Stiverne-Wilder Bill: Imam-Maldonado, Santa Cruz-Ruiz

By Francisco Salazar

Unbeaten junior welterweight Amir Imam will fight Fidel Maldonado on January 17 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The 10-round bout will open the Showtime Championship Boxing telecast, Stephen Espinoza confirmed to BoxingScene.com late Tuesday afternoon.

Espinoza is the Executive Vice President and General Manager at Showtime Sports.

In the main event, heavyweight Bermane Stiverne will defend his WBC heavyweight title against unbeaten Deontay Wilder.

Imam (15-0, 13 KOs) has scored impressive wins in his last three bouts. In his last bout on December 13, Imam knocked out Santos Benavides in the sixth round in Tampa, Florida.

He stopped Jared Robinson in the fourth round in Cleveland, Ohio on February 21, and almost three years later, won an eight round unanimous decision over Yordenis Ugas on May 10.

After losing back-to-back bouts to Michael Perez and Fernando Carcamo in 2012, Maldonado (19-2, 16 KOs) would win his next six bouts in a row.

In his last bout on December 20, Maldonado and Fernando Silva fought to a no contest when referee Florentino Lopez stopped the bout when both fighters illegally hit and shoved one another.

Also on the card, it looks like Leo Santa Cruz (28-0-1, 16 KOs) will defend his world title belt against Jesus Ruiz (33-5-5, 22 KOs).

Francisco A. Salazar has written for Boxingscene.com since September of 2012 and has covered boxing in Southern California and abroad since 2000. Salazar also covers boxing for the Ventura County (CA) Star newspaper, RingTV, and Knockout Nation. He can be reached by email at santio89@yahoo.com or on Twitter at FSalazarBoxing