Luis Melendez vs Thomas Mattice set for Nov. 5th Mayer-Hamadouche co-feature

Top Rank announced on Friday the addition of four undercard bouts for the fight night featuring Mikaela Mayer’s defense of her 130 lb title against Maiva Hamadouche on November 5th in Las Vegas.

Luis Melendez (16-1, 13 KO) will take on Shobox veteran Thomas Mattice (17-2-1, 13 KO) in the co-feature, a 130 lb matchup that should provide a stern test for the young Miami-based, Puerto Rican prospect Melendez.

Melendez has been matched carefully since a SD loss in a 4-round bout early on in his career, knocking out most of his opponents along the way. He’s kept very busy in 2021, fighting a total of 8 times, sometimes with only a 3 days between fights. All 8 of these bouts took place in Colombia, where he stopped 7 of his 8 opponents.

The battle-tested Thomas Mattice should be a good measure of Melendez’ potential moving forward. Readers may remember him from his two fights against Zhora Hamazaryan in which he came away with a draw and SD win, his close decision losses to Will Madera and Isaac Cruz, and a controversial TKO win over Michael Dutchover. Melendez will need to adjust quickly after facing low-level opposition over the past year, as Mattice has proven that he’s not the kind of opponent you want to drop close rounds against.

In the lightweight division, prospect Andres Cortes (15-0, 8 KO) faces Mark Bernaldez (23-4, 17 KO). Cortes is coming off an impressive first round KO of Genesis Servania in August, and will be looking to build on that momentum against Servania’s countryman Bernaldez. The young Filipino veteran has gone the distance against fighters like Albert Bell and Andy Vences, but was comprehensively outboxed in both fights.

Joseph Adorno (14-0-2, 12 KO) will also also appear on the undercard, hoping to break the two-fight draw streak that has stalled the gains he had been making over the past several years. He will take on Argentinian veteran Damian Araujo (21-3, 8 KO), who has fought the majority of his career at home, and will be making his third appearance in the US, having picked up two decision losses against prospects Yeis Gabriel Solano and Omar Juarez in his last two trips. This should be a winnable enough fight for Adorno, which he will need to revive optimism about his status as a prospect.

Finally, lightweight prospect Tyler Howard (19-0, 11 KO) faces New Jersey’s Ian Green (14-2, 11 KO). Newly signed, 17-year-old Top Rank prospect Abdullah Mason is also scheduled to appear, with no opponent yet named.

None of these fights are on Boxrec yet, so there is no information so far about the number of rounds they’re scheduled for. But you can watch the action on ESPN+.