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Mike Coppinger, ESPN
Subriel Matias will defend his IBF junior welterweight title against Shohjahon Ergashev on Nov. 25 in Las Vegas on the David Benavidez-Demetrius Andrade PPV undercard, sources told ESPN on Friday.
Matias, one of the sport’s most-reliable action fighters, won the vacant 140-pound title in February with a fifth-round TKO of Jeremias Ponce.
Matias (19-1, 19 KOs) avenged his lone career defeat with a ninth-round stoppage of Petros Ananyan in his previous fight. The 31-year-old Puerto Rican is ESPN’s No. 6 junior welterweight.
Ergashev (23-0, 20 KOs) has never faced a top fighter, but he figures to present the toughest challenge of Matias’ career. The 31-year-old Uzbek is a dangerous southpaw puncher who will look to neutralize the volume-punching output of Matias.
“It’s been very difficult to line up big names for him to fight,” Ergashev’s promoter, Dmitry Salita, told ESPN in August. “And we knew the only way to get him on the elite level was to get him in the mandatory position. About six months ago when he was rated No. 3, we went through the list of ranked fighters two times and no one wanted to fight him.”
TGB Promotions, the promoter of PBC fights, won the rights to the fight at an August purse bid with a commitment of $510,000. Matias is entitled to 70% ($357,000) while Ergashev is set to earn $153,000.
Source: www.espn.com