The Floyd Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao fight has received plenty of hype since its official announcement. Now the undercard is slowly coming together.
Vasyl Lomachenko will defend his WBO featherweight title against Gamaliel Rodriguez on May 2 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
The Mayweather-Pacquiao and Lomachenko-Rodriguez fights will be part of a three-bout pay-per-view telecast. No word yet on when the third bout will be announced, but it will involve a Mayweather Promotions fighter.
Mayweather Promotions is the lead promoter, while Lomachenko and Rodriguez are both promoted by Top Rank.
Lomachenko (3-1, KO) became a world champion in his third professional fight. The Ukrainian-born fighter was considered by some as the greatest amateur fighter ever, winning two Olympic golds and finishing his career with a record of 397-1.
Although Lomachenko resides in the Los Angeles area, he frequently trains at the Robert Garcia Boxing Academy in Oxnard.
Lomachenko earned the WBO title on June 14, winning a unanimous decision over Gary Russell Jr. in Carson. He successfully defended the title in his last fight on Nov. 23, winning a 12-round unanimous decision over Chonlatarn Piriyapingo of Thailand.
Rodriguez (25-2-3, 17 KOs),of Puerto Rico, is unbeaten in his last 18 bouts since a decision loss to Oxnard’s David Rodela in August 2009.
FALCAO WINS
Middleweight Yamaguchi Falcao won a hard-fought six round unanimous decision last Thursday over Deartie Tucker at the Belasco Theatre in Los Angeles.
Falcao was the more polished fighter and landed the telling blows throughout the fight, although the aggressive Tucker was able to land an occasional hard punch to Falcao’s head. Despite Falcao being deducted a point in the third round for landing a punch below Tucker’s belt, he prevailed by scores of 59-54, 59-54, and 58-56.
A 2012 Olympic bronze medalist, Falcao improves to 5-0, with 1 NC and 2 KOs. Tucker drops to 2-1, with 2 KOs.
Falcao is trained by Danny Garcia at the Knuckleheadz Gym in Ventura. The Brazilian-born Falcao now resides in Oxnard.
WEEKEND ACTION
Lots of boxing action will be televised throughout the weekend:
In eight-round junior middleweight fights, Stanyslav Skorokhod (9-0, 7 KOs) will fight John Thompson (15-1, 5 KOs) and Brandon Adams (16-1, 11 KOs) faces Vito Gasparyan (15-3-5, 8 KOs) on ESPN2.
The winners of the semifinal bouts will square off in the finals of the Boxcino tournament May 22 at the Omega Products International in Corona. ESPN2 will air the finals.
Showtime will televise another edition of “ShoBox: The New Generation” on Friday night at 7. In the main event, junior middleweight Frank Galarza (16-0-2, 10 KOs) will fight Sheldon Moore (13-2-1, 9 KOs) in an eight-round bout. Two more bouts will be televised. The action will take place at the Aviator Sports Complex in Brooklyn, New York.
One night later and across the New York City borough, on the heels of NBC’s debut telecast on March 7, “Premier Boxing Champions” will promote another fight card, this time at the Barclays Center, home of the Brooklyn Nets. In the main event, Danny Garcia (29-0, 17 KOs) will fight Lamont Peterson (33-2-1, 17 KOs) in a 12-round bout at a catch-weight of 143 pounds. Opening the telecast will be Andy Lee (34-2, 24 KOs) defending his WBO middleweight title against Peter Quillin (31-0, 22 KOs).
