Rohan Polanco will face Christian Gomez in a 10-round welterweight fight in the co-feature of the junior middleweight title unification between Xander Zayas and Abass Baraou on January 31 in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
In addition to Polanco-Gomez, Top Rank announced on Thursday that the Zayas-Baraou undercard will also include the junior middleweight debut of Giovani Santillan, 34-1 (18 KOs), and the return of Dominican middleweight Euri Cedeño, 13-0-1 (12 KOs), in separate 10-round bouts at the Coliseo de Puerto Rico.
Since moving up to welterweight early this year, Polanco, 17-0 (10 KOs), has stopped Juan Carlos Torres and won unanimous decisions over Fabian Maidana and Quinton Randall. A 2020/21 Olympian, Polanco has crept into the top-10 rankings of two of the sanctioning bodies.
“I’m not coming to play on January 31 – I'm coming to send a strong message to the division,” Polanco said. “Fighting as the co-main event at Coliseo de Puerto Rico is a great opportunity that I intend to take advantage of. I represent Dominican boxing. I'm hungry, fearless and determined to get closer to a world title opportunity.”
Mexico’s big-hitting Gomez, 23-6-1 (21 KOs) is coming off consecutive decision losses to Nicklaus Flaz and Alberto Palmetta, and has lost four of his past five starts.
Meanwhile, San Diego’s Santillan will face Brooklyn, New York’s Courtney Pennington, while Cedeño will meet Ivory Coast native Etoundi Michel William, 16-2 (12 KOs).
