Junior welterweight Carlos Sanchez is a bad break away from maintaining an unbeaten record. Literally.

Sanchez is eager to prove he is one of the top fighters at 140 pounds, but must first get by an unbeaten southpaw in Alexander Duran tonight at the Auditorio Blackberry in Mexico City. The 10-round bout will headline a three-bout card that will stream live on the ProBox TV app and YouTube page (9 p.m. ET/ 6 p.m. PT).

At Tuesday’s weigh-in, Sanchez weighed in at 142.6 pounds. Duran weighed 144.2 pounds.

Sanchez (23-1, 19 knockouts), who resides in San Felipe, Mexico, squared off against fringe contender Pedro Camp on March 19 of last year. Sanchez was in command until he was dropped late in the second round by a counter left hook to the head. Sanchez beat the count and made it out of the round, but suffered a freak injury moments into the following round that forced him to quit, suffering the first loss of his career.

Campa would eventually face former Ring Magazine lightweight champion Teofimo Lopez on August 13, losing by knockout in the seventh round.

“In the loss to Campa, I hurt my (left) arm,” said Sanchez earlier this week. “I threw a punch and my forearm hit his head and broke the radius. Turned out, it was a stress fracture and they had to stop (the fight) in the third round.

The 27-year-old bounced back in his last bout on October 1, knocking out Elvis Torres in the seventh round. Despite Duran’s unbeaten record, Sanchez is confident his preparation and ring experience will be enough to earn the victory Wednesday night.

“I know my opponent is a lefty and likes to fight from distance,” said Sanchez, who fought 11 times in 2016, the same year he made his pro debut. “My last opponent was also lefty and I finished (him) in the seventh (round). I hit with both hands, but because he is (a) lefty, my right will be most important.

“My plan is to start with the body, then go to the head. I’ll have to go to the body to overcome his reach advantage. I prepared for the high altitude (of Mexico City) by working real hard and running and high intensity training. The work I have done in training has prepared me for the win.”

Duran (21-0, 7 KOs), who resides in Panama City, Panama, has not fought since April 29 of last year, defeating Edwin Bennett by unanimous decision. His most notable wins as a pro were a decision victory over Adrian Estrella in November 2018 and a knockout win over Carlos Saenz, who entered the bout unbeaten, five months later.

“I know Sanchez is a good fighter and I prepared for a good fight,” said Duran. “I prepared (for) everything, but focused on speed and strength. I can’t tell you exactly what I’m going to do but I want to look good and put on a good fight. I do my talking in the ring.”

In the co-feature, a clash of Mexico City bantamweights, Brandon Reyes (6-0-1, 2 KOs) will face Abraham Arreola (5-2-1, 4 KOs) in a six-round bout.

Opening the ProBox TV stream is an eight-round junior middleweight bout between Eduardo Martinez (10-1, 7 KOs) of nearby Cuernavaca squaring off against Rogaciano Guerrero (3-2 2 NC’s, 2 KOs), a late-sub who took the fight on less than two day’s notice. Martinez has mostly fought at junior welterweight.

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 at [email protected]

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