More bouts have been announced to be included on the Diaz-Rakhimov card scheduled for February 13th at the Fantasy Springs Resort and Casino as WBA Gold Champion Ronny Rios will face former world title challenger Oscar Negrete and Jason Quigley will face Shane Mosley Jr. for the vacant NABO middleweight title. Azat Hovhannisyan and Bekmetir Melikuziev are also part of the card, with their opponents to be announced later.

Rios (32-3, 16 KOs) is riding off the momentum of winning three consecutive bouts by stoppage in 2019 including his victory over Diego De La Hoya in Carson. The Santa Ana native took the time to reflect on his career over the year that has been affected by the pandemic, and believes that now is his time to get in position to fight for a world title.

“COVID-19 robbed all of us of something, whether it was memories, family members, friends, or in my case, a year of my boxing career,” said Rios. “I have lost opportunities to make up for, and I’m hungrier than I’ve ever been. That’s not good news for Oscar Negrete. I have a lot of respect for Oscar, but at the end of the day, I have one job and that’s to break the will of every opponent I face. My time to capitalize on the momentum I’ve built in this sport starts with this fight.”

Negrete (19-2-2, 7 KOs) has fought at the bantamweight division and did face Rey Vargas for the WBC super bantamweight title in 2017 losing by unanimous decision. Since then, he’s had three close fights with Joshua Franco (who is now a world champion) and scored a victory over Alberto Milian. According to him, the styles of the two fighters will make for a good bout.

“I am delighted to be returning to the ring against Ronny Rios on February 13,” said Negrete. “Both he and I have a style that is very aggressive, and that’s going to guarantee a real war inside the ring. This fight will be very important in determining the future of this competitive division.”

Jason Quigley was moving up the ranks in the middleweight division with an undefeated record until July 2019, when he got stopped by Tureano Johnson due to not being able to continue. The native of Donegal, Ireland has registered two victories since then and now is in a spot where he could return to the status that he was in before that loss to Johnson.

“I feel more than ready for this fight,” Quigley said. “I worked hard during lockdown and have stayed ready to fight at any time. I have to go in there and take care of business.  I’m very grateful for the opportunity to fight on this card.”

Shane Mosley Jr. is a recent signee by Golden Boy Promotions who has a three fight winning streak since losing to Brandon Adams in 2018. He is building his way up in the middleweight division and a victory over Quigley would give him a boost towards getting closer to a world title shot.

“I want to thank everyone at Golden Boy and The Contender for giving us this opportunity,” said Mosley. “I have been working extremely hard, and I’m ready to show that I belong among the best in the world.”