Jeison Rosario and Erickson Lubin agree to June fight on Showtime
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Mike Coppinger, confirming earlier reporting from Keith Idec, brings word of a delightful super welterweight battle on the horizon. Former unified champion Jeison Rosario and onetime title challenger Erickson Lubin “have agreed to fight in June on Showtime,” though neither the exact date nor location have been revealed.
The pair sit at #4 and #1, respectively, in the WBC rankings.
“The Hammer” (23-1, 16 KO) is 5-0 since his own unfortunate run-in with Charlo back in 2017. Though he stopped the first three, including never-before-finished Ishe Smith, he’s coming off of consecutive decisions over Nathaniel Gallimore and Terrell Gausha.
Rakhimov (15-0, 12 KO), who came in comfortably under the limit at 129.8, can still claim the vacant title with a victory.
This marks Diaz’s second scale fail since an unsuccessful bid for Gary Russell Jr’s featherweight title in 2018. Immediately after that defeat, he challenged Jesus Rojas for the WBA “world” title, only to hit the scale half a pound heavy and leave empty-handed despite a unanimous decision win. He had no apparent issues making weight in his subsequent four super featherweight appearances, including his upset of Tevin Farmer for the belt, but he’s now choked when it mattered
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Showtime’s final main event of the year has gone full Ship of Theseus. After losing original headliner Nordine Oubaali, replacing him with Emmanuel Rodiguez, and subsequently pushing the card from the 12th to the 19th, Mike Coppinger reports that they’ve now lost Nonito Donaire to COVID. Keith Idec claims that Donaire countryman Reymart Gaballo could step in against Rodriguez, but his promoters tell Ryan Songalia there’s “[n]othing final yet.”
On the bright side, at least we won’t have to choose between watching Donaire and watching Canelo.
The 24-year-old Gaballo (23-0, 20 KO) is currently slated to face durable Chilean Jose Velasquez earlier in the evening. A clash with Rodriguez (19-1, 12 KO) would represent a massive step up in competition, as “Assassin’s” strongest foe to date was Stephon Young back in 2018. It’s unknown whether this will still serve as a WBC title fight or how Donaire’s mandatory status will compare