By Chris Cella
Leading up to the highly anticipated fight this Saturday night between super bantamweight king and one of the top-pound-for-pound fighters in the world Nonito “Filipino Flash” Donaire and undefeated WBA world super bantamweight champion Guillermo “El Chacal” Rigondeaux, there will be more than a half dozen undercard bouts featuring a handful of prospects looking to emerge onto the big scene and work their way towards world title shots.
Photo: Chris Farina/Top Rank
Undefeated Canadian welterweight and rising prospect Mikael Zewski (18-0, 14 KO) will battle Daniel Sostre (11-8-1, 4 KO) in an eight-round contest. Zewski has stopped his last nine opponents en route to preserving his unblemished record, and can line himself up to fight for hardware by the end of the year. His last few fights he has been stepping up the competition to prepare for bigger and better paydays, and despite Sostre’s less than impressive record, Zewski will have his hands full as the one-time Puerto Rican prospect will look to play spoiler.
Sostre hasn’t had his hand raised inside the ring in over two years, and has gone 0-5-1 in his last six fights. Fighting in front of New York fans, the 28-year-old opponent will be looking for any way to find a way to come out of the ring with a ‘W’.
Also featured on the undercard is undefeated light middleweight Glen Tapia going to battle against Joseph de los Santos.
Jersey Boy Glen Tapia had a stellar 2012, finishing his opponent in three of his four wins within the calendar year. A big and powerful light middleweight at 5’11”, Tapia (17-0, 10 KO) has shown between the ropes his ability to bring the fight to his opponent and impose his will.
At 36-years-old de los Santos has been staying more than active in the twilight years of his career, fighting seven times in 2011 and six times last year. His biggest problem through his seven-plus years as a pro has been consistency. His inability to put together an extensive win streak has led him to becoming a journeyman looking to play the spoiler in fights against up-and-coming prospects.
Tapia can expect a fight, as de los Santos will leave it all in the ring Saturday night, bringing in the momentum of winning his last three bouts,
In the third eight-round bout of the night, Sean Monaghan and Dion Stanley will throw hands. Monaghan (17-0, 10 KO) won and successfully defended his WBC Continental America’s light heavyweight title in 2012, and if he is able to roll through Stanley and make a statement with the ‘W’, can get himself into the mix for one of the alphabet belts in his next few fights.
This will be Stanley’s first eight-round fight; in his prior 16 bouts he has only fought past four rounds once, so this will be a huge step up for him. A part-time fighter, Stanley hasn’t laced up the gloves since May of 2011, when he won a unanimous decision over an 0-1 boxer. Although he will be coming into the fight Saturday night with upset implications on his mind, he will be lucky to survive three minutes against the rising light heavyweight Monaghan.
Although there are no big standout names on the undercard leading up to the Donaire/Rigondeaux shown, these three undefeated prospects know how important it is to go do work and shine on the big stage of the Radio City Music Hall to keep their world championship dreams alive.
The full fight card is as follows:
Super Bantamweight Championship- Nonito Donaire vs. Guillermo Rigondeaux
Light Middleweight- Glen Tapia vs. Joseph de los Santos
Welterweight- Mikael Zewski vs. Daniel Sostre
Light Heavyweight- Sean Monaghan vs. Dion Stanley
Super Featherweight- Felix Verdejo vs. Steve Gutierrez
Super Middleweight- Jesse Hart vs. Marlon Farr
Super Featherweight- Toka Kahn Clary vs. Gadiel Andaluz
Light Middleweight- Dario Soccia vs. Tyler Canning
Lightweight- Erick De Leon vs. Diamond Baier
The action begins this Saturday night at 11 p.m. Eastern on HBO.
