Former featherweight world titleholders Oscar Valdez and Carl Frampton move up in weight to the 130-pound division to face Andres Gutierrez and Tyler McCreary, respectively, in a Top Rank boxing card at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas on Saturday (ESPN+, 10 p.m. ET).
Earlier in the day, Zolani Tete defends his WBO bantamweight world title against interim titlist John Riel Casimero at the Arena Birmingham in England (ESPN+, 2 p.m. ET).
Valdez (26-0, 20 KOs) faces Gutierrez (38-2-1, 25 KOs) in a WBC junior lightweight eliminator for a chance to become the mandatory challenger for champion Miguel Berchelt.
Valdez, who vacated his WBO featherweight title in order to move up in weight, has two victories already in 2019. In February, Valdez dropped Carmine Tommasone four times before scoring a KO victory in Round 7. Valdez returned four months later to defeat Jason Sanchez with a one-sided unanimous decision.
Gutierrez failed in his attempt to win the WBA featherweight title in a technical decision loss to Abner Mares due to a cut from a legal punch over his left eye in 2017.
Since then, Gutierrez has won three consecutive fights, including a hard-fought unanimous decision win against Tomas Rojas in June.
Frampton will face McCreary in a 10-round junior lightweight battle.
Frampton (26-2, 15 KOs) was scheduled to fight in August but suffered a broken metacarpal in his left hand in a freak, non-boxing incident days before the bout that forced him to withdraw from his fight against Emmanuel Dominguez.
This is Frampton’s first fight since losing a unanimous decision challenging Josh Warrington for the IBF featherweight belt.
McCreary (16-0-1, 7 KOs) fought to a majority draw against Roberto Castaneda in March, before scoring a split decision victory over Jessie Cris Rosales in July.
Since losing a split decision to Roberto Domingo Sosa in 2012 in Argentina, Tete (28-3, 21 KOs) has won 12 consecutive fights, including unanimous decision victories against Omar Narvaez and Mikhail Aloyan in 2018.
Tete, who earned a place in the World Boxing Super Series bantamweight semifinals but was forced to withdraw due to a shoulder injury, has been out of action this year.
Casimero (28-4, 19 KOs) has scored four stoppage victories in a row since losing to Jonas Sultan two years ago, including a 10th-round KO win over Cesar Ramirez in August.
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