A full weekend of boxing concludes with a second title fight. Tonight on HBO Francisco Vargas (23-0-1, 17 KOs) defends his super featherweight title against Orlando Salido (43-13-3, 30 KOs) at the StubHub Center in Carson, Calif.
In the undercard Julian Ramirez (16-0, 8 KOs) will face off against Abraham Lopez (20-0-1, 15 KOs) in a battle of real up-and-coming prospects.
As usual, scroll on down for the live blog. Keep reading for the press release from HBO.
HBO Boxing presents one of the most highly anticipated events of the year when HBO BOXING AFTER DARK: FRANCISCO VARGAS VS. ORLANDO SALIDO AND JULIAN RAMIREZ VS. ABRAHAM LOPEZ is seen SATURDAY, JUNE 4 at 10:30 p.m. (live ET/tape-delayed PT) from StubHub Center in Carson, Cal., exclusively on HBO. The HBO Sports team will be ringside for the event, which will be available in HDTV, closed-captioned for the hearing-impaired and presented in Spanish on HBO Latino.
Other HBO playdates: June 5 (10:00 a.m.) and 6 (11:50 p.m.)
HBO2 playdates: June 5 (4:15 p.m.) and 7 (midnight)
The doubleheader will also be available on HBO NOW, HBO GO and HBO On Demand.
The 12-round main event is a can’t-miss super featherweight title showdown featuring undefeated champion Francisco Vargas (23-0-1, 17 KOs) and former titleholder Orlando Salido (43-13-3, 30 KOs). Vargas, 31, captured his first world title in November when he knocked out Takashi Miura in the BWAA’s 2015 Fight of the Year. The Mexico City native has knocked out his last four opponents before the tenth round, including a dominating performance against two-time world titleholder Juan Manuel Lopez.
Salido, 35, has held five world titles during his impressive 21-year professional career, battling some of sport’s top talents, including future Hall of Famer Juan Manuel Marquez. Both fighters have a come-forward style that guarantees action in this 130-pound clash.
In the evening’s opening bout, two unbeaten featherweight prospects face off when Julian Ramirez (16-0, 8 KOs) and Abraham Lopez (20-0-1, 15 KOs) meet in a ten-round contest. Ramirez, 23, and Lopez, 28, are Southern California natives both making their HBO debut.
Launched 20 years ago, HBO BOXING AFTER DARK was the network’s initial platform for a host of exciting talents, including Floyd Mayweather, Arturo Gatti, Marco Antonio Barrera, Fernando Vargas, Terence Crawford, Felix Verdejo, Canelo Alvarez and Gennady Golovkin. The arena in Carson has been the site of some of boxing’s most memorable brawls in recent years.
Follow HBO boxing news at hbo.com/boxing, on Facebook at facebook.com/hboboxing and on Twitter at twitter.com/hboboxing.
All HBO boxing events are presented in HDTV. HBO viewers must have access to the HBO HDTV channel to watch HBO programming in high definition.
The fight is on HBO at 10:30 p.m. We have a Premier Boxing Champions show on at roughly the same time, so your attention will be split. The title makes all the difference. We’ll also be getting plenty of well-deserved tributes for Muhammad Ali. HBO will probably find a way to make us all cry.
We’ve had two pieces today on Ali. I wrote a column/eulogy that you can read here.
J.D. Moore wrote about how Ali was honored by college football teams and programs Friday night. You can read it by clicking here.
