In addition to a 140-pound fight between Mike Alvarado and Breidis Prescott, Top Rank has booked a super featherweight bout between Puerto Rican prospect Luis Cruz and Juan Carlos Burgos for the November 12 Pacquiao vs Marquez pay-per-view card, according to ESPN.com's Dan Rafael.
Cruz (19-0, 15 KO) recently had no trouble with shot veteran Antonio Davis on September 10 in Atlantic City, but prior to that did have some struggles with Martin Honorio on April 16 in Puerto Rico. The latter fight was televised by Showtime on the Lopez vs Salido card, and Cruz got a decision win on scores of 96-94, a wide 98-92, and an absurd 100-90.
Burgos (27-1, 19 KO) is also a very good young fighter, and if this is Top Rank's attempt to push Cruz, they're taking a very big risk with this fight. The 23-year-old Mexican's only loss came to Hozumi Hasegawa in November 2010, and while he did clearly lose, he didn't go down easy. Since then he's beaten Frankie Archuleta (who hasn't looked like he's wanted to fight in recent televised appearances) and Gilberto Sanchez Leon.
Frankly, I think this is a really, really good fight, sort of like the Vargas vs Lopez fight on the Mayweather vs Ortiz card last Saturday. Top Rank is sort of following the pattern that Golden Boy had for the Mayweather show, which is to put on fights that could have good action. That's no guarantee they will, but the last PPV undercard was filled with fights that panned out, and honestly, I'm OK with not getting big marquee fights on PPV undercards if they'll at least start consistently giving us promising action bouts like these instead of lame showcases and crappy rehab fights for fallen stars. An undercard filled with high-end Friday Night Fights main event-type fights is fine.
There is one more slot to fill on the Pacquiao vs Marquez card, which will be Timothy Bradley in...well, either a lame showcase or an easy tune-up fight, most likely, as long as Top Rank can sign Bradley in time. I'm guessing that they're holding off announcing their plans for Brandon Rios in case they can't get Bradley in here, in which case Rios could step in as the main co-feature. If they do get Bradley, Rios will be fighting on December 10, on Showtime.