Boxing’s weekend schedule gets under way with a beauty on Mexico on Friday night with Adrian Curiel vs Sivenathi Nontshinga 2 taking centre stage in Mexico.
Just three months on from claiming the IBF world light-flyweight title with a second-round knockout of Nontshinga (12-1) in Monaco, Curiel (24-4-1) makes his first title defence against the same opponent.
Fight night is fast approaching and here are all the details you will need to watch, along with what the fighters said at the final pre-fight presser.
How to watch the fight live
The big fight goes down on Friday February 16 in Oaxaca, Mexico and it will be screened live globally on streaming platform DAZN. It’s not a PPV fight so available through the normal monthly subscription. So that includes both of the fight game’s key markets – the UK and and the US.
When is Curiel vs Nontshinga 2?
The fight is expected to get under way between 10pm-11pm Eastern Standard Time in the United States, that is between 7pm and 8pm PST. If you’re watching in the UK, you’ll need to set your alarm clocks. Main event is expected to be between 3am and 4am on Saturday February 17.
Curiel vs Nontshinga weights
The weigh-in will take places on Thursday February 16 in Oaxaca and we’ll bring you confirmed weights once the fighters step off the scales.
What are the latest odds?
Despite that quickfire Curiel win in the first fight, it’s really tight for the rematch – virtually a pick em fight in terms of the odds.
Curiel is 4/6 favourite with Nontshinga 6/4 and the Draw 18/1.
Who is on the undercard?
We have plenty of interest here, headed up by the hard-hitting Mauricio Lara – he is back after that decision loss to Leigh Wood in his last outing.
Full undercard details are:
Mauricio Lara vs Daniel Lugo (10 rounds, super-featherweight)
Sergio Chirino Sanchez vs Dennis Contreras (10 rounds, super-bantamweight)
Arturo Cardenas vs Ernesto Garcia (10 rounds, WBC Continental Americas super-bantamweight title)
Criztec Bazaldua vs Alejandro Castillo (6 rounds, lightweight)
Federico Pacheco vs Joe Mario Tamez (4 rounds, heavyweight)
What the fighters say
Adrian Curiel: “I’ve been watching interviews that he’s been giving, and he says that I’m not a big puncher and I’m an easy fighter, but he’ll see on Friday that as we say here, people need to back up what they say. So, we’ll see on Friday if that’s true.”
Sivenathi Nontshinga: “I’ve trained so hard, it’s not the first time I’ve prepared for a World title fight, I’ve been a champion before, and I promise everybody that once again I will prevail. I believe falling down is part of life, but getting back up is living, so once again, I will become a champion.
Mauricio Lara: “I just took some time out to analyze what was going on in terms of my boxing, and now I am back. I take it all calmly. I have traveled all over the world to fight, but it’s similar in terms of mental focus for this fight and it’s lovely to be Oaxaca, a lovely part of Mexico, and I’m motivated and full of emotion to make sure people go away happy from this fight.”
Daniel Lugo: “We know he is a former champion, we see this as a big opportunity. We came to Oaxaca three weeks ago so that we could adapt and be ready at the optimal conditions on Friday. I’m have the hunger to win and to become known in boxing, we’ve had a really good camp and I feel really, really strong.”
Sergio Chirino Sanchez: “I am delighted to be fighting at home, and welcome everybody to Oaxaca. It’s great to be in such a big fight and also on such a great card. It’s an opportunity for all the boxers to shine, for the eyes of the world to be on Oaxaca on Friday night. We’ve been training with the opponent in mind, but we have a lot of experience, so it’s a great opportunity and we’re going to show that we are ready.”
Arturo Cardenas: “It’s a great opportunity for me to be here and I’m happy to be fighting for my first title and on such a big card. We’ve had a great camp, we always do with Robert Garcia and RGBA, we’re always 100 per cent ready for whatever comes our way, and this is a great chance and fight for me, and we feel ready.”
Criztec Bazaldua: “It’s a blessing to come back to my home roots in Mexico and put on a show. Me, Fed and Diego we grew up together and it’s great to see us succeeding, we Just need to keep going and keep putting South Central LA on the map.”
Federico Pacheco: “Thank you to Matchroom for giving me another fight on the big stage. Last time it was in Monterrey and I love coming down to Mexico top put on a show. I am ready and very thankful to be here. I am the first fight and Criztec is the second fight, so we are putting LA in the house, and we’ll set the tone for sure.”
