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Frank Sanchez has resurrected old business for a new fight date.
BoxingScene.com has confirmed that the unbeaten Cuban heavyweight will face Puerto Rico’s Carlos Negron as part of an already announced October 15 show at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. The rescheduled fight was confirmed by Joe Goossen, Sanchez’s trainer.
The Fox Sports Pay-Per-View card is headlined by another heavyweight fight, with former titlist Deontay Wilder (42-2-1, 41KOs) and Robert Helenius (31-3, 20KOs) in a 12-round WBC semifinal eliminator.
The two were originally scheduled to meet on January 1 at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida. Negron (25-3, 20KOs) was forced to withdraw less than a week prior to the Fox Sports PPV after testing positive for Covid. Sanchez (20-0, 13KOs) remained on the card, facing late replacement Christian Hammer who he outpointed over ten lopsided rounds.
Sanchez previously fought on the undercard of Wilder’s eleventh-round knockout loss to Tyson Fury (32-0-1, 23KOs) in their epic trilogy clash last October 9 in Las Vegas. The 30-year-old Cuban export—who lives in Miami and trains in California—outpointed Efe Ajagba over ten rounds in their battle of unbeaten heavyweights.
Negron will end a year-plus long layoff, having been out of the ring since last September. The 2008 Olympian for Puerto Rico—who lives and trains in Miami and is a training stablemate of veteran contender Luis Ortiz—will enter the fight having won his last five starts including back-to-back early knockouts on Miami club shows.
Exact placement of the Sanchez-Negron bout is not yet confirmed but is expected to be part of the Fox Sports PPV portion of the show, as would have been the case for their planned January 1 clash. Sanchez is currently ranked number-four by the WBC, though former unified titlist Andy Ruiz (35-2, 22KOs) is expected to surpass him in the next rankings update following his win over Ortiz in their September 4 WBC semifinal title eliminator in Los Angeles.
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox