Carlos Canizales returns home to face Ivan Garcia in a legendary Poliedro fight in Caracas

On Thursday's scale, Canizales weighed 107.6 pounds. Garcia came in at 107.8 pounds.

In his last fight on January 23, Canizales (26-2, 19 knockouts) lost by majority decision to Ring junior flyweight champion Kenshiro Teraji, who also holds the WBC and WBA world titles. One judge scored it 113-113, while the other two judges scored Teraji 114-112. Each fighter received a knockdown at the beginning of the fight.

Those supporting Canizales believe he has what it takes to defeat Teraji in a rematch, but they are not discounting Garcia.

“Carlos is motivated, he is very happy for many reasons,” Juan Contreras, the actor of Venezuela Top Boxing, which promotes the card, told The Ring on Thursday afternoon. “He will be the main player for the first time on the card at Poliedro. Nine years ago, he won the (regional) title (against then-undefeated Rober Barrera) in the main event.

“(Today) what he expects is that he is not overly confident because he knows Ivan Garcia well. Ivan fought here in Venezuela, and he should have won. For this reason, Carlos understands the importance of this fight and is confident based on his experience. His mind is to raise his arm (in victory). We as his promoters should give him support so that he can achieve the goal of fighting for the WBC title or with an opponent.”

In his last fight on June 9 of last year, Canizales defeated previously undefeated Daniel Matellon by technical decision.

Prior to the loss to Teraji, Canizales won his previous four fights following a loss to Esteban Bermudez in May 2021. Entering the Bermudez fight, Canizales had successfully defended the WBA title he won in March 2018, defeating Reiya Konishi. by unanimous decision.

Garcia (12-2-1, 4 KOs), who lives in Ixtapaluca, Mexico, defeated then-undefeated Pedro Delgado Gaytan by unanimous decision in his last fight on April 12. In his last fight on December 22, Garcia struggled. The division of the decision to separate from the former Rodrigo Ramirez, which took place in Maiquetia, Venezuela.

Those two fights happened after Garcia was stopped by goalkeeper Luis Cerrito Hernandez on July 15 of last year.

The 23-year-old had won his previous four fights.

Former IBF super middleweight titleholder Jose Uzcategui (32-5, 27 KOs), who hails from El Vigia, Venezuela and now lives in Tijuana, Mexico, will face Venezuela's Fernando Brito (12-3, 12 KOs) on the 10th. – rotating belt.

Fringe junior welterweight Gabriel Gollaz Valenzuela (28-3-1, 17 KOs) of Guadalajara, Mexico will face Venezuela's Jesus Bravo (20-9, 16 KOs) in a 10-round fight.

Keiber Gonzalez (20-1, 17 KOs), a native of El Callao, Venezuela now living in Willemstad, Curacao, will fight Humberto Diaz (7-0, 6 KOs) of Venezuela in a 10-round fight.

In the undefeated junior middleweight event based in Venezuela, 20-year-old Jeremy Alvarez (9-0, 9 KOs) will face Leonardo Sanchez (15-0-1, 11 KOs) in a 10-round fight. .

Francisco A. Salazar has written for The Ring since October 2013 and has handled boxing in Southern California and internationally since 2000. Francisco also covers boxing for the Ventura County (California) Star newspaper. They can be reached at [email protected]