Carlos Canizales, who is ranked No. 3 at junior flyweight by The Ring, will face Jesus Silvestre Thursday night, a source confirmed to The Ring Wednesday morning. 

The 12-round bout will take place at the Discoteca Kilymandiaro in Puerto Colombia, Colombia.

Canizales (22-0-1, 17 knockouts), who resides in Caracas, Venezuela, last fought on May 26 of last year, defeating Japan’s Sho Kimura by unanimous decision. Canizales will be making the third defense of the WBA “regular title, which he won by defeating Reiya Konishi by unanimous decision in March 2018.

The 27-year-old has just one blemish on his record, when he fought to a split-decision draw against then-titleholder Ryoichi Taguchi in 2016.

Silvestre (37-7, 26 KOs), who resides in Tepic, Mexico, has won his last six bouts since losing by knockout to Juan Hernandez Navarrete in January 2016. The 31-year-old Silvestre twice challenged for a world title belt at 105 pounds, losing close decisions to Hekkie Budler in February 2015 and to Rio Miyazaki in September 2013. 

Hard-hitting Franklin Manzanilla will square off against Jose Alfaro in a 10-round bout.

Manzanilla (18-6, 17 KOs), who is originally from Venezuela and now resides in Barranquilla, Colombia, lost by knockout to Azat Hovhannisyan in his last bout on September 5 of last year. Seven months before the fight against Hovhannisyan, Manzanilla dropped then-WBC junior featherweight titleholder Rey Vargas, but lost by unanimous decision. 

The Venezuela-born Alfaro (9-8-3, 7 KOs) is unbeaten in his last four bouts.

Former amateur standout Gabriel Maestre (2-0, 2 KOs) of Venezuela, who knocked out former contender Diego Chaves in his last bout on December 19, will face Diego Vega Cota (16-4-1, 13 KOs) of Mexicali, Mexico in a 10-round bout. 

Two fighters who also live and train in Barranquilla will also fight on the card promoted by Alberto Agamez.

Fringe junior featherweight contender Jose Sanmartin will face Ricardo Roman (14-10-3, 5 KOs) of Gomez Palacio, Mexico in a 10-round bout.

Sanmartin (30-5-1, 20 KOs) has won 10 of his last 11 bouts with that loss coming by knockout to newly-crowned WBO featherweight titleholder Emanuel Navarrete in June 2018. 

Fringe welterweight contender Jeovannis Barraza (21-1, 14 KOs) will square off against Jose Feria (24-9-1, 16 KOs) of Fundacion, Colombia in a 10-round bout. Barraza rebounded from his knockout loss to Maestre on July 6 of last year to defeat Fernando Silva by majority decision on December 19. 

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 (Calif.) Star newspaper. He can be reached by email at [email protected] or on Twitter at FSalazarBoxing