by Scott Christ – Bad Left Hook
Nonito Donaire’s fight with Alexandro Santiago for the vacant WBC bantamweight title has been pushed back two weeks, and will now feature on the Spence vs Crawford pay-per-view undercard on July 29.
It’s not the only change on the pay-per-view undercard, either, as two fights have been scrapped. Viktor Faust pulled out of a fight with Gurgen “Big Gug” Hovhannisyan, while Jesus Ramos Jr withdrew from a scheduled fight against Sergio Garcia.
Garcia is still on the card, and will now open the show against prospect Yoenis Tellez (5-0, 4 KO), a 23-year-old Cuban junior middleweight prospect trained by Ronnie Shields. Tellez had been slated to fight Johan Gonzalez on Aug. 26 in Tacoma, Wash., so he’s getting a big jump up in competition and in profile here.
The 40-year-old Donaire (42-7, 28 KO) will be fighting for the first time since he was stopped in the second round in his rematch with Naoya Inoue 13 months ago in Japan. Santiago (27-3-5, 14 KO), a 27-year-old Mexican contender, has won three in a row following a majority decision loss to Gary Antonio Russell in 2021.
Santiago’s other losses came early in his career, and his draws have included one against Jerwin Ancajas in a 2018 IBF title fight at 115 lbs. Since that Ancajas fight, he’s 11-1.
As for Saturday’s card, Donaire vs Santiago has been replaced by a welterweight battle between Freudis Rojas (10-0, 10 KO) and Diego Sanchez (19-2, 16 KO).
Rojas vs Sanchez will open the show, which still features the Frank Martin vs Artem Harutyunyan main event, plus Elvis Rodriguez vs Viktor Postol.
Courtesy: https://www.badlefthook.com/2023/7/12/23793283/nonito-donaire-vs-alexandro-santiago-moved-spence-vs-crawford-undercard-boxing-news-2023