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All 4 featherweights made weight for a title battle doubleheader this weekend.
Mexicali’s Luis Alberto Lopez was a preventing match 125.3 kilos for the third protection of his IBF 126-pound title. The Ring’s No. 2-rated featherweight will face obligatory challenger Reiya Abe, No. 8 at 126 by Ring who weighed 125.8 kilos for his first profession title battle.
Otabek Kholmatov and Raymond Ford had been each underneath the featherweight restrict for his or her vacant WBA title battle.
Uzbekistan’s Kholmatov—who lives and trains in Hollywood, Florida—weighed 125.8 kilos, whereas Ford—a southpaw from Camden, New Jersey—was 125.9 kilos.
The pair of unbeaten featherweights enter their first profession title battle.
Each bouts co-headline a nine-fight present offered by High Rank this Saturday on ESPN+ from Turning Stone Resort On line casino in Verona, New York.
Lopez (29-2, 16 knockouts), 30, has gained his final twelve contests. The run contains three wins within the U.Okay.—a seventh-round knockout of Isaac Lowe of their Dec. 2021 IBF title eliminator; a Dec. 2022 majority choice win over two-time IBF titlist Josh Warrington (31-3-1, 8 KOs; No. 7 at 126) to win the belt in Leeds after which a rousing fifth-round knockout of Michael Conlan to defend it final Might 27 in Belfast, Northern Eire.
In his most up-to-date outing, Lopez outpointed three-time title challenger Joet Gonzalez (26-4, 15 KOs) final September 15 in Corpus Christi, Texas.
Abe (25-3-1, 10 KOs; No. 8 at 126) makes his U.S. debut. The 30-year-old southpaw from Yamato, Kanagawa has fought completely in Japan all through his eleven-year professional profession. He earned the title alternative with a twelve-round, unanimous choice over former two-division titlist Kiko Martinez final April 8 in Tokyo. The win was his sixth in a row.
Kholmatov (12-0, 11 KOs) fights for the title precisely 52 weeks to the day he turned the obligatory challenger. The 25-year-old Uzbek emerged to the highest spot after a fifth-round knockout of Thomas Patrick Ward of their March 4 title eliminator between unbeaten contenders in Newcastle, England.
Ford (14-0-1, 7 KOs) final fought on April 8, when he soundly outpointed former 122-pound titleholder Jessie Magdaleno (29-2, 18 KOs) in San Antonio, Texas. The 24-year-old contender—who’s promoted by Matchroom Boxing—pushed for a battle versus Kholmatov, no matter stakes. Nonetheless, the bout made extra sense to attend after it was discovered that Nottingham’s Leigh Wooden (28-3, 17 KOs) deliberate to vacate the WBA title after his seventh-round knockout win over Warrington final October 7 in Sheffield, England.
Preliminary undercard, ESPN+, Saturday, 5:20 p.m. ET.
Brian Norman Jr (25-0, 19 KOs), Conyers, Georgia, 148.4 kilos vs. Janelson Figueroa Bocachica (17-2-1, 11 KOs), Detroit, 146.6 kilos—10 rounds, welterweight
Bryce Mills (14-1, 5 KOs), Liverpool, New York, 138.7 kilos vs. Gerffred Ngayot (6-1, 5 KOs), Buffalo by way of Brazzaville, Congo, 138.7 kilos—6 rounds, junior welterweight
Troy Isley (11-0, 4 KOs), Alexandria, Virginia, 159.3 kilos vs. Marcos Hernandez (16-6-2, 3 KOs), Fresno, California, 160.6 kilos—8 rounds, middleweight
Rohan Polanco (11-0, 7 KOs) Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, 143.2 kilos vs. Tarik Zaina (13-0-1, 8 KOs), Tijuana by way of Tangier, Morocco, 142.4 kilos—8 rounds, welterweight
Floyd Diaz (10-0, 3 KOs), Las Vegas, 118 kilos vs. Edwin Rodriguez (12-7-2, 5 KOs), Juana Diaz, Puerto Rico, 117.8 kilos—8 rounds, bantamweight
Nico Ali Walsh (8-1, 5 KOs), Las Vegas by way of Chicago, 156.9 kilos vs. Charles Stanford (7-5, 4 KOs), Cincinnati, Ohio, 155.1 kilos—6 rounds, middleweight (157-pound contracted restrict)
Brandon Moore (13-0, 8 KOs), Lakeland, Florida, 242 kilos vs. Helaman Olguin (9-6-1, 4 KOs), South Jordan, Utah, 281.7 kilos—8 rounds, heavyweight
Jake Donovan is a senior author for The Ring and vice chairman of the Boxing Writers Affiliation of America (BWAA). X (previously Twitter): @JakeNDaBox
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