Photo by Marilyn Paulino/RBRBoxing
On Saturday, January 28, 2017, there will be two action-packed boxing cards featuring the rematch of Carl Frampton (23-0, 14 KOs) and Leo Santa Cruz (32-1-1, 18 KOs) and the return of Francisco Vargas against Miguel Berchelt (30-1, 27 KOs).
The most important of the two cards will be held at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada and features the highly anticipated Featherweight showdown between Carl Frampton and Leo Santa Cruz for the WBA Featherweight title.
In their first fight, which took place in July of 2016, Carl Frampton earned a tough majority decision victory.
This time, Santa Cruz promises to avenge his first career loss, but if the first fight had anything to teach us, it’s that when one matches the two best fighters in a division, it is bound to lead to a tough, close fight.
In the co-main event, Mikey Garcia (35-0, 29 KOs) will return to fight for a world title in his third division, after having won titles at 126 and 130. Garcia will take on the tough Dejan Zlaticanin (22-0, 15 KOs), who just recently won the vacant WBC strap against Franklin Mamani in June of last year.
As for Garcia, this will be his second fight after a long, long lay off. After defeating Juan Carlos Burgos in 2014 to retain his WBO 130-pound title, Garcia was off for two and a half years due to promotional and managerial issues.
In 2016, Garcia made his return fight against Elio Rojas, and he’s quickly making a jump to the upper echelon of the 135-pound division.
The card will also frature Lee Selby defending his IBF Featherweight title. The televised action will begin at 10PM ET/7 PM PT on Showtime.
Francisco Vargas Returns
Photo by Josh Hedges
Also on Saturday is a scheduled 12-round Super Featherweight fight between WBC champion Francisco Vargas and Miguel Berchelt at the Fantasy Springs Casino in Indio, California.
Vargas will be returning after his Fight of the Year slugfest against Orlando Salido, which took place in June of 2016.
Vargas will be attempting his second title defense against Berchelet, a young fighter with an impressive record, though all but one of his fights have taken place in Mexico.
In the co-main event, Takashi Miura (30-3-2, 23 KOs) will take on Miguel Roman (56-11, 43 KOs).
Miura, if you’ll remember, is the man who took on Vargas in a Fight of the Year candidate in the co-main event of Cotto-Canelo in November of 2015.
Since then, Miura has only fought once, a first-round KO victory against Jimmy Borbon in June of 2016.
Miura’s return, which will be against a tough veteran, will likely be a war.
Also, the card is full of young talent, including Tureano Johnson, Lamont Roach Jr., and Sadam Ali.
The televised action will begin live on HBO at 10:00 p.m. ET/PT.
Header Photo by Marilyn Paulino/RBRBoxing
