The large effort to draw more than 100,000 spectators to a mostly free boxing event in San Francisco on July 11 will be anchored by one of boxing’s smallest champions.
WBO flyweight titleholder Anthony Olascuaga, of Los Angeles, will defend his 112lbs belt versus Mexico’s Andy Dominguez in the main event of the iV Boxing outdoor fight card at San Francisco Civic Center being promoted by Sampson Lewkowicz and funded by UK businessman Ed Pereira.
The top of the card was formally announced Wednesday, with a news conference to elaborate on the event set to be globally streamed from the Bay Area’s Pier 33 on Thursday.
With the full support of San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie, Pereira has said he’s attempting to set the attendance record in the US for boxing. In 1941, an audience of 132,135 supported the Tony Zale-Billy Pryor fight in Milwaukee.
“Ed has a vision for this sport that I believe in completely,” said Lewkowicz. “When he came to me with this event, I saw immediately what it could be – something the boxing world has never seen. Together, we are going to give San Francisco and the world a night they will never forget.
“This is not just a fight card; this is a statement. I have spent my whole career backing things other people walked away from, and every time I have been proven right. This will be no different.”
Olascuaga, 12-1 (9 KOs), will be making his sixth title defense after knocking out or stopping five of his title-fight foes, including his most recent opponent, Jukiya Iimura, on March 15 in Japan.
Trained by Rudy Hernandez, Olascuaga will meet Dominguez, 13-1 (6 KOs), who resides in Las Vegas, and is ranked No. 15 at light-flyweight by the WBC and No. 14 by the WBO.
The undercard is headed by recent junior lightweight title challenger Charly Suarez, 18-0 (10 KOs), meeting Northern California’s Manuel Avila, 25-2-1 (9 KOs).
Suarez endured a disputed no-contest versus WBO and IBF 130lbs champion Emanuel Navarrete in San Diego in May, when a punch that opened a fight-ending, eighth-round cut on Navarrete was ruled a clash of heads.
Suarez recently signed with Lewkowicz, and the WBO has ordered Navarrete to fight him next following his February unification victory over Eduardo Nunez. Avila is promoted by the card’s co-promoter, Paco Damian.
ProBox middleweight Vito Mielnicki Jnr, 23-1 (13 KOs), of New Jersey, will return from his April 11 unanimous decision triumph to meet Argentina’s Gerardo Luis Vergara, 21-1 (14 KOs).
And heavyweight Gurgen Hovhannisyan, 10-0 (9 KOs), will meet New Zealand’s Uila Mau’u, 10-0 (9 KOs). Hovhannisyan, trained by Joe Goossen, fought on the March 28 Sebastian Fundora-Keith Thurman card in Las Vegas.
The card also includes a former amateur from Uruguay sponsored by Uruguay’s promoter Lewkowicz, Oscar Bonifacino, 4-0 (3 KOs), in a six-round featherweight bout versus Spain’s Raul Escudero, 4-0.
With the card aimed at appealing to San Francisco’s diverse community, Bonifacino – a gay fighter – is set to be featured in the co-main event, according to the statement.
Lewkowicz told BoxingScene last week that the card will be streamed globally on YouTube and TikTok, with more details about the event to be provided during Thursday’s news conference.
Jimmy Lennon Jnr will serve as ring announcer and Hall of Fame women’s fighter Christy Martin will serve as event host.
Lance Pugmire is BoxingScene’s senior U.S. writer and an assistant producer for ProBox TV. Pugmire has covered boxing since the early 2000s, first at the Los Angeles Times and then at The Athletic and USA Today. He won the Boxing Writers’ Association of America’s Nat Fleischer Award in 2022 for career excellence.
