PLANT CITY, Fla. — The main event did their job on Thursday morning as William Foster III and Muhammadkhuja Yaqubov cleared the 130lbs weight limit.
Foster, 19-2 (11 KOs), came in at 129.6lbs, while Yaqubov, 22-1 (12 KOs), was slightly lighter at 129.4lbs. Their ten-round fight will headline Friday’s ProBox card at the RP Funding Center in Lakeland, Florida.
Foster, 31, of New Haven, Connecticut is on a two-fight win streak and is rated no. 7 by the WBA at 130lbs, while the 30-year-old Yaqubov of Isfara, Tajikistan is rated no. 5 by the WBC and has won four straight.
For the ten-round co-main event, Shinard Bunch was slightly over the 142lbs contracted weight at 142.2lbs but wasn’t required to strip naked by his opponent Starling Castillo, who had no issues making weight at 141lbs. Bunch, 21-2-1 (17 KOs), of Trenton, New Jersey is fighting for the first time in two years, while Castillo, 19-1-1 (13 KOs), of Quina Sueneo, Dominican Republic hasn't fought since a March 2024 split decision over Jesus Saracho.
The biggest headscratcher of the morning came from Dormedes Potes, who is scheduled to face Weljon Mindoro in an eight-round middleweight fight. Potes blew the 162lbs contracted catchweight by over seven pounds, checking in at 169.4lbs. Mindoro also came in slightly over the limit at 162.2lbs, which was one pair of underwear from being on the money. Potes, 14-7-1 (10 KOs), of Barranquilla, Colombia was given an hour to make the contract limit while Mindoro, 14-0-1 (14 KOs), of Dumingag, Zamboanga del Sur, Philippines was off to rehydrate.
As of publication time, only one fight was officially scratched as Iron Alvarez, who came in at 135.4lbs, informed ProBox that he couldn’t cut anymore weight to get closer to the 131lbs contract weight for his bout with Dominic Valle, who came in at 130.4lbs.
Dominic Valle will instead be in the arena to watch his brothers, Marques and Kenyan Valle, who will face Luis Georges and Lai Thang, respectively.
Marques Valle, 10-1 (7 KOs), came in at 161.6lbs while Georges, 12-0 (10 KOs), was 161.4lbs. The fight will be the first for the 26-year-old Marques Valle since his first pro loss, a split decision to Damian Sosa in April of 2024. Kenyan Valle, 21, is making his pro debut. He weighed 123lbs while Thang, 2-3, of Texas came in at 122.8lbs.
The weigh-in results are below:
Junior lightweight - 10 rounds
William Foster (129.6lbs) vs Muhammadkhuja Yaqubov (129.4lbs)
Junior welterweight - 10 rounds
Shinard Bunch (142.2lbs) vs Starling Castillo (141lbs)
Middleweight - 10 rounds
Marques Valle (161.6lbs) vs Luis Georges (161.4lbs)
Middleweight - 8 rounds
Weljon Mindoro (162.2lbs) vs Dormedes Potes (169.4lbs)
Junior featherweight - 8 rounds
Gary Antonio Russell (122.2lbs) vs Dervin Rodriguez (122.8lbs)
Junior featherweight - 4 rounds
Kenyan Valle (123) vs Lai Thang (122.8lbs)
Junior welterweight - 4 rounds
Miguel Mendez (142.8lbs) vs Andrew Flamm (142.2lbs)
Lightweight - 6 rounds
Narek Hovhannisyan (136.6lbs) vs Kenneth Sene (135.6lbs)
Lightweight - 4 rounds
Noah Timoteo (140.4lbs) vs Alexander Taylor (133.2 lbs)