Cuadras to defend 115-pound title against Mepranum on Saturday

Apr

While RING flyweight champion Roman ‘Chocolatito’ Gonzalez garners much of the media attention this weekend, another unbeaten, lighter weight fighter will also defend his title.

Carlos Cuadras will defend his WBC junior bantamweight title this Saturday against Richie Mepranum at the Centro de Usos Multiples in Los Mochis, Sinaloa, Mexico.

The 12-round bout will air nationwide on Televisa throughout Mexico.

Cuadras (34-0-1, 26 knockouts) is one of the top fighters in a talented 115-pound division. He is ranked No. 2 by THE RING magazine behind unbeaten Naoya Inoue of Japan.

In his last bout on Nov. 28, Cuadras defeated Koki Eto by unanimous decision over 12 rounds. He has won his last four straight since a fourth round technical draw against Jose Salgado, a bout that was stopped due to an accidental clash of heads.

Saturday will mark the ninth defense of his WBC title.

Mepranum (31-4-1, 8 KOs) has also won his last bouts in a row but against weak opposition.

The Filipino fighter has fought for a major title on two occasions, losing both to Julio Cesar Miranda in 2010 and Juan Francisco Estrada almost four years later.

Mepranum does hold a win over Hernan “Tyson” Marquez, in 2010, but Marquez won the rematch two years later.

Also on the Promociones del Pueblo card, junior bantamweight Ava Knight will fight Judith Rodriguez in a 10-round bout.

Knight is a two-time flyweight women’s titlist and fought to a six-round split decision draw against Jasseth Noriega most recently on Feb. 20. Rodriguez has lost seven of her last nine fights.

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