Photo by Chris Farina

The last time boxing fans saw middleweight contender Matt Korobov inside a ring was on Dec. 13 of 2014, when he was stopped by Andy Lee in the sixth round.

Korobov lost out on becoming a titleholder that night but is still committed to winning championship gold and will look to begin rebuilding Saturday night against Josue Ovando at The Bomb Factory in Dallas.

Due to his inactivity, Korobov (24-1, 14 KOs), who holds wins over Jose Uzcategui and Derek Edwards, is not ranked by any of the major sanctioning bodies. He will reenter a middleweight mix that has been mostly dominated over the last couple of years by Gennady Golovkin.

In his last bout on Dec. 12 in San Antonio, Ovando (14-8-1, 11 KOs) lost a 10-round unanimous decision to Hugo Centeno. Two months prior to the Centeno bout, Ovando knocked out fringe contender Ronald Hearns in the eighth round.

Headlining the “Solo Boxeo Tecate” card will be a matchup of junior lightweight prospects Erick De Leon and Fidel Navarette.

Both bouts are scheduled for eight rounds and will be televised on UniMas at 11 p.m. ET/ PT.

Heavyweight Andy Ruiz was scheduled to headline the card, but Top Rank matchmaker Brad Goodman stated the unbeaten Ruiz pulled out of the fight with an undisclosed injury.

De Leon (11-0, 5 KOs) has not fought since Sep. 11, when he won a onesided six-round decision over Angel Hernandez. He has shown more aggression and power in recent fights, stopping three of his last five opponents.

Navarrete (8-1-2, 4 KOs) suffered the first defeat as a pro in his last fight on Sep. 26 – a 10-round unanimous decision to Ronell Green.

Navarrete has only faced two fighters with winning records.

In an non-televised bout, unbeaten Johnny Determan (10-0, 8 KOs) and Oscar Mojica (8-1, 1 KO) will square off in a six-round bout. Both fighters reside in Dallas.

Francisco A. Salazar has written for RingTV since October of 2013 and has covered boxing in Southern California and abroad since 2000. Francisco also covers boxing for the Ventura County (CA) Star newspaper, Boxingscene.com, and Knockout Nation. He can be reached by email at [email protected] or on Twitter at FSalazarBoxing