Undefeated knockout artist William “El Camarón” Zepeda (27-0, 23 KOs) will return to the ring after pulling an upset against Joseph Diaz, Jr. last October 2022 and is now scheduled to defend his WBA Continental Americas lightweight title against former world champion challenger Jaime “Jaimito” Arboleda (19-2, 14 KOs). The two fighters will participate in a 12-round lightweight fight on DAZN April 29. The event, originally headlined as Eimantas Stanionis versus Vergil Ortiz, Jr., will still take place at College Park Center at The University of Texas at Arlington campus.
“In an absolutely stacked lightweight division, I don’t think there is anyone I would favor over Zepeda,” said Chairman and CEO of Golden Boy Oscar De La Hoya. “But other fighters have been favored over Arboleda before and ended up tasting defeat. To get to the next level, Zepeda must continue to use the volume of punches and relentlessness that have made him a force to be reckoned with.”
In the co-main event, Diego De La Hoya (24-1, 11 KOs) will participate in a 10-round featherweight fight against stablemate Victor Morales (17-0-1, 8 KOs).
Raul “El Cugar” Curiel (12-0, 10 KOs) will participate in a 10-round welterweight bout against Frederick Lawson (29-3, 22 KOs).
WBA, WBC female flyweight world champion Marlen Esparza (13-1, 1 KOs) will defend her titles against Gabriela Alaniz (14-0, 6 KOs).
Opening up the DAZN broadcast with eight-rounds of super middleweight action, David Stevens (12-0, 9 KOs) will face off against Marco Periban (26-6-1, 17 KOs).
Opening up fight night, Caleb Zuniga (1-0) will participate in a four-round super featherweight fight against a soon to be announced opponent.
It isn’t a horrible fight but Arboleda’s probably more of a super featherweight at his best and he has been stopped at the weight. I think he’ll be at a fairly large physical disadvantage in this one, but we’ll see.
Initially Arboleda was announced to fight El Rayo; it looks more like Jaimito took the fight for a decent payday w/o a chance of winning this fight.
According to Oscar ‘I don’t think there is anyone I would favor over Zepeda’ at lightweight. A rubbish statement.