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Srisaket Sor Rungvisai and Carlos Cuadras will still fight on February 5.
BoxingScene.com has learned that their super flyweight championship rematch will be the main event of DAZN’s first live boxing stream of 2022. Their 12-round fight for the WBC world 115-pound championship was supposed to be the co-feature of DAZN’s stream February 5, but Jessie Vargas withdrew last week from what was scheduled as the main event versus Liam Smith.
DAZN and Matchroom Boxing are expected to announce Monday that the Sor Rungvisai-Cuadras rematch has been elevated to main-event status for February 5. Those partners initially considered rescheduling the entire February 5 show once Las Vegas’ Vargas, a former welterweight and junior welterweight champion, informed them that he had contracted COVID-19.
Once DAZN and Matchroom decided to have Sor Rungvisai and Cuadras headline on February 5, the venue also was switched from Gila River Arena in Glendale, Arizona, to nearby Footprint Center in Phoenix, the home arena of the NBA’s Suns.
Thailand’s Sor Rungvisai (50-5-1, 43 KOs) and Mexico’s Cuadras (39-4-1, 27 KOs) will meet again in a bout the WBC mandated for its world super flyweight title. Cuadras beat Sor Rungvisai by technical decision in a fight for that same championship in May 2014 in Mexico City.
Juan Francisco Estrada is the WBC’s true super flyweight champion, but the WBC elevated Estrada to the status of “franchise” champion to allow his rubber match with rival Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez to take place next. Otherwise, Estrada would’ve been obligated to fight Sor Rungvisai again in his upcoming bout because the strong southpaw is the number one-ranked, mandatory challenger for Estrada’s title.
Estrada (42-3, 28 KOs) and Nicaragua’s Gonzalez (50-3, 41 KOs) will fight for the third time March 5 in another main event DAZN will stream from Pechanga Arena in San Diego.
Gonzalez is the WBC’s second-rated contender for Estrada’s title. Cuadras is ranked third by the WBC in the 115-pound division.
The 12-round junior middleweight bout between Vargas (29-3-2, 11 KOs) and England’s Smith (30-3-1, 17 KOs) will be rescheduled. Its new date won’t be determined until Vargas recovers from the coronavirus.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.