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‘Now or Never’: Ganigan Lopez and Saul Juarez to clash tonight

Fighters Network
19
Jul

Neither former WBC junior flyweight titlist Ganigan Lopez nor former two-division title challenger Saul Juarez can afford a loss when they square off tonight at the Auditorio Blackberry in Mexico City.

The 10-round bout will headline a “Boxeo Telemundo” telecast (11:35 p.m. ET/ PT).

At Thursday’s weigh-in, both Lopez (35-9, 19 knockouts) and Juarez (25-9-2, 13 KOs) weighed in at 109 pounds.

The All Star Boxing card is aptly titled “Now or Never.” The winner of the fight could receive another future payday, while the loser will likely be relegated as a gatekeeper or could walk away from the sport altogether.



Both fighters will also be competing for bragging rights as they each reside in Mexico City.

“In my opinion, the winner of this fight will find themselves on the doorstep of a world title opportunity,” promoter Tuto Zabala told RingTV.com, Thursday morning. “For the loser, it could be the end of their career. That’s why this is a very important bout for both fighters.”

Lopez challenged then-WBO junior flyweight titleholder Angel Acosta in his most recent bout on March 30. The southpaw Lopez was doing well but was knocked out by Acosta in round eight.

The 37-year-old Lopez won the WBC title in March of 2016 by defeating Yu Kimura by majority decision. Lopez would make one successful defense of the title before losing it to Ken Shiro in May of 2017.

Juarez was victorious in his most recent bout on March 8, defeating Mario Andrade by technical decision after the seventh round. In his previous fight on December 30, the 28-year-old Juarez lost a unanimous decision to Shiro.

In the co-feature, Armando Torres (23-18, 17 KOs) will square off against Alejandro Villasenor (7-3, 3 KOs) in an eight-round junior flyweight bout.

In flyweight action, Giovanni Garcia (4-2-1) will face Jose Eduardo Armenta (12-5, 6 KOs) in an eight-round bout.

 

 

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 FightNights.com. He can be reached by email at [email protected] or on Twitter @FSalazarBoxing.

 

 

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