ProBox TV have their July 9 main event set, as Cesar Francis will face Raymundo Beltran in a 10-round junior welterweight fight from the WhiteSands Events Center in Plant City, Fla.
This is, speaking honestly, not exactly one that’s going to take many eyes from that night’s Showtime card.
Francis is unbeaten at 10-0 (6 KO), but he’s also 31 years old with a likely short window. He’s got two straight decent wins, though. He beat Jose Roman at the Barclays Center in Oct. 2021, a small card in a big venue, and in March he took a decision over Mohamed Mimoune, who is a solid European-level fighter.
The 40-year-old Beltran (37-9-1, 23 KO) is a familiar face and name for boxing fans. He rose to some prominence as a regular sparring partner for Manny Pacquiao, and battled his way into legitimate contender status over the years, too, never letting any single setback really keep him down.
He was robbed in a 2013 fight in Glasgow against Ricky Burns, where he came out with a draw in a WBO lightweight title fight, and was handily beaten the next year by Terence Crawford trying again for the same belt. He then missed weight for a 2015 fight with Takahiro Ao, with the same belt again on the line, won a second round TKO, and then had the win overturned for doping violations.
But on a fourth try, he took that belt in 2018, beating Moses Paulus by decision. He would lose it to Jose PEdraza in his first defense six months later.
Beltran’s last fight of note was a shot at the IBF lightweight belt in 2019, where he missed weight again and was completely dominated and stopped in the eighth round. He last fought in Oct. 2021, beating a .500 record journeyman.
The “WBO NABO” title will be on the line in this fight, if that somehow makes it more interesting to you.