Frank Sanchez has taken another bout to stay busy while he tries to secure a more meaningful heavyweight fight.
BoxingScene.com has learned that the unbeaten Cuban contender will square off against American veteran Scott Alexander on the Canelo Alvarez-Jermell Charlo undercard September 30. Showtime will stream the 10-round bout between Sanchez (22-0, 15 KOs) and Alexander (17-5-2, 9 KOs) on its YouTube channel before its pay-per-view portion of the undercard begins.
Sanchez has been training at the same gym as Alvarez in the Lake Tahoe area because Eddy Reynoso, Alvarez’s trainer and manager, also works with him. In his most recent fight, Sanchez knocked out journeyman Daniel Martz (20-11-1, 17 KOs) in the first round April 8 at Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, California.
Sanchez, 31, is the WBC’s fourth-ranked contender for Tyson Fury’s title. He is also rated third by the WBO and fifth by the IBF.
Los Angeles’ Alexander, 34, will end a 13-month layoff when he encounters Sanchez. He knocked out Mexico’s Jaime Soloro (12-5-2, 9 KOs) in the third round of his last fight, which occurred in August 2022 in Pico Rivera, California.
In his previous appearance, China’s Zhilei Zhang knocked out Alexander in the first round of their May 2022 fight at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Zhang (25-1-1, 20 KOs) has since won the WBO interim heavyweight title.
Sanchez-Alexander will be one of three fights Showtime is expected to stream on its YouTube channel September 30.
The televised portion of the Alvarez-Charlo undercard will feature former champions Yordenis Ugas (27-5, 12 KOs) and Mario Barrios (27-2, 18 KOs) in a 12-round fight for the WBC interim welterweight title. Junior middleweight contenders Jesus Ramos (20-0, 16 KOs) and Erickson Lubin (25-2, 18 KOs) will also square off in a high-stakes 12-rounder that will be part of the Showtime Pay-Per-View telecast.
Emerging middleweights Elijah Garcia (15-0, 12 KOs) and Armando Resendiz (14-1, 10 KOs) are set to meet in the 10-round opener of the pay-per-view broadcast (8 p.m. EDT; 5 p.m. PDT; $84.99).
Mexico’s Alvarez (59-2-2, 39 KOs) will defend his IBF, WBA, WBC, WBO super middleweight titles against Charlo in the 12-round main event. Houston’s Charlo (35-1-1, 19 KOs), boxing’s undisputed junior middleweight champ, has moved up two divisions, 14 pounds in all, to challenge Alvarez.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.