Before Joe Smith Jr. takes on Maxim Vlasov for the vacant WBO light heavyweight title and former IBF lightweight champ Richard Commey returns to action against Jackson Marinez on February 13th, featherweights Adam Lopez and Jason Sanchez headline a fairly solid ESPN+ undercard.
Lopez (14-2, 6 KO), last seen stealing the show against Luis Coria in June, dropped a 2017 majority decision to future champion Stephen Fulton and, in 2019, moved up in weight on short notice to give Oscar Valdez hell before falling victim to a questionable stoppage. Sanchez (15-2, 8 KO) likewise fell short against Valdez and dropped a decision to former title challenger Christopher Diaz last June. Both are game as hell despite an apparent lack of stopping power, so this should be plenty of fun.
Potentially even more interesting is a clash between top heavyweight prospect Jared Anderson (7-0, 7 KO) against Nigerian-born, Phoenix-based former football player Kingsley Ibeh (5-1-1, 4 KO). Ibeh appeared to have upended another of Top Rank’s promising big boys in Guido Vianello last year on the Zepeda-Baranchyk undercard, but settled for a majority draw. He’s a quality test for Anderson, who’s due for a step up.
The card will also see Carlos Adames (18-1, 14 KO) make his return after more than a year on the shelf. The promising Dominican super welterweight came up just short in a November 2019 title bout against Patrick Teixeira and will look to bounce back against TBA.
Other A-sides include unbeaten Eric Puente (4-0, 0 KO), debuting amateur standouts Troy Isley and Floyd Diaz, and Jahi Tucker (2-0, 1 KO).