BY JAKE DONOVAN
November 12, 2023
Source: Boxing Scene
Photo Source: Boxing Scene
Kenneth Sims Jr. will land one more fight in 2023 before a hoped-for title run in the year ahead.
BoxingScene.com has learned that plans are in place for the streaking junior welterweight contender to face Puerto Rico’s Alfredo Santiago. The bout is targeted to land on a December 16 card presented by Premier Boxing Champions from The Armory in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
The event itself will mark the final Showtime boxing telecast after more than 37 years in the industry. Sims-Santiago is more likely to serve as part of a YouTube-streamed preliminary undercard preceding the main Showtime telecast, though its exact placement was not clear as this goes to publication. WBA ‘Regular’ super middleweight titlist David Morrell (9-0. 8KOs) will face Sena Agbeko (28-2, 22KOs) in the evening’s main event. Chicago’s Sims (20-2-1, 7KOs) has won seven in a row and is on the cusp of a shot at a junior welterweight title. He became the number-two contender with the WBA after a well-earned twelve-round, majority decision victory over former title challenger Batyr Akhmedov. Their May 13 title eliminator was among the best fights of 2023 and fittingly landed on the undercard of the Rolando Romero-Ismael Barroso WBA 140-pound title fight in Las Vegas.
Santiago (14-2, 6KOs) will enter the fight following an 18-month stretch out of the ring, though this bout will strangely mark his second straight fight at The Armory. The inactive contender from Fajard, Puerto Rico—who just turned 29—scored a first-round knockout of Karl Dargan last June 4 in a non-televised bout preceding a Showtime event topped by the Stephen Fulton-Daniel Roman WBC/WBO junior featherweight title fight.
The win was his first since December 2020, having suffered a stunning ninth-round knockout to fringe contender Ricardo Nunez in a May 2021 regional title fight on the road in Panama City, Panama. His only other defeat came in a twelve-round shutout to Devin Haney (30-0, 15KOs) in their November 2019 WBC lightweight title fight.
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