Frank Sanchez and Oleksandr Gvozdyk scheduled for Canelo-Charlo undercard
Heavyweight contender Frank Sanchez and former WBC world light heavyweight titleholder Oleksandr Gvozdyk have stay-busy fights lined up.
Sanchez and Gvozdyk will return to the ring on September 30 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. Sanchez will face gatekeeper Scott Alexander in a 10-round bout. And in an eight-round clash, Gvozdyk will square off against hard-hitting Isaac Rodrigues.
Both fights will take place in preliminary action on the card headlined by the clash between Ring magazine super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez and Jermell Charlo.
The Ring was told of both fights Wednesday and received an official bout sheet of the Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) card.
Sanchez (22-0, 15 knockouts), who is originally from Guantanamo, Cuba and now resides in Miami, Florida, last fought on April 8, knocking out journeyman Daniel Martz in the opening round of another stay-busy fight. The win over Martz took place almost six months after Sanchez stopped fringe contender Carlos Negron in the ninth round.
In October 2021, the 31-year-old notched his most notable win to date, a unanimous decision over Efe Ajagba in a clash of unbeaten heavyweights.
Oleksandr Gvozdyk held the WBC light heavyweight title until his loss to Artur Beterbiev in 2019. (Photo by Amanda Westcott/Showtime)
Sanchez is currently trained by Eddy Reynoso, who also trains Alvarez and junior lightweight Oscar Valdez.
Alexander (17-5-2, 9 KOs) has not fought since August 27 of last year, knocking out fringe contender Jaime Solorio in the third round.
The 34-year-old, who resides in Los Angeles, had lost back-to-back fights to Carlos Negron and Zhilei Zhang prior to the knockout win over Solorio.
Gvozdyk (19-1, 15 KOs), who is originally from Ukraine and now resides in Camarillo, California, last fought on May 6, on the Canelo Alvarez-Josh Ryder fight, stopping Ricards Bolotniks in the sixth round.
The 36-year-old has won his last two fights since losing by knockout to Artur Beterbiev in a world light heavyweight unification title fight in October 2019. Gvozdyk would lose his WBC title belt to Beterbiev.
Rodrigues (28-4, 22 KOs) lost to fringe contender Richard Rivera by unanimous decision in his last bout on February 10. Prior to the loss to Rivera, Rodriguez, who resides in Ananindeua, Brazil, had won 11 of his previous 12 fights, nine by knockout.
In junior welterweight action, Gabriel Valenzuela (27-3-1, 16 KOs) of Guadalajara, Mexico will square off against Colombia’s Yeis Gabriel Solano (15-2, 10 KOs) in an eight-round bout.
In a six-round clash of unbeaten super middleweights, Bek Nurmaganbet (10-0, 8 KOs) of Kazakhstan will face Chicago’s Abimbola Osundairo (5-0, 3 KOs).
Amateur standout Curmel Moton of Las Vegas will make his pro debut against Ezequiel Flores (4-0, 3 KOs) of Riverside, California in a six-round junior lightweight bout.
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]
