Euri Cedeño hopes to send a message to the rest of the middleweight division at the expense of his upcoming opponent.
Cedeño will face gatekeeper Dormedes Potes Saturday night at the James L. Knight Center in Miami Beach, Florida. The eight-round bout will take place on a Top Rank on ESPN card, which will be headlined by the 12-round bout between Ring junior welterweight champion Teofimo Lopez and Steve Claggett.
The Cedeño-Potes will stream live on ESPN+ (6:30 p.m. ET/ 3:30 p.m. PT).
Cedeño (8-0-1, 7 knockouts), who resides in La Romana in the Dominican Republic, last fought on February 16, also on a Top Rank card, stopping Antonio Todd in the fifth round. In his previous fight on December 8, Cedeño defeated Yoanki Urrutia in a clash of unbeaten middleweight prospects.
Manager Trifon Petrov has high hopes Cedeño will continue to improve and impress on his path toward contender status. According to Petrov, an impressive win over Potes can demonstrate Cedeño is a cut above all the other unbeaten or top prospects in the division.
“Euri is fighting another tough veteran who’s been in the ring with a lot of the top prospects in the sport and none of them was able to get a stoppage win against Dormedes Potes,” Petrov told The Ring Tuesday afternoon. “The goal for Euri on Saturday night is to be the first person to stop Potes.
“I believe he will get a knockout win and keep on proving himself as one of the best up and coming fighters in the world.”
Cedeño, who is promoted by Marshall Kauffman, has won his last two fights since a split decision draw against unbeaten Dayan Depestre on October 27.
The 24-year-old has been very active over the last year, having fought six times, including Saturday’s fight against Potes. Cedeño has recently sparred against IBF world welterweight titleholder Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis and junior middleweight contender Jesus Ramos.
Potes (14-6-1, 10 KOs), who is originally from Barranquilla, Colombia and now resides in nearby Fort Lauderdale, lost by decision to unbeaten Francis Hogan. Potes also fought on the same December 8 card, losing by decision to unbeaten Etoundi Michel William.
The 31-year-old has lost four of his last six fights. One of the two victories cam against Marcos Osorio-Betancourt, who entered the fight 11-0-1.
Francisco A. Salazar has written for The Ring since October 2013 and has covered boxing in Southern California and abroad since 2000. Francisco also covers boxing for the Ventura County (California) Star newspaper. He can be reached at santio89@yahoo.com
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