By Chris Williams: Top Rank’s “Three amigos,” as promoter Bob Arum calls them, Oscar Valdez, Gilberto Ramirez and Jessie Magdaleno, all were victorious on Saturday night in winning their fights on pay-per-view from the StubHub Center in Carson, California. Valdez (22-0, 19 KOs) successfully defended his WBO featherweight title in beating his #1 WBO challenger Miguel Marriaga (25-2, 21 KOs) by a 12 round unanimous decision.
By Chris Williams: WBO featherweight champion Oscar Valdez (21-0, 19 KOs), WBO super middleweight champion Gilberto Ramirez and WBO super bantamweight champion Jessie Magdaleno all weighed in successfully for their matches this Saturday night on Top Rank pay-per-view at the StubHub Center in Carson, California. All three Top Rank fighters hold the World Boxing Organization straps. You can add Manny Pacquiao to the list of Top Rank fighters that hold a WBO title, as he holds the WBO welterweight title.
By Dan Ambrose: Top Rank promoter Bob Arum has his work cut out for him in trying to convince WBO featherweight champion Vasyl Lomachenko to defend his title against former WBA featherweight champion Nicholas Walters (26-0, 21 KOs) now that the 29-year-old Walters no longer is the WBA title holder after losing his belt on the scales last Friday when he failed to make weight for his fight against Miguel Marriaga (20-1, 18 KOs) last Saturday night at Madison Square Garden in New York.
Walters came in one pound over the limit at 127 pounds. The fight still went ahead, but without Walters’ WBA title in his possession, as it was stripped from him after he failed to make the weight.
By Dan Ambrose: In a Top Rank card in which the A-side fighters had huge size advantages over their opponents, former WBA featherweight champion Nicholas Walters (26-0, 21 KOs), who rehydrated all the way up to welterweight at 145 pounds, defeated the much smaller Miguel Marriaga (20-1, 18 KOs) by a one-sided 12 round unanimous decision on Saturday night at Madison Square Garden in New York. The final judges’ scores were 118-109, 117-110, and 119-108.
By Chris Williams: Former WBA featherweight champion Nicholas Walters (25-0, 21 KOs) will be trying to salvage a victory tonight in his fight against undefeated #7 WBA Miguel Marriaga (20-0, 18 KOs) when the two big sluggers face each other at Madison Square Garden in New York. With the 29-year-old Walters, you can emphasize the word “big” because he failed to make weight at Friday’s weigh-in when he came in one pound over the 126lb featherweight limit at 127 pounds.
By Chris Williams: #7 WBA Miguel Marriaga (20-0, 18 KOs) figures that he’s going to upset Top Rank’s big plans of matching WBA Super World featherweight champion Nicholas Walters (25-0, 21 KOs) later this year in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates later this year.
Marriaga, who already beat Walters seven years ago when the two of them were amateurs, thinks he’s going to hand Walters another defeat when they go at it this Saturday night on June 13th on HBO Championship Boxing from Madison Square Garden in New York.
By Dan Ambrose: If WBA Super World featherweight champion Nicholas Walters (25-0, 21 KOs) beats undefeated knockout artist Miguel Marriaga (20-0, 18 KOs) in their fight this Saturday night on HBO, Walters will then face WBO featherweight champion Vasyl Lomachenko in his next bout, according to Bob Arum of Top Rank. He says not going to let the Walters-Lomachenko fight marinate; he’s going to put the fight together.
By Allan Fox: WBA Super World featherweight champ Nicholas Walters (25-0, 21 KOs) will be back inside the ring next month to defend his WBA title against unbeaten #8 WBC, #13 IBF, #14 WBO Miguel Marriaga (20-0, 18 KOs) in a fight on HBO World Championship Boxing from Madison Square Garden in New York.
Walters, 29, is fighting for the first time since destroying former four division world champion Nonito Donaire in six rounds last year in October.