Jose Salas takes on Luis Guzman in homecoming bout in Tijuana tonight
Jose Salas is putting together a solid resume as a bantamweight prospect.
Salas returns to action tonight, facing Luis Guzman in a 10-round bout at the Auditorio Municipal in Salas’ hometown of Tijuana, Mexico. Also fighting on the BXSTRS Promotions/Alto Boxing card will be fringe welterweight contender Abel Ramos, as he squares off against Juan Ramon Guzman in an eight-round bout.
Both fights will stream live on ESPN Knockout (10 p.m. ET/ 8 p.m. Mexico).
At Thursday’s weigh-in, Salas weighed in at 117.3 pounds. Guzman came in 116.9 pounds.
Salas (14-0, 10 knockouts) had a successful 2023 campaign, facing strong opposition and coming out victorious. In his last bout on October 20, which was also fought at the Auditorio Municipal, Salas scored a one-sided victory over gatekeeper Florentino Perez Hernandez.
In his previous fight on July 29, which took place on the undercard of the Terence Crawford-Errol Spence undisputed welterweight championship fight, Salas stopped former world title challenger Aston Palicte in the fourth round. In a clash of unbeaten prospects that took place on a ProBox TV card on April 19 of last year, Salas notched a decision win over Prince Dzanie of Ghana.
All three bouts Salas fought in were as a junior featherweight.
Guzman (11-3, 6 KOs) last fought on March 2 in his hometown of Villahermosa, Mexico, defeating Oscar Gomez Lopez by unanimous decision. The win over Gomez took place over five months after losing a one-sided decision to top junior featherweight prospect Tenshin Nasukawa.
The 28-year-old has won four of his last five bouts. His May 2022 victory over Jose Nic Cupul avenged a knockout loss to Cupul almost a year prior.
Ramos has fought a majority of his pro career under the Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) banner.
The 32-year-old Ramos (27-6-2, 21 KOs), who resides in Casa Grande, Arizona, has not fought since a majority decision loss to contender Cody Crowley on March 25 of last year. In his previous fight in February 2022, Ramos lost by unanimous decision to Luke Santamaria.
In recent fights, Ramos does have victories over Francisco Santana and Omar Figueroa, Jr. In February 2020, Ramos knocked out Bryant Perrella at 2:59 of the final round. Ramos was down on all three judges’ scorecards (88-83, 88-83, and 87-84) at the time of the stoppage.
Guzman (17-2-1, 13 KOs) has won his last five bouts, all by knockout since a knockout loss to Esteban Garcia in November 2019. All five bouts took place in his hometown in nearby Rosarito.
In featherweight action, Alejandra Guzman (13-3-2, 7 KOs) of Ciudad Obregon, Mexico will face Mexico City’s Karina Travieso (5-3-1) in an eight-round bout.
The 27-year-old Guzman scored an upset win on June 17, knocking out Ramla Ali in round eight, giving Ali her first defeat as a pro. Guzman would lose the rematch less than five months later, dropping a close unanimous decision.
Junior welterweight Alejandro Aguilera (8-0-1, 2 KOs) of Tijuana, who recently signed a deal with BXSTRS, will square off against Mexicali’s Alexander Rico (7-3-1, 2 KOs) in a six-round bout.
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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