Carl Frampton has his opponent for his July 29th return to Belfast. He will be facing little known Mexican Andres Gutierrez in a WBC eliminator. Jermall Charlo also finds himself in a title eliminator on July 29th. In his case he will be facing the extremely underrated Jorge Sebastian Heiland on the Porter/Berto undercard for the right to fight for the IBF belt.
Carl Frampton (23-1, 14 KOs) against Andres Gutierrez (35-1-1, 25 KO) is a joke of an eliminator. As far as I can tell, Gutierrez has never as much fought as featherweight and has never been ranked anywhere near the top ten by the WBC. This is a tune up for Frampton. After three straight tough fights, that isn’t a problem in itself. Gutierrez in an eliminator is. But hey, after Frampton wins he will be Gary Russell Jr’s mandatory. I certainly wouldn’t complain about that fight.
Jermall Charlo (25-0, 19 KOs) versus Jorge Sebastian Heiland (29-4-2, 16 KOs) is a better fight. It will be Charlo’s middleweight debut and for the right to fight the winner of Golovkin/Canelo as ordered by the IBF. Heiland isn’t well known stateside, but he has won his last eight including a smashing of former title challenger Matthew Macklin. Unfortunately it will have taken two and a half years for that win to really launch Heiland into something bigger, but his shot is finally here. Charlo’s talents are much more well documented and I am excited to see him debut at middleweight against a very credible opponent.
Also announced, we have upcoming ShoBox as well as a Golden Boy on ESPN cards to put on the schedule. First, on July 14th, exciting Russian junior welterweight prospect Ivan Baranchyk (15-0, 10 KOs) returns on ShoBox against Keenan Smith (11-0, 5 KOs). This will be a four fight card that is your typical ShoBox affair.
Lastly, July 29th, Sadam Ali (24-1, 14 KOs) will make his return to television as part of the Golden Boy on ESPN series. His opponent will be Venezuela’s Johan Perez (22-3-2, 15 KOs). Perez had an okay run from 2012-2014, but the last few years have shown him to be the soft touch that Golden Boy is looking for here. Former Olympian Sadam Ali has fought twice off television since his 2016 knockout loss to Jessie Vargas, but this will be his first moment in the spotlight since that night.
