Freudis Rojas’ return to his hometown of Las Vegas, where he’ll fight for the first time as a pro Saturday night, became a much more important moment in his developing career Wednesday.
Rojas (10-0, 10 KOs) expected to meet Mexican veteran Diego Sanchez (19-2, 16 KOs) in a non-televised fight on the Frank Martin-Artem Harutyunyan undercard at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas. When Showtime’s co-feature – a WBC bantamweight championship bout between Nonito Donaire and Alexandro Santiago – was abruptly moved to the Errol Spence Jr.-Terence Crawford pay-per-view undercard July 29, however, an unforeseen televised slot opened up for Rojas.
The 24-year-old welterweight’s fight with Sanchez will now open Showtime’s three fight-telecast, which will start at 10 p.m. EDT (7 p.m. PDT).
“When I got the phone call [Wednesday] night, I’m not gonna lie, I was jumping around like a little girl,” Rojas told Showtime’s Brian Custer during a press conference Thursday at The Cosmopolitan. “I was like, ‘Yes! Yes!’ But I’m ecstatic.”
The 6-foot-2 Rojas, a southpaw who is unusually tall for the 147-pound weight class, has knocked out each of his 10 pro opponents within four rounds or less. The former USA Boxing national team member will make an obvious move up in competition versus Sanchez, who has a far better record than anyone Rojas has faced since he made his pro debut in January 2021.
Sanchez, 23, is just the second foe of Rojas’ career who will enter the ring with a winning record. The 10 fighters Rojas has knocked out had a combined record of only 79-134-16 before they lost to him.
A confident Rojas nevertheless believes Sanchez won’t be able to go the distance with him, either.
“Him being a power puncher and stuff doesn’t mean nothing to me,” Rojas said. “I mean, I’m a slim dude. Everybody’s been telling me they’re gonna knock me out, they hit harder than me, and look where I am now. … I know that I can hang in there with the guys and, you know, I’m just excited to show the world, especially being the first fight [on TV], everybody watches the first fight. So, you know, there’s pressure there, but hey, I do good under pressure and my team believes in me and I believe in myself, so I’m ready for anything that comes forward.”
Tijuana’s Sanchez lost by seventh-round technical knockout to the last unbeaten opponent he encountered, Mexico’s Luis Hernandez (then 18-0), in April 2019. He also has defeated almost exclusively fighters with losing records during his seven-year pro career.
“I don’t believe he’ll make it past eight [rounds],” said Rojas, who now resides and trains in Houston. “But mentally, I’m there. I know he’s gonna come fight and I know he’s gonna wanna come down and do the full 10 rounds. So mentally, I’m [thinking] that it’s gonna go 10 rounds. But I believe and my team believes it won’t make it past after eight. We’re confident with that and, you know, I’m ready to rumble. I’ve never been so ready in my life before.”
Showtime will air a 10-round, 142-pound co-feature immediately after Rojas-Sanchez in which Dominican southpaw Elvis Rodriguez (14-1-1, 12 KOs) will battle Ukraine’s Viktor Postol (31-4, 12 KOs), a former WBC super lightweight champion. Rodriguez-Postol was scheduled to open Showtime’s three-fight telecast until Donaire-Santiago was pushed back to July 29 because two boxers – unbeaten junior middleweight Jesus Ramos (hand) and heavyweight Viktor Faust (back) – sustained injuries that impacted the pay-per-view portion of the Spence-Crawford undercard.
Martin (17-0, 12 KOs), a Detroit native, and Armenia’s Harutyunyan (12-0, 7 KOs) will go at it after Rodriguez-Postol in a 12-round lightweight bout.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.