Vito Mielnicki Jr. has secured one of the undercard spots on the highest-profile pay-per-view show of 2023.
BoxingScene.com has learned that the 20-year-old junior middleweight will encounter Mexican veteran Elias Espadas in a 10-round, 154-pound bout on the Gervonta Davis-Ryan Garcia undercard April 22 at a venue to be determined in Las Vegas. Showtime is expected to stream Mielnicki-Espadas and additional bouts on its YouTube channel before the four-fight pay-per-view telecast begins.
Al Haymon’s Premier Boxing Champions, which works with Davis, and Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions, which represents Garcia, are working together to construct both the televised and non-televised portions of the Davis-Garcia undercard. Mielnicki is aligned with PBC as well.
According to the terms of their contracts, Showtime, which is partnered with PBC, will be the primary distributor of the Davis-Garcia event, will handle the production for the show and use its broadcast team.
In his most recent action, Mielnicki (14-1, 9 KOs) stopped Houston’s Omar Rosales (9-2-1, 5 KOs) in the fourth round on the Davis-Hector Luis Garcia undercard January 7 at Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C. Showtime also streamed Mielnicki’s victory over Rosales on its YouTube channel.
Mielnicki, of Roseland, New Jersey, has won six straight fights since Philadelphia’s James Martin (9-3-1, 0 KOs) upset him by majority decision in an eight-rounder that took place in April 2021 at Shrine Auditorium & Exposition Center in Los Angeles.
Espadas (22-5, 15 KOs, 1 NC) was stopped in the fifth round of his last bout by Puerto Rican junior middleweight Xander Zayas. The highly touted Zayas (15-0, 10 KOs), who is also 20, dropped Espadas in the first round, four rounds before their eight-rounder was stopped August 13 at Resorts World Las Vegas.
Espadas, 32, had not lost inside the distance before Zayas beat him by technical knockout six months ago.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.