Vargas vs Foster prelims set for February 11: Claudio Marrero, Eumir Marcial, Dainier Pero in action

Showtime’s prelims undercard stream is set for Saturday’s Rey Vargas vs O’Shaquie Foster-headlined card, with Olympic bronze medalist Eumir Marcial of the Philippines and more set for action.

The fights will stream live and free from 6:45 pm ET, ahead of the Showtime tripleheader which starts at 9 pm ET.

Here’s the rundown:

• Claudio Marrero (26-5, 18 KO), a former interim titlist at featherweight and someone you’ve surely seen once or thrice before, will face Gonzalo Fuenzalida (12-1, 3 KO) in an eight-rounder at junior lightweight. Marrero, 33, has won two straight, including a victory over previously unbeaten Viktor Slavinskyi about a year ago on the Colbert-Garcia card. Fuenzalida, 26, is a Chilean fighter now based in Las Vegas, and will be taking an absolutely enormous step up in competition.
• Eumir Marcial (3-0, 1 KO) will face Ricardo Villalba (20-7-1, 8 KO) in an eight-round middleweight fight. Marcial, 27, won bronze for the Philippines at the Tokyo Olympics, and is 3-0 as a pro, but he was also dropped three times in his second pro bout 10 months ago against Isiah Hart. He did come back to win that via fourth round TKO. This will be his first eight-rounder, as Marcial clearly isn’t looking to spend a lot of time hanging around the four- and six-round distance. Villalba is a 33-year-old from Argentina who has lost three straight and is 1-4 outside of his home country, and the one win was a DQ against a guy who stopped him in two in their rematch.

• Cuban heavyweight Dainier Pero (2-0, 2 KO) will take on Daniel Zavala (2-1-2, 0 KO) in a four-rounder. Pero, 23, is the younger brother of Lenier Pero, who will face Vitktor Faust later in the night on Showtime. He won gold at the 2019 Pan American Games, and fought in Tokyo, losing to eventual silver medalist Richard Torrez Jr in the quarterfinals. Pero turned pro in December and fought again on Jan. 14, so he’s getting some fights in, though his first bout lasted 81 seconds and his second just 19. Zavala is a 32-year-old from Del Rio, Tex., who turned pro a year ago and fought five times in 2022, all four-rounders in Texas.
• 17-year-old junior middleweight David Whitmire will make his pro debut against Keith Foreman, who is 28 and had his first fight last September, which went to a no-contest, so he’s looking to be involved in a decision for the first time. Whitmire is thought to be an excellent young prospect and will be the newest guy on your screens nicknamed “Bodysnatcher.”