:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/46324142/GettyImages-495651.0.jpg)
Timothy Bradley Jr and Jessie Vargas will officially announce their June 27 HBO bout on Monday, May 18 in Los Angeles. Their fight will be held at the StubHub Center in Carson, California, with Vargas (26-0, 9 KO) moving back up to welterweight to face Bradley (31-1-1, 12 KO).
* * * *
Tickets for the June 13 HBO doubleheader at The Theater at Madison Square Garden, featuring Nicholas Walters vs Miguel Marriaga and Felix Verdejo vs Ivan Najera, go on sale this Friday at Noon EST. Tickets are priced between $55 and $205.
* * * *
Super flyweight prospect Ivan Morales (27-0, 15 KO) will face Danny Flores (14-6, 8 KO) on the Golovkin-Monroe bill this Saturday night in Los Angeles, part of the non-televised undercard. Morales, 23, is the younger brother of the great Erik Morales, while Flores is trained by Erik's great rival Marco Antonio Barrera, along with his brother, Jorge Barrera.
* * * *
BoxNation have picked up the exclusive UK rights to televise World Series of Boxing events. They'll air a recap of the last eight stage from May 12-16 at Midnight each night, and then will have live coverage of the semi-finals from May 21-24, and then the final. They'll also have the full next season of the competition.
* * * *
Mateusz Masternak (35-2, 25 KO) will return to the ring on June 6 in Gauteng, South Africa, where he'll face Johnny Muller (18-4-2, 13 KO) in a ten-round cruiserweight fight, promoted by Rodney Berman's Golden Gloves company. Also in action will be Thomas Oosthuizen (24-0-2, 14 KO) against Roberto Bolonti (35-3, 24 KO) in a 12-round light heavyweight bout, and Xolisani Ndongeni (17-0, 8 KO) will meet 41-year-old Mzonke Fana (34-7, 14 KO) in a 12-round lightweight fight.
* * * *
Tony Ayala Jr, who was considered one of the best prospects in the world as junior middleweight before a 1983 rape conviction (his third conviction of assault against a woman by the age of 20), died on Tuesday at the age of 52. Ayala returned to the ring after 16 years in prison in 1999, but was sent back to prison in 2004 for violating his probation. He was released in 2014. He was found dead at the Zarzamora Street Gym in San Antonio, which was originally run by his fathers, and was currently run by the four Ayala brothers -- Tony Jr, Paulie, Mike, and Sammy. He reportedly died of cardiac arrest.