Rafael Espinoza will make the first defense of his WBO featherweight title on Friday, June 21, headlining a Top Rank on ESPN+ card from Las Vegas.
The 30-year-old Espinoza (24-0, 20 KO) pulled a major upset to take the title from Robeisy Ramirez last December, a huge breakthrough victory for the Mexican. He now takes on countryman Chirino (22-1, 13 KO), a 29-year-old who has the chance to, basically, do what Espinoza did six months previous.
Chirino’s loss came to Mauricio Lara back in 2018, long before anyone knew who Lara was, and not a bad loss knowing what we now know of Lara’s abilities.
The show will also feature a super featherweight battle between Andres Cortes (21-0, 12 KO) and Abraham Nova (23-2, 16 KO), and another well-matched bout between middleweights Troy Isley (12-0, 5 KO) and Javier Martinez (10-0-1, 3 KO), which is sort of a prospect eliminator, if you will.
Floyd Diaz, Steven Navarro, and DJ Zamora will also be in action.