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Oscar Duarte vs. Kenneth Sims tops key junior welterweight matchups in Chicago
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Nate Marrero
Nate Marrero
RingMagazine.com
Oscar Duarte vs. Kenneth Sims tops key junior welterweight matchups in Chicago
High-stakes clashes will take place Saturday night at Credit Union 1 Arena in Chicago, Illinois.

Chicago’s Kenneth Sims Jr. will face Oscar Duarte in a 12-round junior welterweight bout in the main event of a Golden Boy Promotions card on DAZN. In the co-main event, two-time junior welterweight champion Regis Prograis will face Joseph “JoJo” Diaz Jr. in a crossroads bout between veteran southpaws in a 10-round junior welterweight bout.

Sims (22-2-1, 8 KOs) and Duarte were first scheduled to face off last year at ANB Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, but a knee forced the former to withdraw from the bout. Sims, 31, enters the fight on a nine-fight win streak, with his latest triumph being a unanimous decision over Kendo Castaneda on Feb. 15, at Honda Center in Anaheim, California. The bout with Duarte will be Sims’ first at junior welterweight since his majority decision over Botirzhon Akhmedov in 2023.

Duarte (29-2-1, 23 KOs) has won three straight fights since his stoppage loss to Ryan Garcia two years ago, and 14 of his last 15. In his last fight, Duarte, 29, knocked out Miguel Madueno (31-4, 28 KOs) in the seventh round on the same card as Sims’ victory over Castaneda.



The winner of Sims vs Duarte will draw closer to landing a shot at the WBA junior welterweight title in a stacked 140-pound division. Sims is ranked No. 4 by the WBA, while Duarte is fifth. Gary Antuanne Russell (18-1, 17 KOs) holds the WBA belt.

Prograis vs. Diaz epitomizes a last chance for both fighters to make one more push to the upper echelon of junior welterweight. Prograis (29-3, 24 KOs), a two-time WBC titleholder, has lost two straight fights, though, they came against more than formidable opposition in former undisputed lightweight and WBC junior welterweight champion Devin Haney (32-0, 15 KOs) and Jack Catterall (31-2, 13 KOs) in his most recent bout on Oct. 26 at Co-Op Live Arena in Manchester, England.

Diaz (34-7-1, 15 KOs) had lost six of his last seven fights, including losses to Haney, Duarte and former interim WBC lightweight champion William Zepeda (33-1, 27 KOs), but got back into the win column with a unanimous decision over Jorge Luis Valencia Diaz (6-5-1, 2 KOs) in an eight-round bout on June 21 in Tijuana, Mexico.


The rest of Saturday's card:




Cruiserweights, 10 rounds



Tristan Kalkreuth (15-1, 10 KOs) vs. Kareem Hackett (12-1, 6 KOs)


Heavyweights, 6 rounds



Joshua Edwards (3-0, 3 KOs) vs. Cayman Audie (4-1, 2 KOs)


Light Heavyweights, 8 rounds (DAZN opener)



Yair Gallardo (9-0, 8 KOs) vs. Quinton Rankin (21-9-2, 16 KOs)


Super Bantamweights, 8 rounds



Gael Cabrera (8-0, 5 KOs) vs. Osmar Gamez (6-4, 2 KOs)


Lightweights, 6 rounds



Mehki Phillips (6-0, 6 KOs) vs. Joseph Cruz-Brown (12-14, 7 KOs)


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