Top Rank adds combustible Conlan to stable
■ Friday: Knockout Night at the D, Downtown Las Vegas Events Center, 6:30 p.m., CBSSN
■ Nov. 5: Manny Pacquiao vs. Jessie Vargas, Thomas & Mack Center, 6 p.m., Top Rank PPV
■ Nov. 18: Knockout Night at the D, Downtown Las Vegas Events Center, TBD, CBSSN
■ Nov. 19: Andre Ward vs. Sergey Kovalev, T-Mobile Arena, 6 p.m., HBO PPV
■ Dec. 17: TGB Promotions, MGM Grand Garden, TBD duction in the U.K., but he gained fame worldwide after his Olympic outburst. Conlan dominated the quarterfinal bout and made his voice heard by ripping the judges after they gave the win to Russia’s Vladimir Nikitin. NOVEMBER UNDERCARDS
The Nov. 5 pay-per-view undercard is set for Manny Pacquiao-Jessie Vargas at Thomas & Mack Center
Las Vegan Jessie Magdaleno will get his first title shot when he faces WBO junior featherweight titlist Nonito Donaire in the co-main event.
Rising star Oscar Valdez will make his first WBO featherweight defense against Japan’s Hiroshige Osawa, the mandatory challenger. Zou Shiming, the two-time Olympic gold medalist from China, meets Thailand’s Kwanpichit Onesongchaigym for the vacant WBO flyweight belt.
Ticket sales are off to a brisk start, according to Arum, with only a few hundred $54 tickets left. Arum said he is optimistic the event will sell out the 18,000-seat venue.
“Instead of scaling it back,” Arum said, “what we did from the get-go was we took almost 7,000 seats and made them $50. We gave people the opportunity to see Manny Pacquiao live in person for $50. That’s a big thing.”
Also, the first match on the Sergey Kovalev-Andre Ward undercard Nov. 19 at T-Mobile Arena has been announced. Isaac Chilemba, a tough veteran from Malawi, faces Oleksandr Gvozdyk, a rising contender from the Ukraine, in a light heavyweight battle. CANELO, GGG UPDATES With Saul “Canelo” Alvarez side- lined the rest of the year with a fractured right thumb, that creates an opening Dec. 10 on HBO.
Gennady “GGG” Golovkin hopes to slide into that spot for his next bout and it could be a good one. Daniel Jacobs, arguably the best middleweight not named Golovkin, is in negotiations to face the three-belt knockout artist from Kazakhstan. Madison Square Garden is the frontrunner to land the match. SHOWDOWN IN THE UK
Anthony Crolla and Jorge Linares meet Saturday in Manchester, England, in a matchup between the two best lightweights. Crolla risks his WBA belt against Linares’ WBC belt, with the 135-pound lineal title at stake. The showdown can be found on the AWE channel or Klowdtv.com at 2:30 p.m. Contact Gilbert Manzano at gmanzano@reviewjournal. com or 702-383-0492. Follow @gmanzano24 on Twitter.