Vic Pasillas out with COVID, Tugstsogt Nyambayar vs Sakaria Lukas set for January 22nd

Showtime’s tripleheader this coming Saturday has received a last-minute tweak. The network and PBC announced today that Vic Pasillas tested positive for COVID, leaving Sakaria Lukas to take his place in the opener against Tugstsogt Nyambayar.

Namibia’s Lukas (25-1. 17 KO) spent nine years on the African circuit before an unsuccessful U.S. debut against Isaac Avelar on PBC’s 2020 Spence-Garcia undercard. He’s since hung around North America, scoring a pair of wins over limited opposition in Cancun. One of those was a majority decision over a guy who was 9-22-4 at the time, which seems like a bad sign for his chances here.

Nyambayar (12-2, 9 KO) is looking to build some momentum after an unsuccessful title shot against Gary Russell Jr., a narrow victory over fellow Olympian Cobia Breedy, and a wide decision loss to Chris Colbert in a short-notice one-off move to 130 pounds. Pasillas was also in the rebuilding stage, having been walloped by Ra’eese Aleem last year, but there’s no such easy storyline here.

The event will also see Russell take on mandatory challenger Mark Magsayo in the main event and Petros Ananyan look to make it 2-0 against Subriel Matias.