By Robert Coster
WBA #2 light heavyweight contender Dominican Felix “Mangu” Valera (18-2, 15 KOs) is putting his high ranking on the line against puncher Vyacheslav Shabranskyy (20-2, 18 KOs) September 14th on the undercard of the Tyson Fury versus Otto Wallin bout at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Valera, a former WBA world interim titleholder, is signed up with Top Rank Boxing. The Dominican’s two losses have been on points to Dmitri Bivol and Sullivan Barrera. He has won his last 3 bouts.
Shabranskyy, born in Ukraine, a stablemate of Vasiliy Lomachenko, won his first 17 bouts before losing to Sullivan and Sergey Kovalev (for the WBO title). He’s on the comeback trail with one victory.
Declared Valera who has been training in Nevada for the past month, “Shabranskyy and I both know that a victory is a must for the rest of our careers. The winner goes on to fight for the world title. A loss is a terrible step back.”