Two heavyweight bouts grace Top Rank Boxing’s 2023 debut on ESPN.
All four participants have faced different opponents than when the card was first announced, but will face off this Saturday at the Turning Stone Resort & Casino in Verona, New York. Headlining the show, Efe Ajagba and Stephan Shaw meet live on ESPN in a scheduled ten-round heavyweight contest.
Ajagba was a well-distributed 235 ¼ pounds, just three pounds more than in the second round against Jozsef Darmons on August 27 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The win was the first for the 2016 Nigerian Olympian – who is now based in Stafford, Texas – since a ten-round loss to Frank Sanchez in their fight against undefeated heavyweights in October 2021.
On Saturday there was to be a duel with Oscar Rivas, who had to resign due to a retinal detachment, which also led to his immediate resignation. Instead, he meets undefeated Shaw (18-0, 13 KOs), a 30-year-old St. Louis Native who weighed 239½ pounds.
The original announcement called for Shaw to face Italy’s Guido Vianello, who will now face Los Angeles’ Jonnie Rice in the planned ten-round co-feature.
Vianello (10-0-1, 9KOs) tipped the scales at 239 pounds, marking his third fight in six months. It’s a welcome active stretch for the 6’6-inch heavyweight Roma, who represented Italy at the Rio 2016 Olympics but is now training in Las Vegas.
Friday’s weight is Vianello’s lightest since an October 2020 draw with Kingsley Ibeh, the only blemish on his record.
Rice (15-6-1, 10 KOs) cost 274¼ pounds for a fight which he accepted with about three weeks’ notice. The Los Angeles-based heavyweight has not fought since his repeat win over Michael Polite Coffee last New Year’s Day in Hollywood, Fla. for which he weighed 283 ¾ pounds. The feat came five months after he scored a stunning fifth-round knockout over the previously undefeated Coffee in a Fox-televised fight from Newark, New Jersey in July 2021.
Adam ‘BluNose’ Lopez and Abraham Nova, headliners of the ESPN+-exclusive undercard, meet in a junior lightweight competition scheduled for ten rounds.
Lopez (16-3, 6 KOs) weighed in at a career-high 129 pounds for his first fight in the 130-pound division since a controversial seventh-round loss to Oscar Valdez in November 2019. The 26-year-old from Glendale, California, has struggled throughout his unlucky featherweight career save for a last-minute opportunity to face off against Valdez.
Nova (21-1, 15KOs) — born in Puerto Rico to Dominican parents but lives in Albany, New York — also weighed 129 pounds. The fight is his first fight since a fifth-round knockout loss to Robeisy Ramirez on June 18 at the Hulu Theater in Madison Square Garden in New York City.
Below are the weights for the rest of the undercard, which will air on ESPN+ starting at 5:30 p.m. ET.
Haven Brady Jr. (8-0, 4 KOs), Albany, Georgia, 133lbs* vs. Ruben Cervera (13-3, 11 KOs), Santa Marta, Colombia, 130¼lbs – 8 rounds, junior lightweight
* Brady was two pounds over the contracted 131-pound limit
Bryce Mills (10-1, 4 KOs), Syracuse, NY, 143lbs vs. Margarito Hernandez (3-3-1, 0 KOs), Wapato, Wash., 144¼lbs – 6 rounds, junior welterweight
Floyd Diaz (8-0, 3KOs), Las Vegas, Nevada, 122 pounds vs. Edwin Rodriguez (11-6-2, 5KOs), Juana Diaz, Puerto Rico, 121 ½ pounds – 8 rounds, junior featherweight
Brian Norman Jr. (22-0, 19 KOs), Conyers, Georgia, 149lbs vs. Rodrigo Damian Coria (10-4, 2 KOs), Cordoba, Argentina, 148¼lbs – 8 rounds, welterweight
Bruce Carrington (5-0, 3 KOs), Brooklyn, New York, 128lbs vs. Juan Antonio Lopez (17-12-1, 7 KOs), Dallas, Texas, 127½lbs – 6 rounds, featherweight
Dante Benjamin Jr. (4-0, 2 KOs), Cleveland, Ohio, 174lbs vs. Emmanuel Austin (6-0, 6 KOs), New Orleans, Louisiana, 175lbs – 6 rounds, light heavyweight
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox
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