The pay-per-view card for the WBC Deontay Wilder-Robert Helenius Semifinal Heavyweight Title Eliminator on October 15 (Fox PPV, 9 pm ET) at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, is ready.
In addition to the previously announced co-feature of former super middleweight champions Caleb Plant and Anthony Dirrell meeting in a title eliminator, two other fights were finalized and announced Tuesday.
Heavyweight contender Frank Sanchez (20-0, 13 KOs), 30, a Miami-based Cuban, will face Carlos Negron (25-3, 20 KOs), 35, of Puerto Rico, in a bout. to 10 rounds that Sánchez’s trainer, Joe Goossen, had. It was already said that he was going to be on the card.
It’s a fight that was scheduled for January 1 before Negron pulled out a week earlier due to Covid-19 and Sanchez defeated late replacement Christian Hammer.
“I intend to go for a knockout against Negron to show boxing fans that I am both a boxer and a puncher,” Sanchez said. “I feel like I am the best heavyweight in the world and October 15 will bring me one step closer to the very important goal of becoming a mandatory contender for a world title shot in 2023.”
Negron said, “I know Frank, and I’ve never been a fighter to call out other fighters or talk about any other fighter, so I don’t know why he asked me to fight. When my trainer told me that he wanted to fight me, I didn’t take it personally. I took it as a challenge. He gave me incredible motivation, and now I want to fight him. Let’s see what I can do against good competition.”
In the opener, bantamweights Gary Antonio Russell (19-0, 12 KOs), 29, a southpaw from Capitol Heights, Maryland, and former world champion Emmanuel Rodriguez (20-2, 13 KOs), 30, from Puerto Rico, will meet in a 12-round rematch.
Russell, the middle brother between featherweight champion Gary Jr. and junior welterweight contender Gary Antuanne, and Rodriguez met in August 2021 with no contest. The fight lasted only 16 seconds because an immediate accidental headbutt left Rodríguez severely cut and unable to continue. Both fighters have won their only fights since then.
“I’m glad that Emmanuel and I get a chance to remake,” Russell said. “Nothing has changed in terms of my goal. I will step into the ring at Barclays Center to do whatever it takes to finish this fight victorious.”
Rodriguez added: “I have been training in Mexico for a long time and away from my family so I can focus on this fight that will define my future. Russell is a good fighter who has been avoided throughout his career, but I have come to show that I am on another level. I will win without a doubt and be back at the top of the bantamweight division. He is going to realize that he is not at my level.”
