The undercard and site for the welterweight fight between former two-division titlist Danny Garcia and Adrian Granados on April 20 was squared away on Thursday.
The Premier Boxing Champions card (Fox/Fox Deportes, 8 p.m. ET) will take place at the Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, California, and will include a 10-round heavyweight co-feature between Andy Ruiz, who is newly signed to PBC, and Alexander Dimitrenko, and a vacant interim junior featherweight title bout between Brandon Figueroa and Yonfrez Parejo in the opening bout.
Ruiz (31-1, 20 KOs), 29, fighting out of Imperial, California, suffered his lone defeat by majority decision in New Zealand to Joseph Parker for a vacant world title in December 2016. He has only fought twice since before being released by longtime promoter Top Rank and signing with PBC.
The 6-foot-2 Ruiz will take on the 6-7 Dimitrenko (41-4, 26 KOs), 36, a Russia native fighting out of Germany, who has vast experience. Dimitrenko suffered a third-round knockout loss to Parker in 2016 and is coming off a ninth-round knockout loss to Bryant Jennings in August.
Figueroa (18-0, 13 KOs), 22, of Weslaco, Texas, who is the younger brother of former lightweight titlist Omar Figueroa Jr., is coming off his most notable win, a third-round knockout of Moises Flores on Jan. 13.
Parejo (22-3-1, 11 KOs), 32, a former interim bantamweight titlist from Venezuela, lost a decision to then-bantamweight titlist Ryan Burnett last March but won his only bout since in February.
Former welterweight and junior welterweight titlist Garcia (34-2, 20 KOs), 30, of Philadelphia, is coming off a decision loss for a vacant welterweight world title to Shawn Porter in September and returning for a 12-rounder against battle-tested Granados (20-6-2, 14 KOs), 29, of Cicero, Illinois.
“I cannot wait to get back in the ring and put on the Danny Garcia show once again,” Garcia said Thursday. “Granados was talking a big game when we first announced the fight and I plan on proving him wrong on April 20. The Southern California fans have always treated me right, and I’m excited to give them a great fight.”
Granados has been in several action-packed fights against opponents such as Porter and Adrien Broner. He has won two fights in a row, and if he beats Garcia it would be by far the biggest win of his career.
“This is a huge fight for me and definitely one of the most important in my career,” Granados said. “I’m looking to dominate, look impressive and control the fight. I’ve fought in Southern California before and I’m looking to take advantage of the great Mexican crowd. This is Mexico versus Puerto Rico and Chicago versus Philadelphia. It’s territorial on a lot of levels, and you can expect us to leave it all in the ring.”