It will be Mexico versus Colombia this Saturday but it will also be another homecoming fight for Oscar Duarte.

The lightweight prospect will face Andres Garcia at the Gimnasio Municipal in Parral, Chihuahua, Mexico. The 10-round bout will headline a “Golden Boy Fight Night” card and will stream live on Golden Boy Promotions’ Facebook Watch page (10:30 p.m. ET/ 7:30 p.m.).

Duarte (18-1-1, 13 knockouts) last fought on October 19 in the city of Chihuahua, stopping Humberto de Santiago in Round 3. His previous fight on July 12 was fought in Parral, where he battered Nestor Armas from the opening bell until the fight was stopped in Round 7.

The 24-year-old has won his last three bouts since his split decision loss to Adrian Estrella on February 9 of last year.

Despite the setback, Duarte has built momentum over the last several months and hopes a victory over Garcia will lead to more significant fights later this year.

“I’m very delighted to have the opportunity to fight in Parral, Chihuahua, Mexico, for a second time,” said Duarte. “I know that Andres Garcia will come to give a war and to score an upset but I’ve been training really hard with Joel Diaz to walk away with my hand raised in victory. Big things will be lined up for me if I win this fight, so I’m going to work very hard as always.”

Garcia (13-2-1, 8 KOs) will be fighting for the first time outside his native Colombia. In his most recent bout on October 12, Garcia stopped Alvaro Cuadrado in Round 5. The victory over Cuadrado snapped back-to-back decision losses by Garcia.

In the co-feature, hard-hitting junior welterweight Luis Hernandez, of Chihuahua, will square off against Placido Ramirez in a 10-round bout.

Hernandez (20-0, 18 KOs), who recently signed a promotional deal with Golden Boy, also fought on the October 19 card, breaking down Victor Zuniga before stopping him in Round 7. The 23-year-old has stopped six of his last seven opponents.

Like Garcia, Ramirez (17-1, 10 KOs) will also be fighting for the first time outside Colombia. The 26-year-old has won his last seven bouts since losing by knockout to Sonny Fredrickson in November of 2017.

In the opening bout of the Facebook stream, lightweight William Zepeda (20-0, 18 KOs), of San Mateo Atenco, Mexico, will face Colombia’s Brayam Rico (13-2, 11 KOs) in a 10-round bout.

Francisco A. Salazar has written for The Ring 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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