Japan’s Toshiaki Nishioka (38-4-3, 24 KOs) looks to make the seventh defense of his WBC junior featherweight title against veteran former world champ Rafael Marquez (40-6, 36 KOs) Saturday night at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas as part of a Fox Deportes televised card at 10 p.m. ET/PT.
Nishioka, whose biggest wins include a third-round stoppage of Jhonny Gonzalez in 2009 and a one-sided unanimous decision over the UK’s Rendall Munroe in 2010, has been in the world championship picture since winning the interim 122-pound title from Napapol Sor Rungvisai in 2008.
Marquez, the 36-year-old former IBF bantamweight and WBC junior featherweight world champion, made an unsuccessful bid for a world title at featherweight against defending titlist Juan Manuel Lopez in November 2010, retiring in his corner between Rounds 8 and 9 due to injury. Most recently, Marquez stopped journeyman Eduardo Becerril in a July card held in Cancun, Mexico.
In the championship co-feature, Roman “El Chocolatito” Gonzalez (29-0, 24 KOs) of Nicaragua seeks to make the third defense of his WBA junior flyweight belt against former two-time world title challenger, Mexico City’s Omar Soto (22-7-2, 15 KOs).
Also scheduled on the card is fringe welterweight contender Jesus Soto Karass (24-6-3, 16 KOs), fresh from back-to-back losses to Mike Jones, taking on undefeated Japanese welterweight prospect Yoshihiro Kamegai (18-0, 16 KOs).
