Showtime and PBC moved one of their three fights to the Errol Spence-Terence Crawford undercard as the Nonito Donaire-Alejandro Santiago bout for the vacant WBC bantamweight title will now be contested on July 29th after originally scheduled for the Saturday broadcast.
The main event from Las Vegas will see undefeated lightweight Frank Martin in a WBC eliminator against untested and undefeated Artem Harutyunyan, who fights out of Germany.
The unbeaten Martin dominated fellow unbeaten Michel Rivera in December and the slick-boxing Martin is the lightweight that none of the elites in the division want to face currently.
The winner of this one will be squarely in the middle of the eventual breakup of the lightweight titles, should Devin Haney move to the junior welterweight division.
Harutyunyan won a bronze medal at the 2016 Olympics for Germany but hasn't beaten anyone of note as a professional and is the epitome of the unknown quantity entering the fight.
The new co-feature will pair prospect, Elvis Rodriguez, against former WBC junior welterweight champion Viktor Postol in a twelve-rounder.
The durable Postol has lost his last two fights, losing on a final round stoppage that was extremely questionable, although Postol was behind on the scorecards, to Gary Antuanne Russell and a close majority decision to Jose Ramirez when Ramirez held the WBC and WBO titles.
At 39, Postol has perhaps lost a step but could have enough to hold off Rodriguez, who was a star of the "pandemic bubble" before being upset by Kenneth Sims, a result that doesn't look as bad now with Sims's recent winning streak.
Rodriguez was released by Top Rank after the Sims loss and has won his last three since signing with PBC including a majority decision over Joseph Adorno, the same Adorno that was dominated last week on Showtime by Edwin De Los Santos, so this should be a test for Rodriguez.
The remaining fight is from Detroit as the co-feature to Alicia Baumgartner's title defense as Matchroom/DAZN's latest marquee signing makes his debut as 2020 Olympic gold medalist Andy Cruz takes on veteran warhorse Juan Carlos Burgos.
Cruz, who defeated hot prospect Keyshawn Davis to win the gold and hold four amateur wins over Davis, is moving to ten rounders to start his career as quickly as possible and by facing Burgos, who lost to Davis by a lopsided unanimous decision, Cruz will immediately make comparisons between himself and the promising Davis.
Boxing Challenge
TRS: Martin Unanimous Decision
Vince Samano: Martin KO 9
TRS: Postol Majority Decision
V.S: Rodriguez Unanimous Decision
TRS: Cruz Unanimous Decision
V.S: Cruz KO 8
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