Another big heavyweight prospect makes his eagerly-awaited 2021 return on Saturday night when Frank Sanchez meets Nagy Aguilera in Dallas.
‘The Cuban Flash’ hasn’t been out since knocking out Julian Fernandez in San Antonio last December. But that did cap a year when he was unusual among top-level fighters – he managed three bouts despite the pandemic.
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The 28-year-old Sanchez, now 17-0 (13 wins inside distance), meets Aguilera on the undercard of the huge Canelo vs Billy Joe Saunders show at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
Trained like Canelo by Eddy Reynoso, he’s happy with his preparation, and his focus is on the level of his performance on Saturday as much as the cold hard stats.
Sanchez on preparation
“Truth is, I’ve come to do my job. I want to show everything but I’m going to do my fight and if the knockout comes, it comes,” he explained.
“I feel really happy with the preparation, everything come out okay and I’m happy with the work we’ve done.”
For Sanchez this fight is just another stepping stone towards meeting elite heavyweights. Ranked #6 by the WBO, he says he’s ready to take that step up.
“I feel ready to face them whenever that happens, whenever it is, when it happens, I’ll come out, do my job – I feel ready for anything right now.”
Sanchez a big chance for Aguilera
For the 34-year-old Aguilera (21-10 with 14 inside) a chance to feature on Saturday was unexpected. It does though give him a life-changing opportunity.
“It’s a huge opportunity for me, I’ve been training really hard. I was training for another fight, but it got cancelled twice. Three weeks out they call me, and I really liked this fight. I stayed in shape and accepted the fight – I really like this match.
“This is a good opportunity, he’s a good fighter – top of the world right now. This will change my whole career and life. I’m been training, I’ve been doing my thing, I’m healthy and I’ll have to do what I have to do.”
Aguilera has been in with some top names during his career – including Samuel Peter, Antonio Tarver, Tomasz Adamek, Chris Arreola and Dominic Breazeale. But all of those were some time ago. He has only fought once since 2017.
Saturday’s show will be televised live by DAZN in more than 200 countries – including the United States.
