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Young prospects round out Rios-Alvarado untelevised card

Fighters Network
26
Mar

The word has been mostly mum on who would appear on the untelevised undercard to Saturday’s highly-anticipated return bout between Brandon Rios and Mike Alvarado. Their bout, along with Terence Crawford’s step-up against Breidis Prescott, will be televised on HBO’s Boxing After Dark at 7:00 p.m. Pacific Time.

The card takes place at the Mandalay Bay Events Center and Boxrec.com, the records and schedule database, has limited information listed on what the non-televised portion of the card will feature. Crawford was initially supposed to be part of it, but when 140-pounder Khabib Allakhverdiev was injured, Crawford took his spot against Prescott in the opening televised bout.

That leaves only two other fights as listed by Boxrec: 130-pounder Mexican Miguel Berchelt is listed against the always tough TBA while Jose Carlos Ramirez (1-0, KO), of Avenal, Calif. is listed as fighting Charlie Dubray (1-0), of Hastings, Neb., in a four-round lightweight bout.

A bout sheet sent to RingTV by Top Rank publicist Lee Samuels has confirmed the seven non-televised bouts slated to appear on Saturday’s undercard. Outside of Berchelt, no fighter with more than ten pro fights will fight out of the projected winner’s corner.



Berchelt’s opponent is listed as being Carlos Claudio (15-9-3, 8 KOs), of Kissimmee, Fla., for their eight-round junior lightweight bout. Berchelt is a promising power puncher from Yucatan, Mexico and will be making his debut on American soil on Saturday.

Ramirez will fight Dubray as listed on BoxRec. Berchelt and Ramirez’s fights will take place at 6 PM Pacific Time and will be part of the international broadcast of the card.

Las Vegas native welterweight Michael Finney (10-0, 8 KOs) fights Osvaldo Rojas (7-2-2, 2 KOs), of Portland, Ore., in a six-round bout. At 21 years old, Finney has been moved at a snail’s pace since turning professional in February 2010. He’s maintained a decent level of activity but Rojas will be the first opponent with a winning record Finney has met.

Twenty-year old junior featherweight prospect Tramaine Williams (5-0, 2 KOs) of New Haven, Conn., will fight Roswell, New Mexico’s John Herrera (4-5-1, 2 KOs) in a four-round bout. Williams recently signed a five-year contract with Top Rank back in February. He is managed by James Prince, who also manages Andre Ward, Tavoris Cloud, and others. Prince also served an integral role in the early career of Floyd Mayweather Jr.

Heavyweight Brett Rather (2-0), of Las Vegas, fights Juan Guarjato (2-0, KO), of McAllen, Texas in a four-round battle of unbeaten novice heavyweights. Rather was a 2012 U.S. Olympic alternate after boxing for the UNLV team. The 20 year old also holds the odd distinction of being the great-nephew of esteemed journalist Dan Rather.

Two more bouts round out the card. Fellow Las Vegas resident Juan Heraldez (4-0, 4 KOs) meets Roberto Lopez (4-4-2, KO) of Kissimmee, Flor., in a four-round junior welterweight bout. Manuel Lopez (1-0, KO), of Denver, Colo., and a gymmate of Alvarado, fights Las Vegas’ Jason Tresvan (0-1) in another four-round junior welterweight bout.

 

 

Mark Ortega is the boxing columnist for the Martinez News-Gazette and is a member of the Boxing Writers Assoc. of America and the RING Ratings Advisory Panel. He can be reached via e-mail at [email protected]as well as followed on Twitter @MarkEOrtega.

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