Ashton Sylve is tasked with a new opponent for his first main event.
The unbeaten lightweight prospect will now face Adam Kipenga, who replaces a medically scratched Angel Rebollar on very short notice. The scheduled eight-round bout will headline the inaugural installment of Most Valuable Promotions’ prospect-based series this Friday on DAZN from Caribe Royale Resort in Orlando, Florida.
California’s Rebollar (6-2, 3KOs)—a 19-year-old right-handed fighter—was forced to withdraw after suffering an untimely eye injury.
A completely new look is presented to Sylve (8-0, 8KOs) ahead of his first televised headliner.
Kipenga—a 24-year-old Tanzanian based out of Virginia—is just 5’4”, four inches shorter than Rebollar and also fights out of a southpaw stance. The six-year pro has fought as heavy as 140 pounds just two years ago but tends to move up and down in weight in accordance with the fight night assignment. He is winless in his last three starts, including a second-round stoppage to then-unbeaten Ramiro Cesena last March 26 in Dubai.
Sylve has yet to go past the fourth round through eight pro bouts. The 19-year-old prospect from Long Beach, California has earned back-to-back first-round knockout wins, including a 61-second stoppage of Braulio Rodriguez last October 29 on the Jake Paul-Anderson Silva Showtime Pay-Per-View undercard in Glendale, Arizona.
Sylve is signed to Paul’s MVP company.
Another replacement opponent is featured on the undercard.
Angel Yusel Napoles (1-0, 1KO)—a former amateur standout from Cuba now based out of Miami—jumped in on short notice to face unbeaten 18-year-old Hialeah-based heavyweight Lorenzo Medina (6-0, 6KOs). The 26-year-old pro rookie replaced Andrey Mangushev (7-0, 5 KOs), who withdrew due to hand injury.
The rest of the show remains intact.
The co-feature pits fast rising Cuban junior welterweight Kevin Hayler Brown (2-0, 2KOs) versus Julian Smith (6-1, 4KOs) in a ten-round regional title fight. Opening the four-fight DAZN telecast, two-time national amateur champion Jamar Pemberton (4-0, 4 KOs)—a stablemate of interim WBC junior middleweight titlist Brian Mendoza—faces Bryce Henry (5-0, 1KO) in a four-round bout between unbeaten middleweights.
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox