ESPN Features Boxing on Thursday – Earlier in 2017 Oscar De La Hoya announced that his Golden Boy Promotions had come to a multi-year deal with ESPN to broadcast live boxing. The announcement came with an aggressive calendar of 18 fight shows in 2017, with the kick-off being this Thursday, March 23rd, from Indio, California.
The card is headlined by Jason Quigley, the undefeated 25-year-old middleweight that Golden Boy has been grooming. His pro record stands at 12-0 and Quigley, who was born in Ireland, already counts on a ton of ethnic support from his home country. Golden Boy has built him up slowly and given him good opportunities on the under cards of their big shows. We last saw him in December, when his fight with Jorge Melendez was in support of Bernard Hopkins fight with Joe Smith Jr. Now he returns to the Fantasy Springs, where he has fought four times already as the main event of the evening and with a spotlight on ESPN.
Opponent Glen Tapia (23-3) is providing the opposition and the line sees Quigley come in a big favorite. Back in 2013, Tapia was the undefeated prospect coming up. He had built his record up to 20-0 and stepped up into a fight with veteran slugger James Kirkland (31-1 at the time). The fight turned into trench warfare as the two slugged it out into the sixth round before referee Steve Smoger stepped in to save Tapia as Kirkland opened up with big punches.
Tapia has gone 3-2 since then, winning the fights he should win and falling when he steps up in competition. We last saw him in May of 2016 when he fell to David Lemieux in four rounds and he also notched a loss to France’s Michel Soro, who is 29-1-1 and holds the WBC’s International title. Tapia has been stopped in his three losses and that bodes well for Quigley, who has 10 KOs in his 12 career fights.
The books are also looking at the return of former bantamweight world champion Randy Caballero. Caballero is still undefeated at 23-0 and he is moving up to the super bantamweight class for this one. Providing the opposition will be the battle tested Jesus Ruiz (36-7-5). The vacant NABF title at 122 pounds is on the line in a fight that sees the high-skill Caballero as a massive favorite. Caballero, known as “El Matador” has been inactive, last fighting in February of 2016 in a fight technically in the featherweight division and taking all of 2015 off. At just 27 years old, however, ring rust is not expected to be a problem for Caballero in this one.
ESPN Features Boxing Thursday
Golden Boy Promotions is offering seven fights on the live event at the Fantasy Springs Casino. Some of the other five fights may pop up as we get closer to fight time, particularly the Tureano Johnson (19-1) vs Fabiano Pena (19-6-1) middleweight ten-rounder that could also air on the ESPN2 broadcast. Check your local listings for start times.
The next edition of GBP’s boxing on ESPN is set for April 1st live from the Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas, Nevada and features unbeaten welterweights Antonio Orozco (25-0) and Keandre Gibson (16-0-1).
Golden Boy Promotions at the Fantasy Springs Casino, Indio, California
Super Bantamweight 10 rounds –
Jesus Ruiz +1375
Randy Caballero -3425
Middleweight 10 rounds –
Glen Tapia +470
Jason Quigley -810
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