically. I judge it the way I judge a car’s age, which is by the mileage on the odometer. A car might be 10 years old, but if it’s got only 5,000 miles on the odometer, to me it’s still a pretty new car. And if you have a car that’s five years old and it has 100,000 miles on the odometer, it’s an old car.

“Lomachenko had, like, 400 amateur fights. (He was an astounding 396-1, with two Olympic gold medals.) He’s only 32, but you don’t know when the effect of all that mileage is going to start to show. I still think he’s the best fighter in the world pound-for-pound. He and (Terence) Crawford are No. 1 and No. 2, or maybe the other way around. Either way you can’t go wrong. Lomachenko is the best technical fighter on the planet. But, at 32, he might be getting to a place where he’s starting to step a tiny bit into the shadows – maybe not enough where everyone’s going to notice it, but I notice a tiny bit of that.

“If that’s true, it makes this fight even more dangerous for him, going up against a young guy who’s so explosive, and not just as a puncher. What I see from this kid is a real belief in himself. He’s nine years younger, he’s naturally bigger, he not only has power but quick feet. He closes the gap the way Manny Pacquiao used to do years ago. Yeah, Pacquiao could punch hard, but the thing that made him especially dangerous was that he could explode in that last couple of feet before the other guy could react. Lopez has that quickness and suddenness.”

It has been suggested by some that Lomachenko-Lopez mirrors the Sept. 14, 2013, pairing of Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Canelo Alvarez, which ended in a 12-round majority decision for Mayweather, although most observers believed “Money” deserved a clear and unanimous nod, and would have gotten it were it not for the widely criticized 114-114 scorecard submitted by judge C.J. Ross. There are those who contend that Canelo, then 23, lost mostly because of his relative youth and inexperience. Atlas believes any attempt to draw parallels between the two megafights is flawed, mostly because of differences between the Canelo that was then and the Lopez that is now.

“The Mayweather-Canelo model is not a fair comparison,” Atlas said, noting that Alvarez, who turned pro at 15, went into that fight with a 42-0-1 record and 30 KOs, making him much more of a finished product than the Lopez who will swap punches with Loma. “And besides, I just don’t think Canelo was ever going to have the foot speed to close the gap against Mayweather before he got countered, and that’s something Lopez does have. Canelo had the hand speed, but he was too slow for Mayweather with his feet. I just think it was never going to be the right time for him to win against Mayweather, because of their styles.”

Lopez’s closing burst from Point A to Point B, along with the power to put away most opponents with a single, well-placed shot, make him the sternest test Lomachenko has ever faced inside the ropes. Then again, the opposite also applies. Can Lopez solve the puzzle that Lomachenko, so adept at flummoxing frustrated foes with nimble moves, quick pivots and an ability to deliver stinging punches from unorthodox angles, always poses?

“He moves like he’s playing three-dimensional chess,” Top Rank founder Bob Arum, who promotes both fighters, once said of Lomachenko. “Watching him fight is like watching a fighter paint a great masterpiece.”

But even great masterpieces can be smudged, and in some of his more recent outings Lomachenko has dropped the occasional hint that even an exquisite artist such as himself can be something less than perfect.

“I think Lomachenko is getting hit a little bit more than he used to,” Atlas said. “He got caught a couple of times by (Luke) Campbell, who is not a big puncher. He got dropped by (Jorge) Linares. If that happens with Lopez, it definitely could be a problem.”

For his part, Lopez – whose nickname is “The Takeover,” which is what he expects to do to the sport of boxing once the world at large sees what he is capable of against Lomachenko – is convinced he will demonstrate that even the man of many moves can be put down and out if caught just so.

“He’s on the way out,” Lopez said in an interview with DAZN. “He really thinks he is a god in this sport. I don’t like him and I have my reasons why. I don’t like the way he carries himself. I will beat up Lomachenko and take his belts. Simply as that.

“I’m not the type of fighter to just talk my stuff and not back it up. If I hit him like Linares did, he won’t get up. If he gets knocked down by me, it’s over.”

Simple is as simple does, and Lomachenko has heard past victims talk trash and then have their mouths taped shut inside the ropes. He praised Lopez as an “excellent puncher” with a “high boxing IQ,” but he has heard all the implied threats before and considers them meaningless unless or until the boastful opponent backs up the bluster with victorious action.

“I heard this a lot of times from a lot of boxers,” Lomachenko said of the latest verbal assault directed at him. “But then you come in the ring, and you forget your words. You forget your promise. You just try boxing, you just try fighting. For me, it’s just words.

“Teofimo Lopez can talk all he wants. He’s very good at talking. He has done nothing but say my name for the past two years. Good for Teofimo. When we fight he will eat my punches and his words.”

Now, about the words uttered two years ago that caused Lopez and his trainer-father, Teofimo Sr., to make the conquest of Lomachenko something akin to a holy quest. Appearing on the same Dec. 8, 2018, card at the Theater at Madison Square Garden, Loma outpointed Jose Pedraza en route to a 12-round, unanimous decision to retain his WBA lightweight title while annexing Pedraza’s WBO belt. The Brooklyn-born Lopez, meanwhile, might have stolen the show by starching veteran Mason Menard only 44 seconds into round one. Two nights earlier, the elder Lopez, apparently inebriated, confronted Lomachenko in the hotel where both fighters were staying and told him that at some point his son would “kick your ass.”

Egos, not surprisingly, were involved, and feelings bruised, with a fight that probably was predestined to happen anyway someday now coated with genuine undertones of animosity. For his part, Teofimo Lopez sided with his father in the belief that Lomachenko and his trainer-father, Anatoly Lomachenko, were guilty of being arrogant and dismissive.

Lomachenko is almost always imperturbable, a craftsman not disposed to outwardly showing emotion, but Lopez might be more prone to venting any anger he could be harboring on fight night. And that, Atlas said, likely would be to Loma’s advantage.

“I don’t think it can be a plus for Lopez,” Atlas said of fighters who are more concerned with inflicting as much punishment as possible on their opponent for personal reasons than with executing a fight plan. “It makes you more reckless and more prone to think less and be careless. I think that factor in overplayed in most cases and I disregard it in this instance, but who knows?”

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A Closer Look at the Weslaco ‘Heartbreaker’ and an Early Peek at Inoue-Nery

Published

3 hours ago

April 30, 2024

Arne K. Lang

A-Closer-look-at-the-Weslaco-Heartbreaker-and-an-Early-Peek-at-Inoue-Nery

Brandon Figueroa returns to the ring on Saturday after a 14-month absence. He meets Jessie Magdaleno in a 12-round featherweight affair at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas with the winner potentially headed to a match with Japanese superstar Naoya Inoue. Figueroa vs. Magdaleno will be part of the four-fight pay-per-view telecast topped by Canelo Alvarez’s super middleweight title defense against Jaime Munguia.

Akin to Magdaleno, Figueroa (24-1-1, 18 KOs) is a former super bantamweight (122-pound) champion. He won the WBA version of the world title with a 10^th-round stoppage of Damien Vazquez and added the WBC belt with a seventh-round KO of previously undefeated Luis Nery who fights Inoue this coming Monday at the “Big Egg” in Tokyo.

Throughout history, many prominent boxers have been identified with the place that hewed them. Students of boxing history can identify the Saginaw Kid, the Terror Haute Terror, the Cincinnati Cobra – the list is long – and even casual fans can name the Brockton Blockbuster, the immortal Rocky Marciano.

Brandon Figueroa hails from Weslaco, a small city in the southern tip of Texas. It is part of the Lower Rio Grande Valley, commonly abbreviated RGV, and the locals feel an emotional tie to the entire valley, a place where the unofficial language among the adult population is Spanglish, a melding of Spanish and English.

Brandon’s older brother Omar Figueroa Jr, who retired in 2022 with a record of 28-3-1 after losing his last three fights, became a local hero after becoming the first boxer from the Valley to win a world title, in his case the WBC lightweight diadem. Brandon, 27, has the opportunity to out-do him by becoming the first boxer from the Valley to win titles in two weight divisions.

The brothers were introduced to boxing by their father, Omar Figueroa Sr. A mailman now in his twenty-seventh year working for the U.S. Postal Service, the elder Figueroa never boxed but followed the sport closely and hoped that one of his sons would follow in the footsteps of his sporting heroes Julio Cesar Chavez and the late Salvador Sanchez. Brandon borrowed a page from the Chavez playbook when he scored his signature win over Luis Nery. A left to the solar plexus ended the match. Nery replied with a sweeping left hook, but it was all instinct. In a delayed reaction, he crumpled to the canvas after launching the errant punch and was counted out.

Although Omar Sr has a picture in his cell phone of Brandon in fighting togs when Brandon was two years old, he insists that he discouraged his younger son from pursuing a career in boxing. “He was too skinny and didn’t have Omar’s natural talent,” the elder Figueroa told this reporter when we chatted at Las Vegas’ Pound4Pound Boxing Gym. “Then, when Brandon was about 12 or 13, he started hurting bigger boys with punches to the body in sparring and I thought, hold on, maybe I have something here.”

Omar Sr. opened a gym, Pantera Boxing, to give his sons a leg up and eventually enough kids from the neighborhood started coming by to field an amateur boxing team.

Omar Figueroa Sr was born in Northern Mexico and came to the United States at age nine. Many of his siblings – he was one of nine children — reside in Mexico but close enough for family get-togethers. The Figueroa family has crossed the international bridge that connects the two countries on many occasions. Returning to Weslaco, they share the span with border-crossers seeking refuge in the United States.

“One of the things I’ve noticed,” says Brandon, “is that there are a lot more Europeans crossing over that bridge into the U.S. than we used to see, especially people from countries like Russia and Ukraine.”

About that nickname: Brandon acquired it while visiting relatives in Rio Bravo, Mexico, situated roughly 18 miles from Weslaco. He was just a boy, perhaps 11 or 12, and it was teenage or pre-teen girls who affixed the “Heartbreaker” label to him. Indeed, in the looks department, he could give Ryan Garcia a run for his money. (Back off, ladies, Brandon has a steady girlfriend.)

Brandon Figueroa doesn’t want boxing to define him. “I’m also a businessman,” he says, noting that he owns several parcels of Weslaco real estate and owns stock in one of his sponsors, LOCK’DIN, a start-up, high-performance beverage company whose Board of Directors includes Manny Pacquiao.

Brandon Pacquiao

In high school, Brandon took classes in theater. He has a role in a forthcoming Amazon Prime movie, “Find Me,” and a starring role in the first episode of the reconstituted “Tales from the Crypt” which will air on HBO Max.

When Brandon quits boxing, will Hollywood beckon? “I can’t imagine settling down anywhere but in the Valley,” he says. “The Valley will always be a part of me.”

In his last outing, Figueroa won an interim WBC featherweight title with a lopsided decision over Mark Magsayo. In theory, that boosted him into a fight with Rey Vargas who was allowed to keep his WBC featherweight title after moving up to 130 where he suffered his first defeat at the hands of O’Shaquie Foster. But in boxing, “money” trumps “mandatory” and Vargas jumped at the chance to fight in Saudi Arabia where he was fortunate to retain his title when he received a draw in his match with Liverpool’s Nick Ball.

The most lucrative fight out there would be a match with four-belt super bantamweight champion and pound-for-pound king Naoya Inoue who has expressed an interest in moving up to featherweight after disposing of Luis Nery. Yes, that’s putting the cart before the horse, but Brandon Figueroa thinks the challenger from Tijuana, despite his impressive record (35-1-1, 27 KOs) has scant chance of winning. “I found a hole in Nery’s style,” he said, “and knew that once fatigue set in for him, he would be mine.”

Inoue vs. Nery is a very big deal in Japan in part because there’s a hero and a villain. Luis Nery is the only man to defeat the popular Shinsuke Yamanaka, a long-reigning title-holder who quit the sport after Nery knocked him out twice. After their first meeting, Nery’s “A” and “B” samples tested positive for a banned substance and he came in three pounds overweight for the rematch (a substantial edge in a small weight class), for which he was suspended and dropped from the WBC rankings. Nery, wrote TSS correspondent Tamas Pradarics, “repeatedly cheated on the Japanese in ugly and disgusting ways,” and the Japanese haven’t forgotten.

If Brandon Figueroa goes off to Japan some day to oppose Naoya Inoue, it will take some doing to contort him into a villain. “I love the Japanese people and the Japanese culture,” he says, “the whole Samurai thing which is so in tune with the warrior spirit of Mexicans.”

—

The pay-per-view portion of Saturday’s show is available for purchase on various cable and satellite platforms including Prime Video, DAZN.com, and PPV.com. First bell is slated for 8 pm ET/5 pm PT.

Brandon Figueroa vs. Jessie Magdaleno will be the second bout on the four-fight PPV program. It will follow the WBA world welterweight title fight between Eimantas Stanionis and Gabriel Maestre and will precede the WBC interim world welterweight title fight between Mario Barrios and Fabian Maidana.

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Ramirez Outpoints Barthelemy and Vergil Ortiz Scores Another Fast KO in Fresno

Published

3 days ago

April 27, 2024

David A. Avila

Ramirez-Outpoints-Barthelemy-and-Vergil-Ortiz-Scores-Another-Fast-KO-in-Fresno

Northern California favorite Jose Ramirez avoided an upset and knockout artist Vergil Ortiz destroyed his opponent on Saturday to set up a showdown with Australia’s power-punching Tim Tszyu.

After a 13-month layoff Ramirez (29-1, 18 KOs) shook off ring rust and avoided an upset by Cuba’s Rances Barthelemy (30-3-1, 15 KOs) in a battle between former world champions at Save Mart Center in Fresno.

It was Ramirez’s first bout under Golden Boy Promotions and he was nearly derailed by the slick counter-punching southpaw in the third and six rounds with laser left counters that connected every time. Though he was floored in the third round it was ruled a push down by referee Jack Reiss.

Fans gasped.

“He throws that left hand and I got hit with it in one round,” Ramirez said. “It motivated him.”

Once Ramirez figured out the remedy, he kept the fight inside and attacked the body and head. Barthelemy was unable to uncork one of his long lefts at close distance.

From the seventh round on the former super lightweight champion took control and kept the Cuban fighter against the ropes and unloaded shots to the body and head. He nearly forced a stoppage in the 11^th round.

Barthelemy survived but all three judges scored it big for Ramirez after 12 rounds: 119-109 twice and 118-110.

Vergil KOs Number 21

Knowing a win sets up a massive showdown against Aussie slugger Tim Tszyu, the Texas slugger Vergil Ortiz (21-0, 21 KOs) wasted no time in blasting out Puerto Rico’s Thomas Dulorme (26-7-1, 17 KOs) with a perfectly placed left hook to the body. Dulorme collapsed to the ground in agony.

Referee Tom Taylor stopped counting at 2:39 of the first round.

“It was a very calculated punch,” Ortiz said.

It was a commanding one round performance that sets up the showdown against the equally powerful Tszyu who despite losing a split decision to Sebastian Fundora last month by split decision, retains his reputation as a dangerous puncher.

Ortiz, who has 21 knockouts in 21 fights, will probably be fighting Tszyu in Los Angeles on June 1 if all negotiations go smoothly.

“Tim (Tszyu) I know you are watching the fight,” said Ortiz. “I’m ready. Let’s put on a great performance.”

Other Bouts

Oscar Duarte (27-2-1, 22 KOs) proved his knockout loss against Ryan Garcia would not stop him from improving as he defeated Jojo Diaz (33-6-1) by knockout at 2:32 of the ninth round in a super lightweight match. Referee Michael Margado wisely stopped the bludgeoning as a towel came flying in almost simultaneously.

It was the first time Diaz was ever defeated by knockout, though he never touched the canvas. It was also the first time Duarte trained with Robert Garcia and the difference was notable as he repeatedly walked through incoming fire and attacked the smaller fighter continuously.

“I want to fight the best in the world,” Duarte said.

Female Title Fight

A rematch battle for the flyweight championship saw Argentina’s Gabriela Alaniz (15-1) defeat Marlen Esparza (14-2) this time with a two-fisted attack to win by split decision after 10 rounds.

Esparza failed to make weight and walked in three pounds overweight and Alaniz took advantage to win the WBA, WBC, and WBO flyweight titles in the rematch. Once again the scores were puzzling but this time in favor of Alaniz 97-93, 96-94, and 92-98.

Alaniz now holds the WBO, WBA, WBC flyweight world titles.

Welterweights

Mexico’s Raul Curiel (15-0, 13 KOs) busted body shots on Jorge Marron Jr. (20-5-2) and floored him twice in the first round. The second body blow left Marron paralyzed and unable to continue at 1:31 of the first round as referee Thomas Taylor counted him out.

Curiel, who is managed by Frank Espinoza and son, proved he’s ready for the upper levels of the welterweight division.

“I think I’m ready for the bigger names,” Curiel said. “You see the results.”

Photo credit: Cris Esqueda / Golden Boy

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Avila Perspective, Chap. 282: Ryan’s Song, Golden Boy in Fresno and More

Published

4 days ago

April 26, 2024

David A. Avila

Avila Perspective, Chap. 282: Ryan’s Song, Golden Boy in Fresno and More

Don’t call it an upset.

Days after Ryan Garcia proved the experts wrong, those same experts are re-tooling their evaluation processes.

It’s mind-boggling to me that 95 percent thought Garcia had no chance. Hear me out.

First, Garcia and Haney fought six times as amateurs with each winning three. But this time with no head gear and smaller gloves, Garcia had to have at least a 50/50 chance of winning. He is faster and a more powerful puncher.

Facts.

Haney is a wonderful boxer with smooth, almost artistic movements. But history has taught us power and speed like Garcia’s can’t be discounted. Think way back to legendary fighters like Willie Pep and Sandy Sadler. All that excellent defensive skill could not prevent Sadler from beating Pep in three of their four meetings.

Power has always been an equalizer against boxing skill.

Ben Lira, one of the wisest and most experienced trainers in Southern California, always professed knockout power was the greatest equalizer in a fight. “You can be behind for nine rounds and one punch can change the outcome,” he said.

Another weird theory spreading before the fight was that Garcia would quit in the fight. That was a puzzling one. Getting stopped by a perfect body shot is not quitting. And that punch came from Gervonta “Tank” Davis who can really crack.

So how did Garcia do it?

In the opening round Ryan Garcia timed Devin Haney’s jab and countered with a snapping left hook that rattled and wobbled the super lightweight champion. After that, Garcia forced Haney to find another game plan.

Garcia and trainer Derrick James must have worked hours on that move.

I must confess that I first saw Garcia’s ability many years ago when he was around 11 or 12. So I do have an advantage regarding his talent. A few things I noticed even back then were his speed and power. Also, that others resented his talent but respected him. He was the guy with everything: talent and looks.

And that brings resentment.

Recently I saw him and his crew rapping a song on social media. Now he’s got a song. Next thing you know Hollywood will be calling and he’ll be in the movies. It’s happened before with fighters such as Art Aragon, the first Golden Boy in the 50s. He was dating movie stars and getting involved with starlets all over Hollywood.

Is history repeating itself or is Garcia creating a new era for boxing?

Since 2016 people claimed he was just a social media creation. Now, after his win over Devin Haney a former undisputed lightweight champion and the WBC super lightweight titleholder, the boxer from the high desert area of Victorville has become one of the highest paid fighters in the world.

Ryan Garcia has entered a new dimension.

Golden Boy Season

After several down years the Los Angeles-based company Golden Boy Promotions suddenly is cracking the whip in 2024.

Avila

Vergil Ortiz Jr. (20-0, 20 KOs) returns to the ring and faces Puerto Rico’s Thomas Dulorme (26-6-1, 17 KOs) a welterweight gatekeeper who lost to Jaron “Boots” Ennis and Eimantas Stanionis. They meet as super welterweights in the co-main event at Save Mart Arena in Fresno, Calif. on Saturday, April 27. DAZN will stream the Golden Boy Promotions card live.

It’s a quick return to action for Ortiz who is still adjusting to the new weight division. His last fight three months ago ended in less than one round in Las Vegas. It was cut short by an antsy referee and left Ortiz wanting more after more than a year of inactivity in the prize ring.

Ortiz has all the weapons.

Also, Northern California’s Jose Carlos Ramirez (28-1, 18 KOs) meets Cuba’s Rances Barthelemy (30-2-1, 15 KOs) in a welterweight affair set for 12 rounds.

It’s difficult to believe that former super lightweight titlist Ramirez has been written off by fans after only one loss. That was several years ago against Scotland’s Josh Taylor. One loss does not mean the end of a career.

“My goal is to get back on top and to get all those belts back. I still feel like I am one of the best 140-pounders in the division,” said Ramirez who lives in nearby Avenal, Calif.

An added major attraction features Marlen Esparza in a unification rematch against Gabriela “La Chucky” Alaniz for the WBA, WBC, WBO flyweight titles. Their first fight was

a controversial win by Esparza that saw one judge give her nine of 10 rounds in a very close fight. Those Texas judges.

In a match that could steal the show, Oscar Duarte (26-2-1, 21 KOs) faces former world champion Jojo Diaz (33-5-1, 15 KOs) in a lightweight match.

Munguia and Canelo

Don’t sleep on this match.

Its current Golden Boy fighter Jaime Munguia facing former Golden Boy fighter Saul “Canelo” Alvarez in a battle between Mexico’s greatest sluggers next week at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on May 4.

“I think Jaime Munguia is going to do something special in the ring,” said Oscar De La Hoya, the CEO for Golden Boy.

Tijuana’s Munguia showed up at the Wild Card Boxing gym in Hollywood where a throng of media from Mexico and the US met him.

Munguia looked confident and happy about his opportunity to fight great Canelo.

“It’s a hard fight,” said Munguia. “Truth is, its big for Mexico and not only for Mexicans but for boxing.”

Fights to Watch

Fri. DAZN 6 p.m. Yoeniz Tellez (7-0) vs Joseph Jackson (19-0).

Sat. DAZN 9:30 a.m. Peter McGrail (8-1) vs Marc Leach (18-3-1); Beatriz Ferreira (4-0) vs Yanina Del Carmen 14-3).

Sat. DAZN 5 p.m. Vergil Ortiz (20-0) vs Thomas Dulorme (26-6-1); Jose Carlos Ramirez (28-1) vs Rances Barthelemy (30-2-1); Marlen Esparza (14-1) vs Gabriela Alaniz (14-1).

Photo credit: Cris Esqueda / Golden Boy Promotions

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