"He underestimated me," Garcia said. “His team took me as someone perhaps not important, someone who was easy. And my record often gets people to think like that. They get too confident. They believe that I don’t belong on those kinds of stages. But my quality and my hunger is something not many have. Even fewer people have my mentality."

Navarro comes from a family of boxers, which includes his father and uncles, Jose Navarro and Carlos Navarro. Refugio had 10 fights (5-3-1, 1 no-contest), Carlos (27-6-1, 22 KOs) and Jose (27-6, 12 KOs) was the most successful of the trio as a 2000 U.S. Olympian at 112 pounds.

The No. 1-ranked Carrington, better known by “Shu Shu,” realizes most American boxing fans aren’t familiar with the 11th-rated Heita, but he has prepared as if he were to challenge champions Nick Ball (WBA), Rafael Espinoza (WBO), Stephen Fulton (WBC) or Angelo Leo (IBF) on Saturday night in New York.

The Ring and other outlets reported three months ago that ESPN executives informed promoter Bob Arum and Top Rank president Todd duBoef that it would not renew its output deal with the company.

Multiple sources informed of the deal told The Ring that the fight could take place in July in New York. Zayas is represented by Top Rank and Perez is promoted by Golden Boy and Zanfer.

SEBASTIAN Fundora's decision to swerve his WBO mandatory challenger Xander Zayas, instead honouring the rematch clause exercised by former titleholder Tim Tszyu, has prompted the sanctioning body to strip him of their world championship.

Sebastian Fundora and Tim Tszyu are set for a WBC junior middleweight title rematch this summer in the U.S., sources tell The Ring.

Jorge Garcia Perez was a dead man walking. The 28-year-old found himself in relatively big spots before but no matter how hard he tried, he always came up short. So, when he was asked to knock off Charles Conwell, that seemed practically impossible.

The good news for Charles “Bad News” Conwell is that he’s staying busy. The not-so-good news is that he’s not landing the title shots he’s long been seeking.

Unbeaten junior middleweight contender Charles Conwell will continue building off a momentous 2024 campaign when he returns April 19 to face Jorge Garcia Perez.