IBF #1 heavyweight contender Kubrat Pulev (27-1, 14 KOs) returns to the ring to face Rydell Booker (26-2, 13 KOs) in a 10-round clash on November 9 at Chukchansi Park in downtown Fresno, California. Pulev-Booker will serve as the co-feature to the Jamel Herring-Lamont Roach Jr. WBO junior lightweight world title bout and both fights will live stream on ESPN+. A cruiserweight contender in the early 2000s, the 38-year-old Booker is 4-1 since coming back in February 2018 from serving a 12-year prison term for a drug conviction.
In other undercard action:Middleweight sensation Janibek Alimkhanuly (7-0, 3 KOs) hopes to bring his brand of “Qazaq Style” to Fresno when he defends his WBC Continental Americas and WBO Global belts against former NABO and Canadian middleweight champion Albert Onolunose (24-2-1, 8 KOs) in a 10-rounder. Alimkhanuly is trained by Hall of Famer Buddy McGirt and has knocked out two of his last three foes.
Longtime middleweight contender and 2012 Olympic silver medalist Esquiva Falcao (24-0, 16 KOs) will continue his march up the rankings in a 10-rounder against Manny Woods (16-8-1, 6 KOs). Falcao was the first Brazilian boxer to reach an Olympic final and is ranked No. 7 by the IBF and No. 6 by the WBC.
The pride of Stockton, California, Gabriel Flores Jr. (15-0, 6 KOs), will see his hometown fans head south to watch him face Aelio Mesquita (19-4, 17 KOs) in an eight-round lightweight fight. The 19-year-old Flores packed more than 10,000 fans into the Stockton Arena back in May and is perhaps the sport’s top ticket-selling prospect.
Former world title challenger Amir Imam (21-2, 18 KOs) will make his long-awaited ring return versus Marcos Mojica (16-4-2, 12 KOs) in an eight-round welterweight fight. Imam, who recently signed with Top Rank, hasn’t fought since a March 2018 decision loss to Jose Ramirez for the vacant WBC super lightweight world title.
Robeisy Ramirez (0-1), a two-time Olympic gold medalist from Cuba, will look to rebound from a shocking defeat in his professional debut against Fernando Ibarra De Anda (2-1, 0 KOs) in a six-rounder at featherweight.
David Kaminsky (5-0, 2 KOs), the 19-year-old Israeli-born middleweight prospect, will face an opponent to be named in a six-rounder.
Wonder what happened to…?
IBF mandatory challenger Kubrat Pulev is looking to stay busy before Andy Ruiz Jr. and Anthony Joshua put the aforementioned belt on the line in their December 14th rematch. ESPN reports that “The Cobra” is “likely” to face Australia’s Mark De Mori on the November 9th Jamel Herring-Lamont Roach Jr. ESPN+ card in Fresno
Pulev vs. Booker – why????
Pulev is an A fighter, Booker a C fighter with a decent record against mostly weak competition. Pulev is arguably at top 10 in the division, with only one loss (W. Klitschko). Booker is not even in the top 100. This match up makes little to no sense to me.
Pulev is already 38 and he doesn’t have much time left to land big money fights. Fighting Booker won’t help his career. Why not fight some like Hrgovic, Romanov, Povetkin, etc. Pulev is solid and shouldn’t be afraid to fight top level competition.
I cant believe Booker is still fighting. In the early 2000’s he was part of a Detroit trio that featured current perpetual heavyweight loser Rubin Williams (at the time an undefeated Super Middleweight prospect who fought for a World title) and heavyweight fringe contender Leo Nolan. They fought under the same promotional banner, but none of them materialized, especially Booker, who wound up in prison for selling coke! In one of Bookers last fights before going to the Pinta, he fought James Toney in Toney’s heavyweight debut. Toney put on a clinic and made it apparent why Booker chose to sell yayo than focus on boxing.