Two more PBC on ESPN cards set for July

After news last week that Jamel Herring would face Denis Shafikov in a July 2 main event for the series, two more PBC on ESPN events have been officially announced for July 9 and 15.

On Saturday, July 9, in Trenton, New Jersey, Mario Barrios (15-0, 8 KO) will meet Devis Boschiero (39-4, 21 KO) in an IBF eliminator. The IBF title is currently held by Jose Pedraza, who recently successfully defended against Stephen Smith on Showtime.

Barrios, 21, is a huge guy for the 130-pound division, listed at 6’0" with a 74-inch reach. The San Antonio native has been in easy thus far, however, with his last fighting coming on April 16 in Brooklyn, beating veteran club fighter Edgar Gabejan over eight rounds.

Boschiero, 34, is a veteran from Italy and a former European champion. He won the European belt in 2012 against Ermano Fegatilli, and defended it three times before losing to Roman Jacob in February 2014 in France. He also lost a rematch to Jacob eight months later.

Since then, he's gone 5-1, but against very limited opposition other than the aforementioned Stephen Smith, who demolished him over six rounds last September. Boschiero is not a real world title contender, but that's boxing for you.

A pair of 140-pound prospects will meet in a 10-round co-feature, with Chicago's Eddie Ramirez (13-0, 9 KO) facing Kevin Watts (11-0, 4 KO) of Los Angeles.

On July 15 in Tunica, Mississippi, the main event will be a 12-round junior welterweight fight between Kazakhstan’s Sergey Lipinets (9-0, 7 KO) and Nicaragua’s Walter Castillo (26-3-1, 19 KO).

Lipinets, 27, ranked as our No. 4 prospect in the division at the end of 2015, beating Lydell Rhodes in October to finish off a good year, and started 2016 strong in March with a fifth round knockout of Levan Ghvamichava in an entertaining PBC on FS1 main event.

Castillo, 27, is 1-1-1 in his last three, with a decision loss to Amir Imam in April 2015, followed by a win over Ammeth Diaz in July, and then a draw with Keita Obara in November. He’ll have notable height and reach advantages against Lipinets.

The co-feature will see Mongolia’s Tugstogy Nyambayar (5-0, 5 KO) make his U.S. TV debut against Puerto Rico’s Rafael Vazquez (16-2, 13 KO) in a 10-round featherweight fight. Nyambayar won a silver medal at the 2012 Olympics.