Alan Chaves will defend his WBO Latino Lightweight title against Eridson Garcia at Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey on Friday September 4, the third headline show of TNT Sports and DAZN’s “The Fight,” the new monthly live boxing series, and will be broadcast co-exclusively in the U.S. on TNT, truTV and DAZN and worldwide on DAZN – a night headlined by the return of the former unified Heavyweight ruler Andy Ruiz Jr. who faces Polish giant Damian Knyba.
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Chaves (22-0 19 KOs) is back in action following his KO of the year contending victory in Las Vegas in April, where his ferocious left hook in the third round of his fifth defense of his Latino title against Miguel Madueno. The Argentine is sitting pretty in the rankings at #2 with the WBO, #4 with the IBF and #7 with the WBC, and the 25-year-old will be looking for sixth straight win inside the distance to underline his World title credentials at 135lbs.
Garcia (23-2 14 KOs) will be looking to get back to winning ways after the 32-year-old was edged out over ten rounds in his last fight, also in Las Vegas in April, snapping a six-fight winning streak, but victory for the Dominican in the Garden State will catapult him into World title contention.
“I appreciate Eridson accepting the fight when others didn’t,” said Chaves. “He earned the opportunity. Now he has to earn the victory—and that’s a much harder task.”
“Alan Chaves is undefeated, dangerous and coming off a knockout everyone is talking about,” said Garcia. “Good—that means there will be no excuses when I beat him. He has never faced anyone with my experience or the ability to take away his weapons.
“They call him ‘Veneno,’ but I’m bringing the antidote, and I’m coming to hand him the first loss of his career.”
Chaves vs. Garcia is the latest undercard addition to the September 4 action, with New Jersey native Vito Mielnicki Jr. meeting Austin ‘Ammo’ Williams in the co-main event and Zaquin Moses fighting on home soil for the first time in his first right round fight. Two-weight unified king Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis will be in the house on the night as his Boots Promotions outfit has two fighters on the card, with Philadelphia’s Dennis Thompson in the second eight rounder of his career following victory in his first in June on the undercard of Jaron Ennis’ huge win over Xander Zayas in Brooklyn, NY and Welterweight Brooke Mullen fighting for the fourth time in the paid ranks.
“September 4 in New Jersey just got even better with Alan Chaves being added to the card,” said promoter Eddie Hearn. “Alan proved in April that he is a must-watch talent in the sport with his incredible KO of the year contender. Eridson is the latest man to try to stop his rapid ascent and can crash into the Lightweight rankings in a big way with a win, so this has all the hallmarks of a show-stealing fight in an already stacked card.”
