The postponement of Frank Sanchez vs Richard Torrez Jnr has led to a few changes on the pay-per-view show it was originally scheduled for.
Sanchez vs Torrez was supposed to take place on March 28 as the co-feature underneath Sebastian Fundora vs Keith Thurman at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. But Sanchez had to pull out with an injury; the IBF heavyweight title eliminator could instead be rescheduled for this May.
The new co-feature will be a junior middleweight bout between Yoenis Tellez and Brian Mendoza, according to Premier Boxing Champions.
Tellez, 11-1 (8 KOs), has won once since losing the interim WBA 154lbs belt to Abass Baraou last August. In December, Tellez stopped the 21-12 Kendo Castaneda after five rounds. (Baraou would subsequently be upgraded to the primary titleholder and then lost in an entertaining unification bout against Xander Zayas in January.)
Mendoza had his fortunes changed once before by another PPV bout injury almost exactly two years before this one.
When Keith Thurman pulled out of his March 2024 headliner against Tim Tszyu, that led to Fundora being pulled from his undercard bout with Serhii Bohachuk and substituted into the main event. Bohachuk faced Mendoza instead, outpointing him for the interim WBC junior middleweight title. After 15 months off, Mendoza returned last July and scored a fourth-round stoppage of the 12-10-2 Jesus Antonio Rojas.
In addition, the pay-per-view – which will be available via Amazon’s Prime Video, PPV.com, as well as traditional cable and satellite providers – now has a new opening bout.
Heavyweight prospect Gurgen Hovhannisyan, 9-0 (8 KOs), will face Cesar Navarro, 15-3 (13 KOs). The other previously scheduled PPV bout remains in its slot: a middleweight match between Yoenli Hernandez, 9-0 (8 KOs), and Terrell Gausha, 24-5-1 (12 KOs).
The originally scheduled PPV opening bout between Elijah Garcia, 17-1 (13 KOs), and Kevin Newman II, 18-3-1 (11 KOs), remains on the card – but has been moved to the headlining bout of the free preliminary stream.
David Greisman, who has covered boxing since 2004, is on Twitter @FightingWords2. David’s book, “Fighting Words: The Heart and Heartbreak of Boxing,” is available on Amazon.
