Franco-Moloney, Casimero-Rigondeaux live results and analysis
Joshua Franco faces Andrew Moloney for the third time on Saturday, in the main event of a Top Rank on ESPN card at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Tulsa, Oklahoma (ESPN, ESPN+, 10 p.m. ET).
Franco (17-1-2, 8 KOs), 25, of San Antonio, Texas, won the WBA “regular” junior bantamweight title with a unanimous decision victory over Moloney (21-1, 14 KOs), 30, of Australia, in June 2020. In a rematch last November, Franco suffered a bad cut over his right eye and the fight was ruled a “no contest” because the referee ruled it had happened by an accidental head-butt, and the fight hadn’t gone long enough for an official decision.
Also on the card, Muhammad Ali’s grandson Nico Ali Walsh, of Chicago, makes his professional boxing debut against Jordan Weeks (4-1, 2 KOs), 29, of Lexington, South Carolina. Ali Walsh is just 21, but one big question lingers — can he fight?
On another boxing card on Saturday, at Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, California (Showtime, 10 p.m. ET), WBO bantamweight champion John Riel Casimero faces WBA “regular” titleholder Guillermo Rigondeaux in the main event.
Casimero (30-4, 21 KOs), 32, of the Philippines, has won six consecutive fights by stoppage, including a third-round KO of Duke Mich in his last outing in September 2020. Rigondeaux (21-1, 13 KOs), 40, of Cuba, is a former junior featherweight world champion who lost to Vasiliy Lomachenko in 2017. Since that defeat, he has won three consecutive fights, including a split decision victory over Liborio Solis in February 2020 to win the WBA belt.
In the co-main event, Gary Antonio Russell (18-0, 12 KOs), 28, of Capitol Heights, Maryland, faces Emmanuel Rodriguez (19-2, 12 KOs), 29, of Manati, Puerto Rico, in a 12-round battle for the vacant WBA interim bantamweight title.
At The Ford Center at The Star in Frisco, Texas, home of the Dallas Cowboys of the NFL, welterweight sensation Vergil Ortiz Jr. takes on the biggest challenge of his career so far against former title challenger Egidijus Kavaliauskas in the main event (DAZN, 8 p.m. ET).
Ortiz (17-0, 17 KOs), 23, of Dallas, hasn’t fought past the seventh round so far in his career. In February, Ortiz scored a seventh-round KO against former world titlist Maurice Hooker in a dominant performance.
Kavaliauskas (22-1-1, 18 KOs), 33, of Lithuania, lost via ninth-round TKO against Terence Crawford when he challenged for the WBO welterweight title in December 2019, but recovered with an eighth-round TKO of Mikael Zewski in September 2020.
Follow along throughout the night for live results from all three boxing cards.
Fight in progress from Tulsa: Abraham Nova vs. Richard Pumicpic, 8 rounds, junior lightweights
Still to come:
Tulsa (ESPN/ESPN+)
Title fight: Joshua Franco vs. Andrew Moloney, 12 rounds, for Franco’s WBA “regular” junior bantamweight title
Nico Ali Walsh vs. Jordan Weeks, 4 rounds, middleweights
Arnold Barboza vs. Antonio Moran, 10 rounds, junior welterweights
Jason Moloney vs. Joshua Greer, 10 rounds, bantamweights
Trey Lippe Morrison vs. Don Haynesworth, 6 rounds, heavyweights
Karlos Balderas vs. Fidel Cervantes, 6 rounds, junior lightweights
Genesis Servania vs. Andres Cortes. 8 rounds, junior lightweights
Albert Bell vs. Julio Cortez, 8 rounds, junior lightweights
Carson, California (Showtime)
Title fight: John Riel Casimero vs. Guillermo Rigondeaux, 12 rounds, for Casimero’s WBO bantamweight title and Rigondeaux’s WBA “regular” bantamweight title
Title fight: Gary Antonio Russell vs. Emmanuel Rodriguez, 12 rounds, for the interim WBA bantamweight title
Rau’shee Warren vs Damien Vazquez, 10 rounds, bantamweights
Brandun Lee vs. Ezequiel Fernandez, 8 rounds, junior welterweights
Juan Carlos Payano vs. Raymond Tabugon, 8 rounds, bantamweights
Alan Castano vs. Christian Aguirre, 6 rounds, middleweights
Jonas Sultan vs. Sharon Carter, 8 rounds, bantamweights
Benjamin Stanoff vs. Maycon Oiler De Silva, 4 rounds, middleweights
Frisco, Texas (DAZN)
Vergil Ortiz Jr. vs Egidijus Kavaliauskas, 12 rounds, welterweights
Title fight: Roger Gutierrez vs. Rene Alvarado, 12 rounds, for Gutierrez’s WBA “regular” junior lightweight title
Title fight: Felix Alvarado vs. Erick Lopez, 12 rounds, for Alvarado’s IBF junior flyweight title
Pablo Cesar Cano vs. Danielito Zorrilla, 10 rounds, junior welterweights
Alex Martin vs. Josec Ruiz, 10 rounds, junior welterweights
George Rincon vs. TBA, 10 rounds, junior welterweights
Leonardo Baez vs. Hector Valdez, 10 rounds, junior featherweights
Alex Rincon vs. Sanny Duversonne, 8 rounds, junior middleweights
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