Sanchez to be in semi-main of Vegas Top Rank card
Bout on June 23 means he won’t be part of local Legacy program
Albuquerque featherweight Jason Sanchez, it appears, will be the first New Mexican back in the boxing ring after COVID-19 shut down the sport in March.
Saturday, ESPN reported that Sanchez (15-1, eight knockouts) will face Christopher Diaz (25-2, 16 KOs) in the semi-main event of a Top Rank, Inc., card on June 23. The 10-round bout is scheduled to take place at the MGM Conference Center, with no fans in attendance, in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The June 23 card is the last of six fan-free Top Rank cards scheduled for June, all to be telecast on an ESPN platform to be announced later.
Sanchez and Diaz, of Barranquitas, Puerto Rico, are coming off victories over Adeilson dos Santos — Diaz by eight-round unanimous decision on Jan. 18, Sanchez by fourth-round knockout on Oct. 26.
Diaz’s two losses came against Japan’s Mayasuki Ito in a bid for the WBO super featherweight title and against current WBO featherweight champion Shakur Stevenson.
The only blemish (if one can call it that) on Sanchez’s record was a loss by unanimous decision in a WBO featherweight title fight against then-champion Oscar Valdez, who since has moved up in weight.
Saturday’s news means that Sanchez will not fight on a scheduled June 27 Legacy Promotions card at the Albuquerque Convention Center’s Kiva Auditorium. Jordan Perez, who runs Legacy with his brother Aaron, told the
Journal earlier this month that it was likely Sanchez would get a spot on a Top Rank card.
Perez remains unsure if the June 27 date will be feasible in light of coronavirus concerns. When the card happens, he said, super featherweight Aaron Angel Perez (10-0, six KOs), his nephew, would fight the main event in Sanchez’s absence.
In his role as an adviser to Sanchez, Jordan Perez told the Journal earlier that Top Rank had mentioned Diaz and former super bantamweight world champion Isaac Dogboe as possible opponents. Dogboe is not listed as a participant on any of the upcoming Top Rank cards.
The June 23 card is to be headlined by a bout between super flyweights Andrew Moloney (21-0, 14 KOs) of Australia and Joshua Franco (16-1-2, eight KOs) of San Antonio, Texas.
The first Top Rank card, scheduled for June 9 at the same venue, will be headlined by Stevenson (13-0, seven KOs), of Alexandria, Virginia, making his first title defense against Felix Caraballo (13-1-2, nine KOs) of Puerto Rico.