Ring City USA today announced the entire loaded undercard for its Thursday, April 22 event from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y, the first professional fight card to take place in the state since the COVID-19 pandemic began in March 2020.
Five professional fights including top prospects and four amateur bouts featuring West Point cadets will highlight the undercard, which will be available around the world on Twitch.
The previously announced main card, which begins at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT on NBC Sports Network, will be headlined by a heavyweight clash between undefeated contenders Jermaine Franklin (20-0, 13 KOs) and Stephan Shaw (14-0, 10 KOs). The Armed Forces Network Europe and Pacific will also make the broadcast available to U.S. Forces serving overseas on AFN TV.
In the main event on Twitch, Kazakhstan’s Bobirzhan Mominov (12-0, 8 KOs) will face the most difficult test of his professional career when he takes on Angel Ruiz (16-1, 12 KOs) of Tijuana, Mexico in a welterweight fight scheduled for eight rounds. Now fighting out of California, the unbeaten 29-year-old prospect notched two impressive decision wins in 2020 as he continues his ascension to contender status. Standing in his way is the hungry 23-year-old Ruiz, who is trained by Manny Robles out of Southern California and returns to the ring after a nearly 18-month layoff following his first professional loss in 2019.
In the chief support bout on the Twitch undercard, 25-year-old Christian Mbilli (17-0, 16 KOs) will return to take on rugged ring veteran Jesus Antonio Gutierrez (27-4-2, 14 KOs) of Tijuana, Mexico in a super middleweight fight scheduled for eight rounds. Mbilli, who hails from France, has flashed impressive power over his four-year professional career with a near perfect knockout ratio. In his only other fight in the U.S., he faced Humberto Gutierrez Ochoa in 2019 and went to the scorecards for the only time as a pro. The 26-year-old Gutierrez enters the fight riding a two-fight KO streak and has proven his status as a warrior against top opposition such as world title challengers Gabriel Rosado and Steven Butler.
Highlighted on the Twitch undercard is undefeated phenom Jalan Walker (8-0, 7 KOs) who will battle Angel Antonio Contreras (11-4-1, 7 KOs) in a super bantamweight fight scheduled for six rounds. Walker turned pro at 17 years old in 2019 and collected five first-round knockouts to start his career. As the highly touted prospect continues to develop, he will be in with a sturdy, experienced fighter in 26-year-old Contreras of Mexico.
Rounding out the Twitch undercard, undefeated prospect Daniel Bailey (3-0, 2 KOs) faces Luis Alvarado (1-2) in a four-round junior lightweight fight, while David Blyumkin will make his professional debut against Michael Honesto (0-1). Bailey was a decorated amateur with more than 100 fights while serving for the U.S. Army.
It was announced last week that the co-main event of the evening (NBCSN, 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT) is a women’s featherweight world title bout between WBA World Champion Jelena Mrdjenovich (41-10-2, 19 KOs) of Edmonton, Canada, and world ranked contender Erika Cruz Hernandez (12-1-0, 3 KOs) of Mexico City, Mexico, scheduled for ten rounds. Also featured on the NBC Sports Network main card is a highly anticipated clash between top undefeated junior welterweight prospects Juan Pablo ‘El Pivi’ Romero (13-0, 9 KOs) of Villa del Carbon, Mexico and Jonathan ‘Thunder’ Navarro (17-0, 9 KOs) of East Los Angeles, Calif.,
