Maurice Hooker and Jose Ramirez meet to unify their junior welterweight belts Saturday night (DAZN, 9 p.m. ET) at the College Park Center on the campus of the University of Texas at Arlington.
It’s a hometown defense for Hooker, who grew up in nearby Oak Cliff. The winner could face either Regis Prograis or Josh Taylor, who are due to unify their two belts in the final of the World Boxing Super Series later this fall. All four fighters have shown interest in unification, and no political issues will prevent such a showdown.
Before that fight, Tevin Farmer defends his junior lightweight world title against Guillaume Frenois in the co-featured bout on the undercard.
Still to come:
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Title fight: Maurice Hooker vs. Jose Ramirez, 12 rounds, WBO/WBC junior welterweight unification
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Title fight: Tevin Farmer vs. Guillaume Frenois, 12 rounds, for Farmer’s IBF junior lightweight title
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Tramaine Williams vs. Yenifel Vicente, 10 rounds, featherweights
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Austin Williams vs. Jabrandon Harris, 4 rounds, middleweights
Also on the undercard
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Middleweight prospect “White Chocolate” Nikita Ababiy (6-0, 5 KOs), 20, of Brooklyn, New York, was forced to the distance for the first time in an extremely difficult and action-packed fight against Yunier Calzada (6-6-1, 1 KO), 30, of Houston, in which both got nailed with many punches. In the end, however, Ababiy got the nod 60-54 on all three scorecards, although Calzada probably deserved to win at least two rounds. “I was never hurt. I didn’t feel [the punches], but it was my fault,” Ababiy said of his lackluster showing. “I didn’t listen to my corner. But I got six rounds in, first time going six as a professional. You have to learn someday. I learned that I have a lot to improve.”
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Toronto-based junior welterweight Arthur “The Chechen Wolf” Biyarslanov (4-0, 4 KOs), a 24-year-old southpaw, stopped Solon Staley (1-4, 0 KOs), 35, of Colombia, South Carolina, In the third round of a spirited fight in which Staley took punishment, but never stopped trying and rattled Biyarslanov late in the first round. But it was mostly controlled by Biyarslanov, who landed an assortment of head and body shots non-stop throughout the bout. In the third round, he hurt Staley with a body shot and then unloaded several clean punches upstairs, including a massive left hand that forced the referee to intervene at 1 minute, 18 seconds.
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In an all-Dallas middleweight fight, Darius Bagley (1-0), 31, outpointed Carlos Dixon (1-14-1, 1 KO), 43, winning 39-37 on all three scorecards.