Jose Zepeda still hopes to fight Ivan Baranchyk.
The 140-pound contenders were supposed to meet Tuesday night in what was one of the most anticipated matches among fans since boxing returned to television in the United States on June 9. If Zepeda overcomes Kendo Castaneda, the injured Baranchyk’s late replacement, in a main event ESPN will broadcast from Las Vegas, the highly regarded southpaw would welcome rescheduling the Baranchyk bout as soon as possible.
“We’re ready for Baranchyk,” Zepeda told BoxingScene.com. “I know that fight, a lot of people were looking forward to it. We’re top contenders, and I thought that whoever won that fight was gonna go for a title. And I believe it can still happen. He got hurt. I don’t know if anybody knows how serious it was, but hopefully he’s OK and we can reschedule it. After this fight, if everything goes good, obviously, I can fight Baranchyk within the next two months. I don’t mind.”
Baranchyk’s availability will depend on how long it takes for him to recover from the rib injury he suffered while sparring late last month.
The former IBF junior welterweight champion’s handlers initially thought he would be able to take a couple weeks off and have his fight versus Zepeda rescheduled for some time in August. Baranchyk (20-1, 13 KOs) didn’t suffer a fractured rib, but the rugged Russian needed more time than that away from the gym to recover.
If their fight is rescheduled, Zepeda expects that he would out-box Baranchyk, who lost his IBF belt to Scotland’s Josh Taylor (16-0, 12 KOs) in May 2019.
“I would box him all day, for the 10 rounds or 12 rounds, whatever it would be,” Zepeda said. “I was able to do that with [Jose] Ramirez for six rounds and then the 11th, I believe. But this time, I was gonna come a hundred percent. I was gonna be able to do that for 10 or 12 rounds. I was a hundred-percent ready. He wasn’t gonna be able to get me with a big punch, I don’t think so.”
The 31-year-old Zepeda (31-2, 25 KOs, 2 NC), of La Puente, California, is a 5-1 favorite to defeat San Antonio’s Castaneda (17-1, 8 KOs, 1 NC). On barely seven days’ notice, the 26-year-old Castaneda will attempt to bounce back from suffering his lone loss in his last fight – a 10-round, majority-decision defeat to Puerto Rico’s Yomar Alamo (18-0-1, 12 KOs) on February 28 in Kissimmee, Florida.
ESPN’s telecast Tuesday night also will include a 10-round junior lightweight bout between Andy Vences (23-1-1, 12 KOs), of San Jose, California, and Mexico’s Luis Alberto Lopez (20-2, 11 KOs).
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.