The pound for pound number one boxer in this writer’s opinion the WBA Super Lightweight Champion Ukraine’s Vasiliy “High Tech” Lomachenko, will try to unify his title by taking on the WBO World Lightweight Champion Puerto Rico’s Jose “Sniper” Pedraza. This event takes place Saturday night over ESPN at the Madison Square Garden Theater, in New York, promoted by Bob Arum’s Top Rank.
Lomachenko, 11-1 (9), will be making his first defense since winning his third weight division world title he won in May of this year. He dethroned Venezuela’s Jorge “El Nino de Oro Golden Boy” Linares, then 44-3, out of Japan, in the tenth round after coming off the canvas in the sixth round, at MSG.
Lomachenko, a southpaw, had right shoulder surgery and will be looking to defeat Pedraza, who in August won the WBO title defeating Raymundo “Sugar” Beltran, then 35-7-1, by decision, having Beltran on the canvas in the eleventh round at the Gila River Arena, in Glendale, AZ.
In the co-feature the WBO World Super Bantamweight Champion Isaac “Royal Storm” Dogboe, 20-0 (14), of Ghana, residing in the UK, makes his second title defense since winning the title in April. He will be defending against No. 2 ranked Emanuel “Vaquero” Navarrete, 25-1 (22), of Distrito Federal, MEX. Navarrete has won his last eight bouts by stoppage.
This is an 8 bout card including a vacant NABF Lightweight bout between Teofimo “El Brooklyn” Lopez, 10-0 (8), of Las Vegas, NV, taking on Mason “Rock Hard Mighty” Menard, 34-3 (24), of Rayne, LA. Russian Welterweight Alexander Besputin, 11-0 (9), of Oxnard, CA, takes on Juan Carlos “Merengue” Abreu, 21-4-1 (19), of DR, over 10 rounds.
Super Lightweight Michael “The Artist, Michael Angelo” Perez, 25-2-2 (11), of Newark, NJ, takes on Abdiel “Mortero” Ramirez, 23-3-1 (21), of Chihuahua, MEX, over 8 rounds. Super Lightweight Puerto Rico’s Josue “The Prodigy” Vargas, 11-1 (7), of the Bronx, NY, takes on John “El Emperador” Renteria, 16-5-1 (12), of Panama City, PAN, over 8 rounds.
Former National Golden Gloves Champion Brian Ceballo, 5-0 (3), of New York, takes on Daniel “Kaos” Calzada, 16-19-3 (2), of Dona Ana, NM, over 6 rounds. Italian Heavyweight Guido Vianello makes his debut taking on Luke Lyons, 5-1-1 (2), of Ashland, KY, in a 4.