LOS ANGELES, April 27 – World champions will collide tomorrow, Saturday, April 28, when current World Boxing Council (WBC) Featherweight World Champion Jhonny Gonzalez takes to the ring at The Grand Oasis Cancun in Cancun, Quintana Roo, Mexico to defend his title for the fourth time against former World Champion Elio Rojas live on FOX Deportes at 9:00 p.m. ET / 6:00 p.m. PT. The broadcast also features the International Boxing Federation (IBF) Junior Lightweight World Championship bout between Juan Carlos Salgado and Martin Honorio.
One of boxing’s most devastating punchers, Mexico City’s Jhonny Gonzalez (51-7, 45 KO’s), has caused fear in his opponents for nearly 13 years as a professional. He captured the WBO Bantamweight World Title in 2005 and holds wins over Hall of Famer Mark “Too Sharp” Johnson, Ratanachai Sor Vorapin, Fernando Montiel, Irene Pacheco and Mauricio Pastrana. The 30-year-old has reinvented himself in the featherweight division, stopping Hozumi Hasegawa in four rounds to win the WBC 126-pound crown in April of 2011 and will look to add Rojas to his already long list of vanquished foes.
A native of the Dominican Republic who now makes his home in New York City, 29-year-old Elio “The Kid” Rojas (23-1, 14 KO’s) is looking forward to regaining the title he never lost in the ring, having vacated the WBC belt he won from Takahiro Ao in 2009 due to an injury. After defending his title with a win over Guty Espadas Jr. in February of 2010, Rojas was forced to the sidelines for nearly 19 months, finally returning in September of last year with an eighth round technical knockout win over Arturo Gomez. Now he wants to take back what he believes is rightfully his on Saturday night.
Two-Time Junior Lightweight World Champion Juan Carlos Salgado (24-1-1, 16 KO’s) has represented his hometown of Mexico City well over the years, rapidly becoming a world class competitor at 130 pounds. In 2009, Salgado knocked out highly touted former World Champion Jorge Linares in just 73 seconds to win the WBA title and while he lost that belt to Takashi Uchiyama three months later, two wins put him back in a title fight. He made the most of that opportunity, decisioning Argenis Mendez in September of last year for the vacant IBF belt. In his most recent bout, Salgado fought Miguel Beltran to a two round no contest last December.
As a 12-year professional Martin “El Brochas” Honorio (32-6-1, 16 KO’s), like Salgado, will also be fighting for Mexico City pride this weekend, but Honorio insists that he will be the one with his hand raised at the end of the night. The winner of the NABO, NABF, IBA, USBA and WBA Fedelatin titles during his career, the 32-year-old missed out on world championship gold in a fight against Robert Guerrero in 2007. Now he has racked up three wins in a row and is confident that he will be victorious in his second attempt to win a world championship belt.
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