Miguel Madueno will step in to replace injured Regis Prograis as Oscar Duarte’s opponent for their light welterweight clash on February 15th at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California. The event will be shown live on DAZN. The fight card starts at 8:00 PM ET / 1:00 AM GMT / 2:00 AM UK time, with Duarte vs. Madueno main event ringwalks expected at 11:00 PM ET / 4:00 AM GMT / 5:00 AM UK time.
Lightweight Madueno (31-3, 28 KOs) will move up to 140 to take on the brawler Duarte (28-2-1, 22 KOs) in a fight that should be much more interesting than the original one involving the 36-year-old Prograis, who has lost his last two fights.
Madueno In, Prograis Out
Madueno, 26, is coming off a lopsided 10-round unanimous decision to Top Rank’s Keyshawn Davis on July 6th last year in Newark, New Jersey. Keyshawn turned the fight into a wrestling match to neutralize the pressure from Madueno and got away with murder with these tactics.
At one point, Keyshawn picked Maudeno off the group and looked ready to body slam him. The referee did nothing. When Madueno pulled the same move, he was sternly warned. Keyshawn looked desperate and should have been disqualified.
Obviously, the 2020 Olympic silver medalist, Keyshawn, was the A-side for that fight and is being given a huge push by Top Rank to turn him into a star as fast as possible.
Jake Donavan is reporting that Madueno is the replacement opponent for Duarte to fight on February 15th on DAZN. Fans have a mixed reaction to Madueno getting the match. Obviously, some of them would have preferred a better opponent like Ernesto Mercado, Andy Cruz, or Gary Antuanne Russell.
It’s unlikely that Golden Boy Promotions would have agreed to any of those fighters being used because they’re trying to keep Duarte from getting beaten again after he was knocked out in the eighth round by Ryan Garcia on December 2nd, 2023.
Duarte has won his last two fights against Joseph ‘Jojo’ Diaz and Botirzhon Akhmedov. Although he looked good in both fights, he remains the same vulnerable fighter that Ryan Garcia knocked out.
If Madueno can put hands on Duarte, he may knock him out, too and make Golden Boy regret having used him as the replacement.
“I am excited to fight Madueño because he will be a fighter that will stand in front of me. It’s going to be an all-out war. Without saying names, there are a lot of guys out there ducking and who do not want to fight me. But I will continue on my path to fight the best. Thank you to everyone for the support,” said Oscar Duarte. “I am really excited for this fight night, and I am excited to headline my first show as the red corner here in America. I worked really hard and I am excited for this opportunity with Golden Boy.”
“I want to thank Golden Boy for the opportunity they have presented us and Alex Campanovo who has done extraordinary things with my career,” said Miguel Madueño. “I ask the fans to keep an eye on this new main event, which will be much more eye-appealing than the previous fight in place. This will be a fight between two knockout artists. What people are going to see on Saturday is a war and two gentlemen.”
“The main event of the night is an all-Mexican showdown that is guaranteed to be an absolute war in the ring,” said Chairman and CEO Oscar De La Hoya. “Rarely does a late replacement actually add excitement to the main event but this is one of those rare occasions. Duarte and Madueño will give the fans nonstop action.”
Duarte Madueno card
- Oscar Duarte vs. Miguel Madueno , 12 rounds, super lightweight
- Darius Fulghum vs. Winfred Harris, 10 rounds, super middleweight – Fulghum’s WBA Intercontinental title
- Ricardo Sandoval vs. Saleto Henderson , 10 rounds, flyweight – Sandoval’s WBC Silver title
- Kenneth Sims Jr vs. Kendo Castaneda , 10 rounds, welterweight
- Joel Iriarte vs. Steven Thomas , 6 rounds, welterweight
- Yair Benjamin Gallardo-Lozano vs. Carlos Miranda, 8 rounds, light heavyweight
- Daniel Garcia vs. Francisco Javier Grande Pacheco , 6 rounds, lightweight
- Petr Khamukov vs. Dayan Depestre , 8 rounds, middleweight
- Gael Cabrera vs. Roberto Pucheta , 6 rounds, super bantamweight
- Fabian Guzman vs. TBA , 6 rounds, middleweight
- Javier Meza vs. Rickey Smith , 4 rounds, super lightweight
