Unbeaten prospect Freudis Rojas takes on Cristian Baez in Feliciano-Williams undercard
Freudis Rojas had a breakthrough year in 2023. He hopes to carry that momentum into the new year.
Rojas will face Cristian Baez on Wednesday night at the Whitesands (also known as the ProBox TV) Events Center in Plant City, Florida. The 10-round bout will precede the main event bout between unbeaten junior welterweights Luis Feliciano and Mykquan Williams.
Both fights will stream live on the ProBox TV application and YouTube channel (8 p.m. RY/ 5 p.m. PT).
The southpaw Rojas (12-0, 11 knockouts) last fought on September 15, defeating once-beaten Saul Bustos by unanimous decision. The victory over Bustos took place exactly two months after Rojas stopped Diego Santiago Sanchez in the seventh round in his hometown of Las Vegas, Nevada.
Both fights took place on Showtime programming.
Sampson Lewkowicz, who also promotes super middleweight contender David Benavidez, junior middleweight contender Sebastian Fundora and junior welterweight contender Michel Rivera, is confident Rojas will continue to ascend through the welterweight ranks. He believes Rojas will make a statement at the expense of Baez.
“I am very happy to have Freudis Rojas appearing on ProBox TV,” Lewkowicz told The Ring Monday morning. “The boxing world will get to see one of the best prospects in the sport grow into a top contender by taking out Baez.
“The exposure on ProBox TV will put Freudis Rojas’ name on the mind of boxing fans around the world.”
Prior to turning pro in January 2021, the 25-year-old had an accomplished amateur career, including winning the bronze medal at the 2017 World Championships and was an alternate on the 2020 U.S. Olympic team.
Baez (19-3, 17 KOs), who is originally from San Juan de Los Morros, Venezuela and now resides in San Jose, California, was knocked out by Petros Ananyan in round seven of his last bout on August 9. At the time of the stoppage, Baez was up 60-54, 60-54, and 59-55 on the judges’ scorecards.
The 32-year-old has lost three of his last four bouts, including a fifth-round knockout loss to current IBF world featherweight titleholder Luis Alberto Lopez in December 2019.
Opening the ProBox TV stream on Wednesday will be an eight-round junior lightweight bout between Jaycob Gomez Zayas (8-0, 5 KOs) of Caguas, Puerto Rico and Las Vegas’ Ezequiel Borreo (6-0, 2 KOs).
Francisco A. Salazar has written for The Ring since October 2013 and has covered boxing in Southern California and abroad since 2000. Francisco also covers boxing for the Ventura County (California) Star newspaper. He can be reached at santio89@yahoo.com
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