Golden Boy Promotions have announced a slew of additional matchups and talent for their Feb. 13 show, which will be headlined by two world title fights and stream live on DAZN.
In those main fights, Joseph Diaz Jr will defend the IBF junior lightweight title against Shavkatdzhon Rakhimov, and Patrick Teixeira will put his WBO junior middleweight title on the line against Brian Castano.
We also already knew that Jason Quigley will meet Shane Mosley Jr in a middleweight bout, and today it was announced that we’ll also see Ronny Rios take on Oscar Negrete in a junior featherweight fight, plus returns for Bektemir Melikuziev and Azat Hovhannisyan, among others.
Rios (32-3, 16 KO) has gotten himself back in the race at 122 pounds, winning three straight including an upset over previously-unbeaten Diego De La Hoya in July 2019. He unsuccessfully challenged Rey Vargas for the WBC belt in 2017, and looked pretty lousy in a stoppage loss to the aforementioned Hovhannisyan in 2018, but has bounced back nicely. At 30, he’s right in what should be his prime.
Negrete (19-2-2, 7 KO) will be moving up in weight. The battle-tested, 33-year-old Colombian-American also challenged Vargas back in 2017, losing a decision, and then went 0-1-2 in three debated scraps with Joshua Franco in 2018-19. He beat former Olympian Alberto Melian in his last outing just about a year ago.
24-year-old super middleweight Melikuziev (6-0, 5 KO) of Uzbekistan was meant to face Sergey Kovalev in a light heavyweight clash on Jan. 30 in Russia, but that was canceled when Kovalev failed a drug test. He’ll be in 10-round action at 168 pounds against an opponent to be named.
Hovhannisyan (18-3, 15 KO) will also face a TBD name. The 32-year-old Armenian is also in the mix at 122 pounds, with four straight wins following his own failed title bid against — you guessed it! — Rey Vargas in 2018.
We’ll also see featherweight prospect Victor Morales (13-0, 7 KO) take on Jose Gonzalez (23-8-1, 13 KO) in an eight-round bout, plus the professional debut of Hawaiian lightweight Dalis Kaleiopu against Eduardo Sanchez (2-3, 0 KO).