Sandor Martin-Joe Hughes, David Avanesyan-Jose Del Rio kick off Matchroom Spain December 12th

Matchroom Boxing, which earlier this year debuted its “Matchroom Italy” program, today revealed “Matchroom Spain,” kicking off December 12th in Barcelona with a pair of European title fights front and center. Super lightweight champion Sandor Martin makes the first defense of his belt against former champion Joe Hughes in the main event, while welterweight champ David Avanesyan stays busy ahead of his Joe Kelly defense against Spain’s Jose Del Rio.

Martin (35-2, 13 KO), 6-0 since a decision loss to then-unbeaten Anthony Yigit, claimed the vacant belt in July with a stoppage of veteran Andrea Scarpa. In a remarkable bout of synchronicity, Hughes (17-4-1, 7 KO) also bounced back from a loss to Yigit to beat Scarpa for the vacant belt last November, only to lose it in a competitive battle with Robbie Davies Jr. four months later.

The co-feature doesn’t figure to be anywhere near as competitive. Avanesyan (25-3-1, 13 KO) is already set to face Josh Kelly in “early 2020,” and Del Rio (29-8-1, 7 KO) doesn’t pose much of a threat to that fight. The 33-year-old Spaniard consistently loses to capable opponents, including Orlando Fiordigiglio, two-time Avanesyan victim Kerman Lejarraga, and unbeaten Frenchman Jordy Weiss.

The card also feature Jonathan Alonso vs. Samuel Gonzalez and Samuel Molina vs. Ivan Tomas.