Alan David Picasso will get a Las Vegas fight after all.
It’s not on the level of his previously rumored opportunity, but the unbeaten junior featherweight contender is set to return to the ring for the first time this year. BoxingScene has learned that Mexico City’s Picasso, 31-0-1 (17 KOs) will land on the July 19 Mario Barrios-Manny Pacquiao undercard at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
Picasso is due to face Japan’s Kyonosuke Kameda, 15-4-2 (9 KOs), leading into the four-fight Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) on Prime Video Pay-Per-View event. The placement of the 24-year-old Picasso on the card is part of a multi-fight agreement between PBC and Zanfer Boxing, Picasso’s promoter.
News of the bout was first reported by ESPN Knockout’s Salvador “Chava” Rodriguez.
Picasso has been out of the ring since a third-round knockout of Yehison Cuello last December 14 in Tijuana, Mexico. He entered the fight as the WBC’s No. 1 contender for undisputed 122lbs champion Naoya Inoue, 30-0 (27 KOs). The two were rumored to meet earlier this spring, but the fight never materialized.
Despite the failed effort, Picasso remains the top-rated junior featherweight according to the WBC. He will need to remain active while he awaits a title shot, as Inoue is already set to next face former unified titlist Murodjon Akhmadaliev in September.
Kameda will be fighting in North America for the second straight time after having never previously boxed outside his native Japan. His first road trip didn’t end well, as he suffered a seventh-round stoppage loss to former two-division titlist Luis Nery, 36-2 (30 KOs), on February 22 in Tijuana.
The loss snapped a nine-fight unbeaten streak for Kameda, a 26-year-old from Osaka.
Kameda’s personality and fighting spirit left enough of an impression on Zanfer, which promotes both Picasso and Nery, and opted to bring Kameda back over to the States for this fight.
The seven months between fights for Picasso marks his longest stretch out of the ring since 2021. It comes after a five-win campaign in 2024. The run included a knockout win over Damien Vazquez in Vegas last May and a 12-round decision over fringe contender Azat Hovhannisyan last August in his Mexico City hometown.