Rashidi Ellis has built an unbeaten record in almost five years as a pro. Now he wants to put the welterweight division on notice, as a serious contender.

Ellis will face Alberto Mosquera in a crossroads bout, Friday night, at the Gran Oasis Arena, in Cancun, Mexico. The 10-round bout will headline a televised tripleheader on ESPN and ESPN Deportes (9 p.m. ET/ 6 p.m. PT).

Ellis (19-0, 13 knockouts), who resides in the Boston suburb of Lynn, stopped gatekeeper Fidel Monterrosa Munoz in round four of his most recent fight, on March 24. It was his first bout in almost a year, since he had to grind out a 10-round majority decision over John Karl Sosa, on April 20 of 2017.

Golden Boy Promotions is high on Ellis but the 25-year-old has had impressive and disappointing performances in back-to-back fights. Ellis survived a knockdown in his eight-round unanimous decision over Luis Hernandez, in July of 2016, a fight in which he weighed a career-high 156.5 pounds, but scored an impressive first round knockout over Eddie Gomez five months later.

Having fought in the U.S., Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic, Ellis will be fighting for the first time in Mexico.

“I’m excited to fight for the first time in Mexico on a card of international proportions, and televised on ESPN,” said Ellis, last week. “My opponent this time, Alberto Mosquera, has a lot of experience because he has fought a lot of good fighters. All of this is double motivation for me because a victory against him will be very important.”

Mosquera (25-3-2, 16 KOs), who resides in Carundu, Puerto Rico, has won his last three bouts since losing by technical knockout to Brian Nahuel Zarza, in April of 2016.

Mosquera’s most notable bouts were knockout losses to fringe welterweight contenders Sammy Vasquez and Charlie Navarro. He does own a split decision victory over Erick Bone, from October of 2013.

Two more bouts feature fighters from across Mexico.

In the co-feature of the “Golden Boy Boxing on ESPN” telecast, junior featherweight Francisco Horta will square off against David Reyes (17-3-1, 6 KOs) in an eight-round bout. Horta (17-3-1, 10 KOs) is unbeaten in his last 10 bouts.

Opening the telecast will be a six-round bout between hard-hitting featherweight Eduardo Nunez (10-0, 10 KOs) and Hiram Gallardo (6-2-2, 1 KO).

Francisco A. Salazar has written for RingTV.com since October 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 FightNight.com. He can be reached by email at [email protected] or on Twitter @FSalazarBoxing.

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