A crossroads fight between junior lightweights Jessie Magdaleno and Muhammadkhuja Yaqubov will serve as the main event on November 29 at the Save Mart Center in Fresno, California. The show will stream on ProBox TV.
Magdaleno, 30-3 (19 KOs), is a former junior featherweight titleholder who won the WBO belt from Nonito Donaire in 2016 and lost it in his second defense, suffering an 11th-round knockout to Isaac Dogboe in 2018.
The 33-year-old, who lives in the Las Vegas region, has not been overly active in recent years. Magdaleno fought once in 2020, not at all in 2021, and once apiece in 2022, 2023 (a decision loss to Raymond Ford) and 2024 (a ninth-round KO loss to Brandon Figueroa). Magdaleno vs. Figueroa was for the interim WBC belt at 126lbs, but Magdaleno came in more than two pounds over the limit.
Magdaleno returned this past March and scored a third-round stoppage of the 15-7 Luis Coria. He is not currently ranked at junior lightweight by any of the four major sanctioning bodies.
Yaqubov, 23-1 (12 KOs), is a 30-year-old from Tajikistan who is ranked fourth at 130lbs by the WBC, whose title is owned by O’Shaquie Foster. Yaqubov’s lone loss came in 2022, when he dropped a wide decision to Foster. He has put together a five-fight win streak since. Most recently, Yaqubov took a majority decision in August against the 19-2 William Foster III.
In the co-feature, junior flyweight contender Erik Badillo will face former titleholder Elwin Soto.
Badillo, 18-0 (8 KOs), is rated first at 108lbs by the WBC and WBO, 8th by the IBF and 12th by the WBA. In July, he outpointed Gerardo Zapata in a WBC elimination bout; the title is held by Carlos Canizales.
Soto, 21-3-1 (13 KOs), won the WBO junior flyweight title in 2019 with a 12th-round TKO of Angel Acosta. He made three successful defenses before losing a split decision to Jonathan Gonzalez in 2021. Soto then lost again, edged unanimously but narrowly by one point on all three scorecards against former champ Hekkie Budler.
Soto is 2-0-1 since then and last fought in November 2024, when he had to settle for a split draw with the 11-3-3 Moises Caro. He is currently ranked 12th by the WBO and 13th by the WBC.
(Note: ProBox TV and BoxingScene are both owned by Garry Jonas.)
David Greisman, who has covered boxing since 2004, is on Twitter @FightingWords2. David’s book, “Fighting Words: The Heart and Heartbreak of Boxing,” is available on Amazon.
