The show must go on.
After the announcement regarding the cancellation of the Janibek Alimkhanuly-Andrei Mikhailovich fight, the co-main event bout between lightweight contender Raymond Muratalla and Tevin Farmer on Saturday night was elevated to main event status.
The 10-round bout will headline a Top Rank card that will begin streaming live on ESPN+ (6:50 p.m. ET/ 3:50 p.m. PT).
At Friday’s weigh-in, Muratalla weighed in at 134.1 pounds. Farmer came in at 134.7 pounds.
Alimkhanuly, rated No. 1 by The Ring at 160 pounds, pulled out of the IBF/ WBO unified world middleweight title fight early Friday morning after he was taken to the hospital due to a severe case of dehydration.
Promoter Bob Arum hopes for a speedy recovery for Alimkhanuly, but is eager to showcase Top Rank talent Saturday night.
“He had to go to the hospital because he collapsed trying to make weight,” Arum told The Ring after the weigh-in Friday. “It’s not the first time I’ve seen that happen. We’ve had to cancel main events before. But once that happens, because our cards are so loaded, we don’t cancel the show. Because that would mean, here in this case, 16 kids who have been working their tail off getting ready for tomorrow night would not be able to show their skills.
“So you go ahead, you don’t want to fool the public, you tell the public they are entitled to a refund, and you go on with the show. I think that’s the appropriate way to handle a bad situation.”
Muratalla (20-0, 16 knockouts), who resides in Fontana, California, last fought on March 29, defeating fringe contender Xolisani Ndongeni by unanimous decision. The win over Ndongeni took place almost five months after Muratalla stopped hard-hitting Diego Torres in a clash of unbeaten.
The 27-year-old is rated No. 6 by The Ring at 135 pounds and is trained by Robert Garcia.
Farmer (33-5-1, 8 KOs) is a former IBF world junior lightweight titleholder, who resides in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He would lose the IBF title to Joseph ‘JoJo’ Diaz by decision in January 2020.
Since the Diaz fight, the 33-year-old has won his last three fights in a row.
In featherweight action, Ruben Villa (22-1, 7 KOs) of Salinas, California will face fringe contender Sulaiman Segawa (16-4-1, 6 KOs) of Kampala, Uganda in a 10-round bout.
Villa weighed in at 125.5 pounds. Segawa came in at 122.6 pounds.
The 27-year-old Villa is rated No. 10 by The Ring at 126 pounds, and is also ranked No. 1 by the WBC.
Junior lightweight prospect Jonathan Lopez (15-0, 11 KOs) of Orlando, Florida will square off against Venezuela’s Leonardo Padilla (23-5-1, 16 KOs) in an eight-round bout.
Lopez is trained by Eddy Reynoso, who also trains Ring Magazine super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez.
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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