By Ryan Maquinana
Efrain Esquivias will now face Cecilio Santos for the vacant NABF super bantamweight title Aug. 19 at the Omega Products International building in Corona, Calif., per Esquivias’s manager, Eddie Gonzales.
Raul Hirales was Esquivias’s original opponent, but he reportedly sustained a hand injury in his stoppage victory over Luis Zambrano last weekend, prompting Santos to replace him.
Esquivias (13-0, 9 KOs), of Carson, Calif., is coming off a third-round stoppage of John Alberto Molina that netted him the WBA Fedelatin 122-pound belt.
The 32-year-old Santos (27-20-3, 17 KOs) of Mexico City has lost five of his last seven, but won his last bout, a fourth-round technical knockout of Benito Abraham.
Ryan Maquiñana is the boxing correspondent at Comcast SportsNet Bay Area and a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. E-mail him at rmaquinana@gmail.com, contact him on Facebook at www.facebook.com/rmaq28 or follow him on Twitter: @RMaq28.