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Showtime and PBC have finally settled on a home for their next event in queue.
The February 26 edition of Showtime Championship Boxing will land at The Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas. Headlining the show is the long ago ordered WBA junior lightweight title fight between defending beltholder Roger Gutierrez and unbeaten mandatory challenger Chris Colbert.
A venue hold was placed by PBC earlier in the month, with the Nevada State Athletic Commission approving the tentatively scheduled event during its most recent monthly agenda hearing which was held January 18 at state headquarters in Las Vegas. It was undecided at the time whether the event would relocate from the previously decided Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, California. Event handlers ultimately opted for the casino setting and—more appropriately for a February show—an indoor location.
The event was recently confirmed with tickets going on sale over the weekend.
Venezuela’s Gutierrez will make the second defense of a WBA belt he won from Rene Alvarado, whom Gutierrez beat by unanimous decision in their rematch last January at American Airlines Center in Dallas. Gutierrez (26-3-1, 20 KOs) scored three knockdowns to earn the win, while also avenging a prior knockout loss preceding Alvarado’s title reign.
Gutierrez also defeated Nicaragua’s Alvarado (32-11, 21 KOs) by unanimous decision in their rubber match last August 14 at Ford Center at the Star, the Dallas Cowboys’ training facility in Frisco, Texas. The feat saw Gutierrez go up 2-1 in their three fight series, though immediately followed with his next set of marching orders.
The WBA ordered what at the time was a consolidation clash between Gutierrez and Brookyln’s Colbert (16-0, 6KOs), who held the now defunct WBA “interim” title. The sanctioning body removed all interim belts from existence as the result of its forced title reduction campaign in the wake of the controversial August 7 Fox-televised welterweight fight which saw Gabriel Maestre claim a highly questionable win over Mykal Fox.
Colber was subsequently inserted as the mandatory challenger, though retaining the same benefits that would have come as an interim titlist had the matter gone to a purse bid hearing. PBC and TGB Promotions—representing Colbert—and Golden Boy Promotions, Gutierrez’s promoter were able to work out terms, though with the fight remaining on hold as PBC and Showtime sought an appropriate fight date for the event.
Colbert has not fought since a twelve-round win over Mongolia’s Tugstsogt Nyambayar last July at Dignity Health Sports Park, making the second defense of his interim title before the belt was removed from circulation.
Gutierrez-Colbert will top a Showtime-televised tripleheader. As previously reported by BoxingScene.com, the show will include IBF junior bantamweight titlist Jerwin Ancajas (33-1-2, 22KOs) in a voluntary title defense versus Argentina’s Fernando Daniel Martinez (13-0, 8KOs). Also on the card is 2016 U.S. Olympian and rising junior welterweight Gary Antuanne Russell (14-0, 14KOs) in an advertised step up in class as he eyes a title run in 2022.
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox