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According a report from ESPN, bantamweight Joshua Greer Jr. (21-1-1, 12 KOs) has just been scheduled to take on Antonio Nieves (19-2-2, 11 KOs) as the co-featured bout on the October 26th card headlined by Shakur Stevenson vs. Joet Gonzalez. Junior lightweight Mikaela Mayer will also be making an appearance, putting her regional title on the line against Alejandra Zamora. The card will be held at the Reno-Sparks Convention Center in Nevada.
Greer, 25, is most recently coming off a majority decision win over Nikolai Potapov this past July in a fight that considered debatable. That said, he’s hoping to make a statement here and demonstrate his improvements.
“I want to show everyone on Oct. 26 what I’ve been working on,” Greer said. “I’m only getting better. Every fight is a learning experience, and I am going to show Antonio Nieves what I’m about. The knockout didn’t come in my last fight, but it’s all part of the game. I’m bringing back the pillow, and after I beat Nieves, I will be Mr. ESPN+.”
Meanwhile Nieves, 32, is coming off two straight stoppage wins since he was stopped himself by Naoya Inoue back in 2017. Obviously two fights in that past two years doesn’t make Nieves an active fighter, but he still says he has world title aspirations.
“My primary goal is to become a world champion,” Nieves said. “Joshua Greer Jr. is ranked second by one of the major sanctioning organizations and third by another. I am coming to Reno to beat him, take over his sport in the rankings and win a world championship in 2020.”
Given where both fighters are currently at, I suspect Greer will be the solid favorite to win here, but we’ve seen plenty of fighters get derailed so you never know what might just happen.