Joel Iriarte sees an opportunity to be the new face of Golden Boy Promotions.
Iriarte will fight Rock Myrthil on Saturday night in an eight-round welterweight bout at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California.
Golden Boy Promotions has been in the headlines of late. Ryan Garcia won the WBC welterweight title against Mario Barrios and could perhaps become a free agent, while junior middleweight star Vergil Ortiz Jnr is currently embroiled in a legal battle with Golden Boy.
Iriarte, 9-0 (8 KOs), hopes to become the next fighter to carry the mantle for the company.
“I feel like the welterweight division is mine to take and to be the face of Golden Boy,” Iriarte told BoxingScene. “I see the opportunity, and I want to take advantage of it as best I can.”
Iriarte, 22, explained the path he hopes to go down to accomplish this.
“I feel like if I have an amazing year with great performances, and lots of knockouts, I feel like being the face of Golden Boy is mine,” Iriarte said.
Iriarte also had some superstar sparring for this camp. He shared the ring with Ryan Garcia and junior middleweight titleholder Sebastian Fundora.
“They are at the top of the game right now,” Iriarte said. “Sparring them, you get to see what attributes they have.”
Iriarte was scheduled to fight on January 17 against Jireh De los Santos, but the bout was canceled on fight night. Iriarte returns against Myrthil, 17-2-1 (13 KOs), who is boxing for the first time since August 2023. Myrthil’s last fight was a draw against Jesus Ramon Lugo Garcia in Tijuana, Mexico. Before that, Myrthil, a 33-year-old billed from Los Angeles, was stopped in consecutive bouts against Kenneth Sims Jnr and Kevin Johnson.
Iriarte is optimistic that this will be the start of a busy year in which he announces himself among the elite. His goal for the end of 2026 is to bring a headlining show to his hometown of Bakersfield, California.
“I want people to start recognizing me as one of the top guys in the welterweight division,” Iriarte said. “I feel like the win is mine to take.”
Lucas Ketelle is the author of “Inside the Ropes of Boxing,” a guide for young fighters, a writer for BoxingScene and a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Find him on X at @BigDogLukie.
