When the unfortunate tragedy of the earthquake which struck Haiti earlier this month forced Andre Berto to withdraw from his scheduled unification bout against Shane Mosley, it forced promoter Golden Boy Promotions to cancel the entire January 30th event which was to have emanated from the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. The cancellation left several bouts slated for the deep undercard without a venue.
However, Golden Boy has found a home for at least one of the more prominent bouts originally pegged for January 30th, as the meeting between rising super featherweights Eloy Perez and David Rodela has been moved to January 29th. Their ten-round bout will now take place just down the road a bit at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino as a supporting bout to WBA Light Heavyweight Champion Gabriel Campillo’s title defense in a rematch against Beibut Shumenov. Golden Boy is co-promoting the card with Shumenov’s KZ Event Productions.
Perez (15-0-2, 4 KOs) of Salinas, California will be making the first defense of his WBC USNBC Super Featherweight title which he won in a back-and-forth struggle over previously undefeated Dannie Williams this past September. In his most recent bout, Perez scored the biggest win of his career, stopping the naturally larger Juan Santiago to claim the WBO NABO 130-pound crown.
Rodela (14-1-2, 6 KOs) of Oxnard, California last fought in August, cruising to a unanimous four-round decision victory over once-beaten Gamalier Rodriguez. That victory was preceded by three straight split decision wins over Juan Garcia, Marlon Aguilar and faded former champion Kevin Kelley.
The significance of their clash has increased since the bout was first signed. The January rankings issued by the WBO have Eloy Perez ranked #3 in the world at 130-pounds. With only WBO #1 Ricky Burns (who is already scheduled to meet WBO kingpin Rocky Martinez in March,) and WBO #2 Terdsak Jandaeng ranked above him in the rankings, Perez could conceivably be paired in an elimination bout next time out. For the currently unranked Rodela, a win over the WBO #3 contender would undoubtedly catapult the Oxnard native into the world rankings.
Mario Ortega Jr. can be reached at ortega15rds@lycos.com.
