Leo Santa Cruz To Face Rafael Rivera After Miguel Flores Suffers Ankle Injury
There’s been a change in plans for the February 16 PBC on Fox main event as Miguel Flores is no longer fighting.
Flores was originally supposed to fight WBA “Super” featherweight champion Leo Santa Cruz live on Fox from the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. Flores suffered an ankle injury during training and was forced to drop out of the title fight.
In Flores’ places for the fight is 24-year-old Mexican fighter Rafael Rivera with the bout still moving forward as the main event. Rivera is a former WBC FECARBOX featherweight titleholder, but after going undefeated in his first 27 pro bouts, Rivera has lost two of his last three fights. The first of those defeats came in 2017 when Rivera was a late replacement opponent for Joseph Diaz Jr. and Rivera would go on to lose the fight by unanimous decision. Rivera then lost a split decision to Joet Gonzalez this past July before bouncing back and knocking out Jose Ramos in the first round of their October 2018 bout.
Santa Cruz will be making his third title defense since reclaiming the WBA title in early 2017 when he defeated Carl Frampton in a rematch of their 2016 bout.
The televised card will also feature a 12-round junior welterweight fight between Omar Figueroa and John Molina Jr. and it will serve as the co-main event of the telecast. The opening bout for the Fox-televised portion of the card is an eight-round matchup between junior middleweight prospects Sebastian Fondura and Donnie Marshall.
