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Lem’s latest: Verdejo on Garcia-Salido card; Wach admits to doping

Fighters Network
07
Jan

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Recent Top Rank signee, Felix Verdejo will pursue his second junior lightweight victory against an opponent to be determined on the undercard of a Jan. 19 main event features unbeaten featherweight contender Mikey Garcia and WBO beltholder Orlando Salido.in a clash of Mexicans from The Theatre at New York’s Madison Square on an HBO-televised triple-header..

Heading into an event that is being promoted by Top Rank as well as K2 Promotions, Garcia is 30-0 with 26 KOs, and Salido, 39-11-2 with 27 KOs.



A Puerto Rican lightweight at the 2012 Olympic Games, Verdejo (1-0) won twice prior to losing to eventual gold medalist Vasyl Lomachenko, of Ukraine.

Verdejo is coming off a four-round unanimous decision win in his debut on Dec. 6 over Leonardo Chavez (1-1, 1 KO) at the Mirage Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.

Also on the card, Puerto Rican Roman “Rocky” Martinez (26-1-1, 16 KOs) will make a defense of his WBO junior lightweight belt against Mexico’s Juan Carlos Burgos (30-1, 20 KOs).

The event also has Philadelphia-based junior middleweight contender Gabriel Rosado (21-5, 13 KOs) in pursuit of his eighth straight triumph and his sixth stoppage win during that run against Kazakhstan-born WBA middleweight titleholder Gennady Golovkin (24-0, 21 KOs), who will be after his 12th consecutive knockout.


MARIUSZ WACH ADMITS TO DOPING

Polish-born challenger Mariusz Wach has admitted to has admitted to having used an unidentified performing enhancing drug in advance of November’s unanimous decision loss to RING IBF, WBA and WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko, who won for the 17th consecutive time.

“Doping was poured into my system for a long time. My suspicions fall on the coaches. I plan to conduct my own investigation, but won’t make the results public,” said Wach, who was able to absorb a tremendous amount of punishment against Klitschko.

“In addition to the two of my coaches, a large number of other specialists helped me to prepare for the bout. And I really don’t know what they’ve been doing exactly. I can’t name those forbidden substances because I was forbidden from doing so. But, according to my information, the quantity of dope in my sample was minimal.”

Click here for the complete report.

CRUISERWEIGHT AGRON DZILA EYES AMERICAN DEBUT

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Cruiserweight Agron Dzila (17-1-0, 13 KOs) will be after his 11th straight win, his ninth knockout during that time and his eighth straight stoppage victory when he enters the ring on April 20 against an opponent to be determined in Mehrzweckhalle, Mietingen in Baden-W├╝rttemberg, Germany.

Born in Struga, Macedonia, Dzila moved with his family to Switzerland as a young teenager due to a new job taken by his father, who died in September of 2001.

Dzila already has fought in seven countries, comprised of Austria, Croatia, Germany, Kenya, Macedonia, Slovakia and Switzerland, and wants to debut in American in September.

TONY LUIS FACES MIGUEL GONZALEZ ON JAN. 25

Canadian junior welterweight Tony “Lighting” Luis (15-0, 7 KOs) will pursue his fifth consecutive stoppage victory on Jan. 25 when the he meets Cleveland’s hard-hitting Miguel Gonzalez (20-3, 15 KOs) on ESPN’s Friday Night Fights from the Turning Stone Casino in Verona, N.Y.

“He’s a slick southpaw with a dangerous left hand, He’s fought some very tough fighters and won’t be flustered or fazed by anything,” said Luis, who turns 25 on Jan. 10 and is promoted by Greg Cohen Promotions and Banner Promotions.

“Like me, he had a ton of amateur fights against the best competition out there. I’ve got a good game plan, and he’ll see what I’m about once we get into the ring.”

Currently living just a few hours north of the Turning Stone Casino, Luis expects his large, Canadian fan base to attend his fight.

“We’re organizing a bus so that people from Cornwall [Canada] can come down to the fight,” said Luis. “I’ve got great fans and they really support me. January 25 will be a great night for me, and everything will go as expected if I follow the game plan.”

Photo by Chris Farina, Top Rank

Photo courtesy of Oliver D├╝tschler

Lem Satterfield can be reached at [email protected]

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