The first three fights are confirmed for the launch of Zuffa Boxing on Paramount+.
A trio of 10-round fights comprises the starting lineup for the January 23 “Zuffa Boxing 01” card, which will stream live from Meta Apex in Las Vegas. As previously reported by BoxingScene, rising Irish contender Callum Walsh will take on former title challenger Carlos Ocampo in the show’s main event.
The billed middleweight contest is joined by another at the weight. Mexico’s Misael Rodriguez, 15-0 (7 KOs), will take on Virginia’s Austin Deanda, 17-0 (11 KOs), in the evening’s chief support.
Also on the show, resurgent welterweight Julian “Hammer Hands” Rodriguez will collide with Cain Sandoval.
Rodriguez represented Mexico in the 2016 Rio Olympics, where he claimed a bronze medal for Mexico.
However, it has been a slow road to prominence in the pro ranks since his 2017 debut.
Early promotional struggles unfortunately coincided with the global pandemic, which left Rodriguez grounded for three years. He has claimed four wins since his 2022 ring return, though he has been inactive since a 10-round decision over Omar Chavez – son of Hall of Fame legend Julio Cesar Chavez Snr – last January 25 in San Luis Potosi, Mexico.
Deanda is comparatively the more active of the two, though he also fought just once last year. It came in a seventh-round knockout of Jessie Wayne Linton last September 6 in Lynchburg, Virginia. The clash with Rodriguez represents a considerable leap in competition for the 22-year-old Deanda.
New Jersey’s Rodriguez, 24-1 (15 KOs), resurrected his career with his latest performance.
The once-promising prospect leveled off after a June 2021 knockout defeat to Jose Pedraza and was all but forgotten about afterward. However, he returned in 2023 and has won three in a row. None were bigger than his 10th-round knockout of unbeaten Avious Griffin last June 28 in Anaheim, California. Griffin had just signed with Most Valuable Promotions (MVP), which promoted the show topped by company co-founder Jake Paul’s win over Julio Cesar Chavez Jnr. Rodriguez overcame that political disadvantage, as well as being floored in the eighth round, to drop and subsequently stop Avious Griffin with just five seconds to go in their 10-round affair.
An equally stiff test awaits in Sacramento’s Sandoval, 17-0 (15 KOs), who is – along with Walsh – by far the most active fighter on the show.
With three wins last year, the 23-year-old prospect Sandoval was as sweet as his “Sugar” ring moniker.
All three took place at Chumash Casino in Santa Ynez, California, which has housed six of his past eight contests. In his most recent outing, Sandoval stopped Jino Rodrigo in the 10th and final scheduled round of their October 3 UFC Fight Pass-streamed clash. The win extended his current four-fight knockout streak.
Walsh and Sandoval were both prominently featured on the UFC Fight Pass “Hollywood Fight Nights” series headed by 360 Promotions’ Tom Loeffler. The veteran promoter – long considered one of the good guys in the sport and a longtime friend and business partner of Zuffa/UFC head Dana White – will play a prominent role in Zuffa’s development.
“Zuffa Boxing 01” will mark the first boxing event to air on a Paramount Skydance platform since Showtime bowed out of the sport at the end of 2023. The abovementioned card will kick off a big weekend for TKO Group Holdings; UFC on Paramount+ will go live the following evening from nearby T-Mobile Arena.
The first three Zuffa Boxing shows will take place at the company’s intimate Meta Apex venue.
