Undercard of the Chavez Jr. vs Martinez mega fight
Unbelievable as it may seem all of these great boxers (L to R) Mike Lee, Joachim Alcine, Guillermo Rigondeaux, Rocky Martinez, Matthew Macklin, Miguel Beltran Jr., Roberto Marroquin and Paul Harness are scheduled to fight on the same undercard in a supporting role for the Chavez Jr. versus Martinez mega fight. Photo: Chris Farina/Top Rank
When I first saw the names and then the photo, I thought this has to be a list or perhaps a meeting of all the top boxers that have bouts coming up on HBO or Showtime. But it isn’t. It’s actually a photo of the boxers on the undercard of Saturday night’s Pay-per-view championship bout. Today, this group of world renown boxers attended a press conference at the Wynn Las Vegas Hotel for their fights on the ‘Sold-Out’ Mexican Independence Day Middleweight championship battle between undefeated WBC Middleweight Champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (46-0-1, 32 KOs) and two-division world champion Sergio Martinez (49-2-2, 28 KOs).
That bout will take place Saturday night at the Thomas & Mack Center, Las Vegas, Nevada, with the show promoters being Bob Arum of Top Rank and Lou DiBella of Lou DiBella Entertainment along with HBO Pay Per View.
Could this be the best Undercard ever? It sure looks that way. Usually when you have a brilliant matchup in the Main Event and the promoters are dishing out bucketfuls of cash to the headliners, there are only scraps left for the fighters on the undercard.
And when did we ever hear of a separate press conference just for the undercard? Believe me, this star studded undercard deserves the added attention. They include:
Former world champion Roman Martinez (25-1-1, 16 KOs) going up against Miguel Beltran Jr. (27-1, 17 KOs) for the vacant WBO super featherweight title.
WBA super bantamweight title holder Guillermo Rigondeaux (10-0-0, 8 KOs) vs. Robert Marroquin (22-1-0, 15 KOs).
Middleweight contender Matthew Macklin (28-4-0, 19 KOs) vs. former 154lb. world champion Joachim Alcine (33-2-1, 19 KOs) in a 10 rounder.
Notre Dame champion Mike Lee (10-0, 6 KOs) vs. Paul Harness (4-3-1, 3 KOs) in a four round light heavyweight match.
John Jackson (13-0-0, 12 KOs), son of the famed Julian Jackson, vs. Willie Nelson (18-1-1, 11 KOs) for the vacant NABF middleweight title.
KO artist Wale Omotoso (22-0-0, 19 KOs) vs. Daniel Sostre (11-6-1, 4 KOs) in an eight round welterweight match.
Michael Medina (25-3-2, 19 KOs) vs. James Winchester (15-4-0, 5 KOs) in an eight round light middleweight fight.
