No Fulton vs Figueroa 2, no problem. Showtime has officially announced its February 25th tripleheader at The Armory in Minneapolis, which sees Subriel Matias take on Jeremias Ponce for the vacant IBF super lightweight title in the main event.
We’ve discussed that fight plenty, and suffice to say it will be a banger and a half. Let’s focus instead on the other two pieces of the broadcast.
Jamal James (27-2, 12 KO) faces Argentina’s Alberto Palmetta (18-1, 13 KO) in the middle bout. “Shango” hasn’t fought since a tough loss to Radzhab Butaev two Octobers ago, while Palmetta is 12-0 with 11 KO’s since getting stopped by future Jaime Munguia victim Gonzalo Coria in 2017.
Palmetta actually fought on that same Butaev show, beating countryman Yeis Gabriel Solano by split decision.
The opener pits Elvis Rodriguez (13-1-1, 12 KO) against Joseph Adorno (17-1-2, 14 KO) at 140. Both men are on the comeback trail; Top Rank released Rodriguez after a surprise split decision loss to Kenneth Sims Jr in 2021, and after scoring solid knockouts of Juan Pablo Romero and Juan Jose Velasco, this is his biggest opportunity yet to prove they made a mistake.
The 23-year-old Adorno has long been his own worst enemy, losing multiple opportunities due to missing weight and hitting his career nadir in an 0-1-2. All hope isn’t lost, though; the defeat came to Michel Rivera and one of the draws came against Jamaine Ortiz, and he notched a solid victory at 140 last September by edging out unbeaten Hugo Alberto Roldan on Showtime.
Solid matchmaking. I don’t think either one will be “done” with a loss, but there’s definitely pressure on both.
Three good, competitive matchups, at least one of which is going to blow the roof off. Stacks up nicely against Paul vs Fury, don’t you think?