Guess that Linares fight isn’t happening anytime soon. Former two-division champion Javier Fortuna is now set to headline a four-fight November 21st PBC on FS1 card against Antonio Lozada.
After a potential title clash with Luke Campbell fell through, Fortuna (35-2-1, 24 KO), who tore Jesus Cuellar apart for a WBC trinket last November, was all set to meet Linares on August 28th, only for the latter to test positive for COVID three weeks from fight night. The card was pushed back to September after potential replacement Hector Tanajara requested more time to prepare, but the other fights on the card have since been redistributed to other shows.
Lozada (40-4-1, 34 KO) hit a career high when he stopped Felix Verdejo in 2018, but now finds himself winless in his last three, a draw and split decision loss to Mexican journeymen sandwiching a stoppage defeat against Jose Pedraza last year. Fortuna’s underperformed before, but this figures to be a stomping.
In the co-feature, unbeaten Dominican lightweight Starling Castillo (12-0, 9 KO) faces Austin Dulay (13-2, 10 KO), who sports losses to Chris Colbert and Diego Magdaleno among his last four fights. The card will also see San Antonio’s Raymond Guajardo (5-1, 4 KO) attempt to rebound from his infamous loss to Clay Collard and former amateur standout Armani Almestica make his professional debut.
Out of curiosity, I Googled Almestica. The top result was him getting arrested for burglary in 2018 after trying and failing to hide from police in a garbage bin.