By Francisco Salazar
Middleweight contender Steven Butler wants to close 2018 on a solid note tonight as he squares off against Jesus Antonio Gutierrez.
The 10-round bout will take place at Le Centre Financiere Sun Life in Rimouski, Quebec, Canada.
Butler (25-1-1, 22 knockouts) stopped previously-unbeaten Jordan Balmir in round three of his last bout on Oct. 6 in Quebec City. The Montreal resident has stopped his last seven opponents, all by knockout, since his knockout loss to Brandon Cook in January of last year.
Butler, who owns a regional WBC title belt, is ranked number five by the WBO.
The 23-year-old Butler will have his hands full against Gutierrez, who is unbeaten in his last six bouts.
Gutierrez (25-2-2, 12 KOs) stopped Alvaro Ortiz Diaz in his last bout on July 14 in his hometown of Tijuana.
Gutierrez’s most notable bout took place in June of 2016, when he lost a close 10 round unanimous decision to contender Gabriel Rosado. Gutierrez dropped Rosado in round four and many at ringside thought Gutierrez did enough to win.
Unbeaten prospects will highlight the undercard of the Eye of the Tiger Promotions cars.
Featherweight Andranik Grigoryan (8-0, 1 KO), who was born in Armenia and now resides in Montreal, will face Javier Franco (34-19-5, 16 KOs) of Mexico.
Hard-hitting junior middleweight Artem Oganesyan (7-0, 6 KOs) of Russia will square off against Mexico’s Juan Manuel Mares (20-15, 17 KOs).
Super middleweight Nurzat Sabirov will face Rocky Montoya (32-2, 22 KOs) of Mexico. Sabirov (7-0, 6 KOs) is originally from Kazakhstan and now resides in Montreal.
Francisco A. Salazar has written for Boxingscene since September of 2012 and has covered boxing in Southern California and abroad since 2000. Francisco also covers boxing for the Ventura County (California) Star newspaper. He can be reached by email at santio89@yahoo.com or on Twitter at FSalazarBoxing
