The undercard for Demetrius Andrade’s WBO middleweight title defence against Welshman Liam Williams has been announced with unbeaten Ecuadorian Carlos Gongora facing Christopher Pearson in the chief support at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida, on April 17.
Gongora (19-0, 14 KOs) will defend his IBO 168lbs crown against Ohio’s Pearson (17-2 12 KOs) after impressing with a last gasp, 12th round KO of favoured Kazakh Ali Akhmedov last December. Fellow southpaw Pearson defeated Olympic gold medallist Yamaguchi Falcao in his last bout in May 2019.
In other action, three-time World Amateur champion Mahammadrasul Majidov (3-0, 3 KOs) meets veteran Andrey Fedosov (31-3, 25 KOs) in the former’s first 10-rounder at heavyweight.
Ohio 130-pounder Otha Jones III (5-0-1, 2 KOs) returns to the ring in a rescheduled eight-round clash with Texan Jorge Castaneda (13-1, 11 KOs) that was set to take place on the undercard of this month’s epic Juan Francisco Estrada and Roman ‘Chocolatito’ Gonzalez rematch in Dallas before illness ruled out Jones.
Canadian-based Russian Arthur Biyarslanov (7-0, 6 KOs) will meet fellow unbeaten Israel Mercado (9-0, 7 KOs) at lightweight while Matchroom prospects Alexis Espino (7-0, 5 KOs) and Aaron Aponte (2-0, 1 KO) make up the rest of the card.
“Carlos pulled off a brilliant win in Florida in December and now is the time for him to build himself into a massive threat in the 168lbs division,” said promoter Eddie Hearn. “Christopher is no stranger to upsetting the odds as he proved against Falcao, and he’ll look to do something similar again in Florida.
“Mahammadrasul is looking to make waves in the ever-changing heavyweight division, and the likes of OJ3, Arthur, Alexis and Aaron will want to steal the headlines in the Sunshine State.”