By David Finger

One of the Southwest’s most talented young prospects will return this Friday (March 10th) with a card in El Paso at the El Paso County Coliseum. Headlining the Marines Promotions show will be undefeated super middleweight prospect Jorge Tovar (5-0, 5 KOs) as he takes on Odessa spoiler Herman Rendon (2-1, 0 KOs) in a four round fight. Rendon is a prohibitive underdog, but considering he has been a massive underdog for his entire career that may not bother him much.

In his professional debut back in 2021 he was brought in as an opponent against undefeated James Land, but came away with the four round decision. His next fight three months later also saw him brought in as an opponent against an undefeated fighter in his hometown, and again Rendon scored the upset (winning a four round decision over Yhorhighness Rezzaq). But his luck ran out in January of 2022 when debuting prospect Dante Benjamin stopped him in the opening round. For Tovar, who has never gone past the second round in his professional career, there is the temptation to throw caution to the wind against the gritty Rendon. What remains to be seen is if Rendon can again find lightning in a bottle like he did in his first two fights, or if the skill, strength, and power of the talented Tovar will prove too much.

In the tentative co-main event, welterweight Dewayne Bonds (12-4-1, 8 KOs) faces the ever dangerous TBA. Bonds was slated to fight Gabriel Gutierrez of El Paso but the fight was nixed by the commission, leaving matchmaker Isidro Castillo in search of a new opponent. No word yet on if he has found a replacement yet.

In a featured six round woman’s fight in the lightweight division, Stephanie Han (2-0, 0 KOs) takes on the durable Kim Colbert (3-25, 2 KOs) of Houston Texas. Han is part of boxing royalty in El Paso (her sister Jennifer is a former IBF world champion) and Stephanie has shown world class skill in her own right. Although Colbert is nearly ten years removed from her last win, she still brings a veteran bag a tricks and a solid chin (only three of her losses have come by way of knockout). Although few are picking an upset here, many also recognize that Colbert has the tools to give Han a solid four rounds of action.

Rounding off the fight card will be a handful of familiar local faces including J.D. Ordunez (1-0) from Las Cruces as he takes on Jonathan Abeyeta of Albuquerque in a heavyweight fight. Another undefeated Las Cruces native in Elijah Sweat (1-0) will take on a fellow undefeated banger in Joshua Ramirez (1-0) from El Paso in a four round cruiserweight fight. Super featherweight Alec McGee (8-2, 1 KO) of El Paso takes on journeyman Jesus Xavier PerArdua (8-8, 1 KO) of Albuquerque in a scheduled four rounder. And opening the card will be a middleweight fight featuring the tough New Mexican Garrett Lopez (1-3, 1 KO) as he takes on El Paso native David Espino (0-3). The first fight is scheduled to kick off at 6:30 with tickets available at the box office or via Ticketmaster.com. The tickets start at $35.