In an unusually busy 24-hour span, Golden Boy and Top Rank Promotions busied themselves with several major signings to ensure summer fights for some of their bigger stars.
Golden Boy, which lost Khan-Peterson II and Ortiz-Berto II to positive VADA test results from Lamont Peterson and Andre Berto, rebounded with replacement bouts for their fighters as well as the announcement of two other key contests:
Victor Ortiz (29-3-2, 22 KOs) will square off against Josesito Lopez (29-4, 17 KOs) at the Staples Center in Los Angeles on Ortiz’s original date of June 23 with Lucas Matthysse-Humberto Soto still serving as co-feature.
Amir Khan (26-2, 18 KOs) will now be challenging WBC junior welterweight champ Danny Garcia (23-0, 14 KOs) on July 14 with Seth Mitchell (25-0-1, 19 KOs) vs. Johnathan Banks (28-1-1, 18KOs) as chief support.
Also announced, Saul Alvarez (40-0-1, 29 KOs) will defend his WBC junior middleweight title on a Sept. 15 pay-per-view against Paul Williams (41-2, 27 KOs).
Top Rank, which saw Brandon Rios ruin his chances of a Juan Manuel Marquez showdown with horrible-looking controversial decision over Richard Abril last month, also had to scramble to get their fighters some summertime ring time.
As part of a June 30 doubleheader, WBO junior featherweight champ Nonito Donaire (28-1, 18 KOs) will take on IBF titlist Jeffrey Mathebula (26-3-2, 14 KOs) and Rios (30-0-1, 22 KOs) faces Mauricio Herrera (18-2, 7 KOs) in a junior welterweight bout.
