Unbeaten featherweight prospect Omar Trinidad. Picture by Lina Baker / 360 Promotions
Omar Trinidad can knock off two birds with one stone.
He can proceed turning into a polarizing determine within the Los Angeles space and change into a world titleholder at 126 kilos.
Trinidad will face Viktor Slavinskyi Friday evening on the Commerce On line casino in Commerce, California. The ten-round bout will headline a Hollywood Battle Evening card that can stream on UFC Battle Go (10 p.m. ET/ 7 p.m. PT).
At Thursday’s weigh-in, Trinidad weighed in at 125.8 kilos. Slavinskyi got here in at 124.8 kilos.
The 28-year-old Trinidad (15-0-1, 12 knockouts) final fought on January 28, additionally on the Commerce On line casino, dropping Jose Perez twice en path to a knockout win in spherical eight. Perez suffered a damaged jaw from the impression of the knockout blow. Trinidad additionally fought on the Commerce On line casino on April 14 of final yr, defeating former prospect Adan Ochoa by unanimous determination.
A number of hundred folks in attendance purchased tickets to look at Trinidad, whether or not they had been household, mates, former classmates, or neighbors. He does dwell lower than a 10-minute drive within the Boyle Heights part of Los Angeles.
Promoter Tom Loeffler sees plenty of promise in Trinidad, and is banking on one other stellar efficiency to solidify his standing because the ‘king of Los Angeles.’
“Omar is terrific to cope with,” Loeffler advised The Ring Wednesday evening. “One of many issues we have a look at when signing younger fighters is nice character outdoors of the ring. He’s a homegrown expertise from Boyle Heights. We’ve put him in in opposition to robust competitors and he retains successful. If he’s profitable in opposition to a tricky opponent like Slavinskyi, then he strikes into contender standing at 126 kilos.
“We’ve excessive expectations of all fighters who we signal and Omar is true up there. He doesn’t have that beginner background. He simply retains successful in opposition to robust competitors.”
Trinidad has displayed extra energy and aggression in latest fights, having stopped seven of his final eight opponents. Trinidad additionally has wins over Jose Edgardo Garcia, Jose Luis Ramirez, and Roberto Meza.
Loeffler believes Trinidad just isn’t far-off from going through the very best within the featherweight division, together with the world titleholders.
“The sky’s the restrict for Omar,” mentioned Loeffler. “He’s a blue-collar kind of fighter. He’s change into a fan favourite. Lots of people purchase tickets to come back watch his fights. He’s change into a prime ticket vendor. These folks know that once they see Omar, they see a aggressive combat. A press release win over Slavinskyi would put Omar in a state of affairs the place he can problem any of the highest 10 fighters within the division.
Slavinskyi (15-2-1, 7 KOs), who’s initially from Mykolaiv, Ukraine and now resides in Los Angeles, final fought on December 14, knocking out journeyman Darel Harris within the fourth spherical. In his earlier combat on April 8 of final yr, Slavinskyi defeated Juan Antonio Lopez by majority determination in an in depth combat some ringside thought Lopez did sufficient to win.
The 33-year-old misplaced two fights in 2022, dropping a majority determination to Claudio Marrero on February 26 of that yr, and a break up determination to Edward Vazquez over seven months later.
Within the co-feature, in a compelling conflict of unbeaten welterweights, Gor Yeritsyan will sq. off in opposition to Amar Amirkhanyan in a 10-round bout.
Yeritsyan (18-0, 14 KOs), who resides in Los Angeles, defeated Quinton Randall by unanimous determination in his final bout on February 23.
The 29-year-old is skilled by Freddie Roach.
Amirkhanyan (15-0-1, 4 KOs) defeated gatekeeper Cameron Krael by unanimous determination in his final bout on July 29 of final yr. His most notable wins came about in 2018, a break up determination win over Stanyslav Skorokhod and determination victory over Khuseyn Baysangurov.
Each Yeritsyan (146.8 kilos) and Amirkhanyan (146.4 kilos) had been born in Yerevan, Armenia.
Previous to the UFC Battle Go card, preliminary motion will stream dwell on the UFC Battle Go YouTube web page, starting at 8:15 p.m. ET/ 5:15 p.m. PT.
Francisco A. Salazar has written for The Ring since October 2013 and has lined boxing in Southern California and overseas since 2000. Francisco additionally covers boxing for the Ventura County (California) Star newspaper. He may be reached at [email protected]
