Jessie Magdaleno vs. Rafael Rivera Added To August 17 Top Rank On ESPN Card
With the postponement of a welterweight bout between Jose Benavidez Jr. and Luis Collazo, a new fight has been added to an upcoming Top Rank card from Los Angeles.
Top Rank announced that former world champion Jessie Magdaleno will take on Rafael Rivera in a 10-round featherweight bout on August 17. The fight will serve as the co-feature bout for an ESPN-televised card from the Banc of California Stadium in Los Angeles.
The fight was added as a replacement for the aforementioned welterweight bout due to Benavidez suffering a leg injury that has forced him to withdraw from his planned date with Collazo. As a result, a WBO super bantamweight title fight between titleholder Emanuel Navarrete and Francisco De Vaca was bumped from the co-main event to the main event. It will be the first boxing event to be held at the stadium, which hosts soccer games for LAFC.
This will be Magdaleno’s second fight since since losing the WBO 122-pound title to Isaac Dogboe in April 2018. Since then, Magdaleno has only returned to the ring once back in March, jumping to featherweight and beating former 122-pound titlist Rico Ramos. Magdaleno is currently ranked No. 6 by the WBC and No. 3 by the WBO.
Rivera has faced a number of contenders and even one world champion in the past couple of years. Since 2017, Rivera has fought Joseph Diaz Jr., Joet Gonzalez and in February, WBA featherweight champion Leo Santa Cruz. The 25-year-old Rivera is coming off a second-round knockout win over David Godinez on May 31.
