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After it looked like the main event of this Saturday's HBO Boxing After Dark card was going to scraped because Diego Chaves (23-1, 19 KOs) couldn't leave Argentina, Chaves has been granted a visa in the eleventh hour, and will be traveling to Las Vegas to face Brandon Rios (31-2-1 23 KOs).
Hopefully for Chaves, this fight will go much better than his last fight on US soil, when he was knocked out by Keith Thurman. Despite suffering his first loss, Chaves gave a decent showing and demonstrated that he's a good, heavy-handed fighter. This will only be Chaves' third fight outside of Argentina. After losing to Thurman, Chaves fought and beat Juan Alberto Godoy (31-14, 10 KOs) via 3rd round TKO in Buenos Aires.
Though it's good news for Chaves and fight fans that Chaves has secured a visa, the timing isn't ideal, as it's Wednesday afternoon and the fight is Saturday night. Chaves won't have as much time as originally planned to get to Vegas and get acclimated. Good on Chaves for pushing forward with this fight. The alternative reportedly would have been welterweight Brandon Rios vs junior welterweight Jose Zepeda (19-0, 16 KOs). Rios vs. Chaves is clearly the better fight. Let's hope that despite all the visa complications, Chaves is 100% come Saturday night.