While 2016 Colombian Olympian Juan Carrillo will be looking to continue his undefeated professional record in the night’s 10-round light heavyweight main event against veteran Quinton Rankin, two other transplanted Detroit-based fighters in the Salita Promotions stable: recent world-title challenger Shohjahon Ergashev, and super middleweight contender Vladimir Shishkin, will be fighting to regain or maintain their positions in the world rankings.
The trio of exciting fights highlight the next installment of “Big Time Boxing USA” presented by Salita Promotions this Thursday, March 28, at Wayne State Fieldhouse in Detroit and streamed live on DAZN (8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT). .
“These fights are really lined up to be exciting because there are truly big fights on the horizon with victories on Thursday night,” said Dmitriy Salita, President of Salita Promotions. “Shishkin is deserving of a world title fight and has the skills and pedigree to beat anyone in the division, while Ergashev is eager to show that he’s still one of the best fighters at 140 pounds. Super middleweight and super lightweight are two of the deepest divisions in the sport and these fighters are right in the mix.”
IBF #14-ranked Ergashev (23-1, 20 KOs), who will be entering the ring for the first time since his unsuccessful challenge for Subriel Matias’ IBF World Super Lightweight Championship last year, will take on Panama City veteran Juan Huertas (17-4-1, 13 KOs) in the 10-round super lightweight co-main event, while IBF #2 and WBO #10 Shishkin (15-0, 9 KOs) returns to battle the always tough Mike Guy (12-7-1, 5 KOs) in the 10-round super middleweight broadcast opener.
The 32-year-old Ergashev had looked, at times, unstoppable while dominating other then-undefeated prospects in nationally televised showdowns, including a TKO 3 over unbeaten Sonny Fredrickson and a unanimous decision over Mykal Fox, but ran into the fists of Matias, while also suffering a leg injury that hampered his performance, last November.
Ergashev, who has continued to work with renowned trainer SugarHill Steward for the fight against Huertas, will be looking to use the leverage of an impressive performance to regain the top-10 ranking he previously enjoyed.
However, if the slugger’s confidence was affected by the loss to Matias, he could be in for a rough night against Huertas, who in his nearly 11-year boxing career has held several national and regional championships, including the Panamanian Super Featherweight, WBA Fedecentro Super Featherweight, WBA Fedelatin Super Featherweight, and WBO Latino Lightweight titles.
Against Sacramento’s Guy, Shishkin will need to pull through victorious if he is to keep his valuable #2 ranking for an eventual lucrative and potentially star-making shot at Canelo Alvarez’s IBF World Championship.
