What is the story about?
The undercard for the Rolly Romero vs Teofimo Lopez pay-per-view on Saturday, August 22, has been announced.
Before you get too excited, you’re probably not going to be too excited, so let’s get to it.
- Yoenli Hernandez will face Francisco Daniel Veron in a 10-round middleweight bout. Hernandez (10-0, 9 KO) is a good-looking prospect at 160, a Cuban who does not “fight like a Cuban,” and at 29 he’ll probably want to take bigger fights sooner than later. Veron (17-1-1, 10 KO) isn’t that bigger fight on paper, but the 27-year-old Argentine has won three in a row since a loss to Brandon Adams in 2024. He’ll be moving up from 154 for this fight.
- Victor Santillan and “Gary” Antonio Russell will fight a 12-rounder at super bantamweight, with Santillan’s interim WBA title on the line. Santillan (16-2, 7 KO) beat Noel Reyes for the interim WBA belt in February. That doesn’t need to exist, like, at all, but the WBA has its biases. Russell (21-1, 13 KO) has long been seen as the weakest of the fighting Gary Russells (Gary Russell Jr, Gary Antuanne Russell, and Gary Antonio Russell) and now he’s 33 and hasn’t had a real fight in almost four years, following a one-sided loss to Emmanuel Rodriguez.
- Carlos Utria and Israel Mercado square off in a 10-round super lightweight bout. Utria (14-0, 11 KO) is a 22-year-old Colombian prospect who, to be clear, looks like an entirely real prospect, he is young and does not have a “Colombian record,” either. His last five fights have been in Riyadh and he’s scored some solid wins for level, and won the WBC’s 140 lb Grand Prix last year. Mercado (13-1-2, 7 KO) looks like the same level Utria has been fighting recently. He’s in his early 30s and will get a chance on a bigger show.
It’s certainly not packed with big names, but PBC have a pretty limited roster these days. Still, there’s a rising middleweight contender, a decent matchup at 122, and we’ll see a prospect in Utria. I’ve seen worse PPV undercards for certain, and I’m even just thinking of major promoter PPVs. The draw
is Rolly vs Teofimo, that’s it, and that’s where the money went, too.
