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Shumenov, Orozco return to action

Fighters Network
19
Oct

Unbeaten junior welterweight prospect Antonio Orozco and WBA light heavyweight titleholder Beibut Shumenov will be in action on separate cards that will happen on Nov. 30 on Showtime and Dec. 14 on Showtime Pay Per View, respectively, according to Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer and Golden Boy matchmaker Eric Gomez.

Orozco (18-0, 14 knockouts) will be after his seventh consecutive stoppage victory against an opponent to be determined, according to Gomez. Orozco will appear on the undercard of a doubleheader from the Freeman Colesium in San Antonio, where IBF welterweight titleholder Devon Alexander and WBC junior featherweight beltholder Leo Santa Cruz will each defend his belt.

In August, Orozco easily handled Colombia’s Ivan Hernandez, dropping him three times before stopping him in the third round. Alexander will make his second defense against Shawn Porter, and Santa Cruz, his first defense against Cesar Ceda.

Gomez said Shumenov (13-1, 8 KOs) is likely to face Tomas Kovacs (23-0, 14 KOs) on the undercard of a stacked event at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas that is headlined by WBA welterweight titleholder Adrien “The Problem” Broner against hard-hitting Marcos Maidana.



“It’s Tomas Kovacs,” said Gomez. “I’m in negotiations right now, but it’s not done yet.”

Shumenov will make the fifth defense of his belt, having last been in the ring for a unanimous decision over Enrique Ornelas in June of 2012.

Schaefer informed BoxingScene.com that Shumenov will be part of “a free view, which is going to which is going to lead right into the pay-per-view.”

Entitled “Danger Zone”, the Broner-Maidana card will also boast unbeaten 147-pounder Keith Thurman (21-0, 19 KOs) against Jesus Soto-Karass, Mexican junior middleweight Alfredo Angulo (22-3, 18 KOs) against Jorge Melendez (27-3-1, 26 KOs), and the return from an 18-month ring absence of former WBC welterweight beltholder Victor Ortiz in his 154-pound debut against IBF titleholder Carlos Molina.

Gomez also said that a rematch between WBC featherweight beltholder Jhonny Gonzalez and Abner Mares, whom Gonzalez dethroned by first-round stoppage in August, is being targeted for “sometime next year.”

“We’re looking into the rematch,” said Gomez. “We’re still talking to Jhonny’s people and we’re looking at maybe late January or February.”

Before facing Mares, Gonzalez had been dethroned as WBC 126-pound titleholder by Daniel Ponce de Leon via eighth-round technical decision last September, ending Gonzalez’s 12-fight winning streak which included 11 knockouts.

Mares subsequently scored a ninth-round knockout over De Leon, who will return to the ring in Mexico as a junior lightweight on Nov. 16 against Joksan Hernandez (23-5-1, 15 KOs), according to Ponce de Leon’s manager, Frank Espinoza.

Lem Satterfield can be reached at [email protected]