2 world title fights on Pacquiao undercard
Manny Pacquiao
LOS ANGELES—Unbeaten Mike Jones and Guillermo Rigondeaux will fight for world titles on the undercard of Manny Pacquiao’s June 9 bout against undefeated Tim Bradley, promoters has announced.
Filipino icon Pacquiao, 54-3 with two drawn and 38 knockouts, will defend his World Boxing Organization welterweight crown against unbeaten Bradley, 28-0 with 12 knockouts, in the main event at Las Vegas, Nevada.
Jones, 26-0 with 19 knockouts, will face US compatriot Randall Bailey, 41-7 with 36 knockouts, for the vacant International Boxing Federation welterweight crown.
Cuban southpaw Rigondeaux, 9-0 with seven knockouts, defends the World Boxing Association super-bantamweight title against American Teon Kennedy, 17-1 with two drawn and seven knockouts.
It will be the first world title fight for Jones, who at 29 is eight years younger than Bailey, who is 3-0 since losing to Colombia’s Juan Urango in 2009 in an IBF light-welterweight world title bout. Bailey also lost a world title fight to Miguel Cotto in 2004.
Rigondeaux, who at 31 gives up six years to Kennedy, is a two-time Olympic champion and seven-time Cuban national champion who only made his pro debut in 2009. He won the crown by stopping Puerto Rican Rico Ramos in the sixth round last January.
Kennedy will be in his first world title bout.
