Former two-time junior welterweight champion, Regis Prograis, was originally slated as the opponent for Oscar Duarte (28-2-1, 22 KOs). But as the shopworn Prograis had to pull out a couple of weeks ago with a shoulder ailment, Golden Boy scrambled to find an opponent.
This wasn't just about saving the main event slot for Duarte, but really salvaging the rest of the card that takes place at the Honda Center in Anaheim on Saturday night.
Late last week, Golden Boy secured the services of a seasoned veteran.
"We have a show, we were able to get Miguel Madueno (31-3, 28 KOs)," a relieved Eric Gomez told SNAC.com. "He gave Keyshawn Davis a helluva fight. It's probably even a better fight. The guy's aggressive. It's more action, both guys are going to stand right in front of each other and bang away. It's going to be great."
Team Madueno
While he doesn't bring the profile of Prograis, Madueno fits the bill in that he's a willing fighter, who you don't need MapQuest to find inside the ring.
According to the president of GBP, they were able to secure Madueno relatively quickly. The goal was to salvage the main event and be able to proceed with the rest of the show that includes the likes of Kenneth Sims, Joel Iriarte and Darius Fulghum.
The worst thing that can happen to any card is for it to get completely scrapped. Which would mean that a multitude of fighters will not just miss out on a payday, but will also most likely not get rescheduled for at least a couple of months as the next network date comes open. This particular card is being broadcast on DAZN this weekend.
Golden Boy Promotions
Gomez explained, "the worst thing that can happen to a promoter is losing half of your main event, or the entire main event. It's very hard, especially with 10 days to go, it's very difficult. It's tough. But I'm
happy that we were able to find someone that's suitable, and it's going to be a good fight."
Duarte is coming off a tough 10 round battle versus the seasoned Bahtyr Akhmedov back in November. The match-up with Prograis was one that is a tried and true formula in boxing, where a younger foe is paired with a well-known veteran that is thought to be on the back nine of his career. This could be described as a crossroads bout.
Cris Esqueda/GBP
It's one that Gomez is willing to revisit.
"Yeah, if he's healthy we can definitely have a talk," he stated. "He's a valuable fighter, we were excited about the possibility of working with him. We'll see."
Moving forward, as we move into the spring months, Golden Boy is looking to fill out their schedule. Bouts involving unified cruiserweight champion, Gilberto Ramirez, and the rematch between welterweights Alexis Rocha and Raul Curiel will be prioritized.
"With 'Zurdo', he's going to have to complete his mandatory (Yunier Dorticos) and we're looking at an April date, just finalizing the details," said Gomez, who then added, "with the welterweights, Alexis Rocha has pretty much told us that he wants the rematch, and so we're working on a couple of dates where we can do that fight."
Gomez says that they will try and put both these bouts in the Southern California area.
WEEKEND BOXING
On Friday night, Top Rank (which will see their relationship with ESPN come to an end this summer) will have a card from the Madison Square Garden Theater that features a lightweight title bout between WBO belt-holder, Denys Berinchyk, defending his title versus Keyshawn Davis.
The 36-year old Berinchyk who won the vacant title by out-pointing Emanuel Navarette last May is a tough plugger, but this has the feel of a coronation for the talented Davis. Things got spiced up a bit as Davis accused Berinchyk of sending him some bananas and a watermelon.
I half expect Berinchyk now to get sprayed with paint outside the fight hotel tomorrow morning.
DAZN, in addition to the Golden Boy card on Saturday night, has a show from Manchester, England that has a main event between junior welterweight contenders, Jack Catterall and Arnold Barboza. This bout is for the WBO interim title at 140. The winner of this bout becomes the mandatory to Teofimo Lopez.
Catterall is ranked second in the division by Ring Magazine, while Barboza is ninth. My sense is that it will be tough for Barboza to out-box 'el Gato' and he will not win a lot of close rounds in the UK. For him to win this bout, Barboza will have to really bring the fight to Catterall.
Golden Boy Promotions
3KR
This week on 'the 3 Knockdown Rule', Mario Lopez and I preview these bouts and discuss the Canelo Alvarez/Jake Paul situation from last week:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AtDlHjA9PP8&t=326s
To subscribe on your preferred podcast platform, click on the Linkee:
