LOS ANGELES — Returning to the ring after badly missing weight and backing out of his previous scheduled fight last September, junior welterweight contender Antonio Orozco will step into the ring against Martin Honorio for the first time in almost a year on the first ‘LA Fight Club’ of 2018 at the Belasco Theater.
Orozco, 30, was set to fight twice in 2017, but only ended up in one single bout after battling weigh-cut issues in a second matchup that was scheduled to air on the Jorge Linares vs. Luke Cambell HBO card last September 24. Orozco, who was contracted to fight [last September] at the 140 pound limit against Roberto Ortiz (35-2-2, 26 KOs), missed weight by seven pounds and did not show up to the official weigh-in during fight week.
Orozco and Gibson exchange blows during their bout in April of 2017. Photo: Gene Blevins/Hogan photos – Golden Boy Promotions
Orozco’s (26-0, 17 KOs) promoter, Golden Boy Promotions, said that he ended up not feeling well and eventually landed in the hospital for the trouble he experienced during the weight-cut — which officially brought on a cancellation of his bout. Previous to this, the San Diego native Orozco delivered a strong outing last April in a TKO performance over Keandre Gibson (18-1-1, 7 KOs), who was undefeated at the time. This last win only made his case stronger in the path towards a world title opportunity at 140. However, the momentum was halted after the weigh issue in the last quarter of 2017.
“This is the weight that I have to compete at,” Orozco told Boxingscene.com about fighting at junior welterweight. “It was just in April last year that I made 140 against Keandre Gibson and maybe I let things get out of hand for September.”
Now, Orozco, who recently moved his training camp to Los Angeles while being newly trained by Manny Robles, is planning on getting that momentum back during his first bout of 2018 in a card headlined by recent Golden Boy signee Seniesa Estrada. If he can demonstrate another type of performance that he exhibited last April (and possibly fight at least twice more this year), Orozco can find himself in a world title battle sooner rather than later. With names such as Mikey Garcia (IBF), Kiryl Relikh (WBA), and Regis Prograis (interim WBC) currently holding world championships at 140, Orozco has options barring any politics between the respective promotional companies.
Honorio is actually going to be across from Orozco for the second time, as both athletes squared off in 2014 in Del Mar, California. Orozco secured the unanimous decision in this first meet-up, and, assuming no weight issues or other problems this week, will likely be the favorite in this Friday’s rematch.
The Friday night broadcast will air live on EstrellaTV at 10:00 p.m. ET/7:00 p.m. PT. The card will also stream live on EstrellaTV.com and on YouTube via LBI Media, Inc.’s Fenomeno Studios.
