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Christopher Diaz to face Miguel Beltran, May 21, on Bally Sports Network

Christopher Diaz vs. Miguel Beltran
Fighters Network
30
Apr

Former two-time title challenger Christopher Diaz will face Miguel Beltran on May 21, American Dream Presents officially announced Friday afternoon. The 10-round featherweight bout will take place at Caribe Royale in Orlando, Florida (Bally Sports Network, 9 p.m. ET/ 6 p.m. PT).

Diaz (26-4, 14 knockouts), originally from Barranquitas, Puerto Rico, and now lives and trains in Orlando, recently signed a co-promotional deal with American Dream Presents, GH3 Promotions and BoxLab Promotions after having fought under the Top Rank banner for the last several years. All three companies are also co-promoting the May 21 card.

The 27-year-old most recently fought on November 20, losing by majority decision to former junior featherweight titleholder Isaac Dogboe. In his previous fight on April 24 of last year, Diaz was stopped by WBO featherweight titleholder Emanuel Navarrete. He has won three of his previous five bouts, with the other two losses coming against Shakur Stevenson and Masayuki Ito.

Beltran (34-8, 23 KOs), who resides in Los Mochis, Mexico, has not fought since stopping Geovanny Lopez in December 2020. In his previous fight, in September 2019, Beltran was knocked out in the opening round by previously-unbeaten Chris Colbert.



Like Diaz, Beltran unsuccessfully challenged for a major title. He lost a close split decision to Roman “Rocky” Martinez, in September 2012, in a bout to determine a new WBO junior lightweight titleholder.

In the co-feature, unbeaten junior welterweight Nestor Bravo will square off against Fernando Saucedo in an eight-round bout.

Bravo (20-0, 14 KOs) resides in Arecibo, Puerto Rico, and has now set up his training camp in Orlando. In his most recent bout on December 4, Bravo knocked out Vitor Jones in the third round. The 28-year-old has stopped eight of his last 10 opponents.

Saucedo (63-9-3, 10 KOs) defeated journeyman Miguel Caceres in his most recent bout in December 2019. Prior to the win over Caceres, Saucedo, who resides in Buenos Aires, Argentina, had lost three of his previous four bouts, all by stoppage at the hands of Emmanuel Tagoe, Cristian Mijares and Subriel Matias.

In the opening bout of the telecast, unbeaten middleweight Connor Coyle (15-0, 7 KOs), of Northern Ireland, will face Atlanta’s Antonio Todd (13-5, 7 KOs) in an eight-round bout.

“May 21 is going to be a great event for boxing fans,” said Ron Johnson, CEO of American Dream Presents. “We’ve got three exciting fights that will air on Bally Sports, plus a stacked undercard with blue chip prospects. I’m anticipating a great turnout to support two of Puerto Rico’s best boxers today in Diaz and Bravo.”

Lightweight Joseph Adorno (14-1-2, 12 KOs), of Allentown, Pennsylvania, who lost by unanimous decision to contender Michel Rivera in his most recent bout, on March 26, is scheduled to fight in preliminary action.

 

 

Francisco A. Salazar has written for The Ring since October 2013 and has covered boxing in Southern California and abroad since 2000. Francisco also covers boxing for the Ventura County (California) Star newspaper. He can be reached by email at [email protected] or on Twitter @FSalazarBoxing.

 

 

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