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Top Rank is planning a pay-per-view card that will feature three of its world titleholders making defenses, as well as the professional debut of 2016 U.S. Olympic silver medalist Shakur Stevenson, on April 22 from the StubHub Center in Carson, California, chairman Bob Arum told ESPN on Monday.
Arum said featherweight Oscar Valdez, super middleweight Gilberto "Zurdo" Ramirez and junior featherweight Jessie Magdaleno all will defend their world titles on the card, which could be part of a split-site telecast with welterweight world titleholder Manny Pacquiao's proposed defense against Amir Khan, which is in the works to take place at a venue to be determined in the United Arab Emirates on April 23.
Arum said that if Pacquiao-Khan is finalized it would take place in the early morning hours in the UAE in order to coincide with a live evening broadcast in the United States.
While the Pacquiao-Khan deal remains far from done, Arum said he is putting on the card at StubHub Center regardless of what happens with that fight.
Arum said it has not been determined whether he will put on the April 22 card on his own Top Rank PPV platform, as he did with the Pacquiao-Jessie Vargas fight in November, or partner with HBO PPV for the event.
Either way, Arum said his young fighters need to be active and defend their belts.
"I think a card like this is for us to push ahead with the future of these fighters," Arum said. "They're all good, young fighters who need to fight. It would be, obviously, our goal to have these guys featured in main events whether they're on pay-per-view or not on pay-per-view. If we have to go on pay-per-view, that's what we'll do. But we're going to do some good fights and put on a good card."
Valdez (21-0, 19 KOs), of Mexico, will make his second title defense when he squares off with mandatory challenger Miguel Marriaga (25-1, 21 KOs), 30, of Colombia.
Valdez, one of boxing's up-and-coming stars, retained his belt for the first time on the Pacquiao-Vargas pay-per-view by scoring a seventh-round knockout of Hiroshige Osawa. Marriaga has won five fights in a row since he faced Nicholas Walters for a vacant featherweight world title in June 2016 and lost a unanimous decision. Walters had been stripped of the belt the day before the fight because he failed to make the 126-pound weight limit.
Ramirez (34-0, 24 KOs), 25, of Mexico, will make his first defense against Max Bursak (33-4-1, 15 KOs), 32, of Ukraine.
Ramirez won the title by shutout decision against Arthur Abraham in April 2016 but has been out of action since because of a knuckle injury. Ramirez was scheduled to make his first defense this past July on the undercard of the Terence Crawford-Viktor Postol junior welterweight title unification bout, but he tore the tendon around the knuckle of his middle finger on his right hand training for the fight. He withdrew from the bout and had surgery.
Bursak, who has won two fights in a row and fought a middleweight until the last couple of years, has lost whenever he has stepped up to face top opposition, including to Martin Murray and Hassan N'Dam, though he has never been knocked out in any of his defeats.
Magdaleno (24-0, 17 KOs), 25, of Las Vegas, will make his first defense against Adeilson Dos Santos (18-2, 14 KOs), 24, of Brazil.
Magdaleno took a big step up in competition on the Pacquiao-Vargas undercard when he challenged titleholder Nonito Donaire and won a competitive unanimous decision and the 122-pound belt. Dos Santos, who will be a prohibitive underdog, has won two fights in a row since getting starched in the second round by Fabian Oscar Orozco in last March.
The 19-year-old Stevenson, a featherweight from Newark, New Jersey, was the most-sought-after American amateur coming out of the Olympics. He signed with Top Rank earlier this month.
Stevenson's finish in the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games in August was the best by an American male boxer since Andre Ward, his idol and now one of his managers, won a gold medal at the 2004 Athens Olympics. Named after the late rap star Tupac Shakur, Stevenson advanced to the gold-medal final in the 123-pound bantamweight division but lost a split decision to Cuba's Robeisy Ramirez.
Arum said he hoped that the addition of Stevenson, who is African-American and from the East Coast, to a card aimed largely at Hispanic fans, would help "draw a more diverse audience" to the pay-per-view. Arum said Stevenson's pro debut will come in a six-round fight against an opponent to be determined.
Arum said featherweight Oscar Valdez, super middleweight Gilberto "Zurdo" Ramirez and junior featherweight Jessie Magdaleno all will defend their world titles on the card, which could be part of a split-site telecast with welterweight world titleholder Manny Pacquiao's proposed defense against Amir Khan, which is in the works to take place at a venue to be determined in the United Arab Emirates on April 23.
Arum said that if Pacquiao-Khan is finalized it would take place in the early morning hours in the UAE in order to coincide with a live evening broadcast in the United States.
While the Pacquiao-Khan deal remains far from done, Arum said he is putting on the card at StubHub Center regardless of what happens with that fight.
Arum said it has not been determined whether he will put on the April 22 card on his own Top Rank PPV platform, as he did with the Pacquiao-Jessie Vargas fight in November, or partner with HBO PPV for the event.
Either way, Arum said his young fighters need to be active and defend their belts.
"I think a card like this is for us to push ahead with the future of these fighters," Arum said. "They're all good, young fighters who need to fight. It would be, obviously, our goal to have these guys featured in main events whether they're on pay-per-view or not on pay-per-view. If we have to go on pay-per-view, that's what we'll do. But we're going to do some good fights and put on a good card."
Valdez (21-0, 19 KOs), of Mexico, will make his second title defense when he squares off with mandatory challenger Miguel Marriaga (25-1, 21 KOs), 30, of Colombia.
Valdez, one of boxing's up-and-coming stars, retained his belt for the first time on the Pacquiao-Vargas pay-per-view by scoring a seventh-round knockout of Hiroshige Osawa. Marriaga has won five fights in a row since he faced Nicholas Walters for a vacant featherweight world title in June 2016 and lost a unanimous decision. Walters had been stripped of the belt the day before the fight because he failed to make the 126-pound weight limit.
Ramirez (34-0, 24 KOs), 25, of Mexico, will make his first defense against Max Bursak (33-4-1, 15 KOs), 32, of Ukraine.
Ramirez won the title by shutout decision against Arthur Abraham in April 2016 but has been out of action since because of a knuckle injury. Ramirez was scheduled to make his first defense this past July on the undercard of the Terence Crawford-Viktor Postol junior welterweight title unification bout, but he tore the tendon around the knuckle of his middle finger on his right hand training for the fight. He withdrew from the bout and had surgery.
Bursak, who has won two fights in a row and fought a middleweight until the last couple of years, has lost whenever he has stepped up to face top opposition, including to Martin Murray and Hassan N'Dam, though he has never been knocked out in any of his defeats.
Magdaleno (24-0, 17 KOs), 25, of Las Vegas, will make his first defense against Adeilson Dos Santos (18-2, 14 KOs), 24, of Brazil.
Magdaleno took a big step up in competition on the Pacquiao-Vargas undercard when he challenged titleholder Nonito Donaire and won a competitive unanimous decision and the 122-pound belt. Dos Santos, who will be a prohibitive underdog, has won two fights in a row since getting starched in the second round by Fabian Oscar Orozco in last March.
The 19-year-old Stevenson, a featherweight from Newark, New Jersey, was the most-sought-after American amateur coming out of the Olympics. He signed with Top Rank earlier this month.
Stevenson's finish in the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games in August was the best by an American male boxer since Andre Ward, his idol and now one of his managers, won a gold medal at the 2004 Athens Olympics. Named after the late rap star Tupac Shakur, Stevenson advanced to the gold-medal final in the 123-pound bantamweight division but lost a split decision to Cuba's Robeisy Ramirez.
Arum said he hoped that the addition of Stevenson, who is African-American and from the East Coast, to a card aimed largely at Hispanic fans, would help "draw a more diverse audience" to the pay-per-view. Arum said Stevenson's pro debut will come in a six-round fight against an opponent to be determined.
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