It’s a busy weekend for DiBella Entertainment (DBE) fighters, as four members of the promotional outfit will be in action starting late this afternoon when “Khanqueror” Breidis Prescott (24-2, 19KO’s) takes on Ireland’s Paul McCloskey (22-1, 12KO’s) in an official WBA light welterweight title eliminator.
Prescott-McCloskey is scheduled for 12 rounds and will take place at the Odyssey Arena in Northern Ireland. Prescott (WBA #6), co-promoted by DiBella Entertainment and Warriors Boxing, has been pleading for a rematch against the WBA- IBF champion Amir Khan, over whom Prescott owns a 54-second first-round annihilation. Khan has seemingly been avoiding the Colombian slugger for sometime now, but a win over McCloskey (WBA #7), who lost to Khan by technical decision in his last bout, will force Khan to meet Prescott for a second match-up inside the squared circle, or relinquish his belt. Prescott-McCloskey can be viewed online at ESPN3.com starting at 3:45PM ET.
Fellow DBE fighters Argenis Mendez (18-1, 9KO’s), Vincent Arroyo (11-1, 7KO’s), and Hector Sanchez (19-1, 9KO’s) will also be in action this weekend, in very important fights.
The Dominican Republic native Mendez, who now lives and trains in Brooklyn, will be fighting for his first world title, when he takes on the former WBA Super Featherweight World Champion, Juan Carlos Salgado (23-1-1, 16KO’s), for the vacant IBF Super Featherweight Championship, at the Coliseo Olimpico in Guadalajara, Mexico.
After suffering a close split decision loss to Jaime Sandoval in 2008, the 2004 Dominican Olympian Mendez bounced back in impressive fashion, winning his next six fights, and picking up the vacant WBA Fedelatin Super Featherweight and vacant USBA Super Featherweight titles in the process.
The championship bout on Saturday will be held in Salgado’s home country, but that will not deter Mendez. In his most recent outing, Mendez went into former world champion Cassius Baloyi’s backyard of South Africa and won a convincing 12-round unanimous decision. The bout was an IBF eliminator and earned Mendez his position in Saturday night’s title fight.
In the main event of this week’s edition of Showtime’s ShoBox: The New Generartion, held at the Grand Casino in Hinckley, Minnesota, Arroyo will take on fellow once-beaten prospect, and DBE stable-mate Sanchez, who is a member of Team Puerto Rico Boxing, a group of fighters promoted by DiBella Entertainment, Gary Shaw Productions and Universal Promotions.
Arroyo is coming off his two most impressive victories, an eight-round decision over Willie Nelson (16-0) on ShoBox back in April and an eighth-round knockout over Jeremy Bryan (13-0) before that. Arroyo-Sanchez is scheduled for 10 rounds in the light welterweight division.
