On August 28th, three fighters from Phoenix Arizona will take part in a boxing event that will be in the Footprint Center. Unbeaten two-time world champion David “El Bandera Roja” Benavídez will square off against former champion José Uzcátegui in a WBC Super Middleweight title eliminator, Jose Benavídez will face Francisco Emanuel Torres and Carlos Castro goes up against former world title challenger Óscar Escandón. David Benavídez, Jose Benavídez, and Carlos Castro hail from Phoenix.

The live event is promoted by Sampson Boxing along with TGB Promotions, and will be televised on Showtime as part of their Showtime Championship Boxing series.

David Benavídez (24-0, 21 KOs) is coming off of a four fight knockout streak which includes victories over Roamer Alexis Angulo in August of last year followed by his win over Ronald Ellis in March. He had won a world title at 20 years old, which at the time made him the youngest super middleweight champion in boxing history. He last held the WBC super middleweight title but was stripped due to weight issues. Now he intends to get back on track so that he can fight for a world title once again.

“I’m super excited to fight in front of my hometown fans,” said Benavídez. “It’s a dream come true for me to come back home as a two-time world champion. I’m training for Uzcategui like he’s a world champ because he has a lot of experience and he’s a hungry fighter.”

“I know that he needs this win, but I won’t let that happen. I’m staying dedicated and motivated to win on August 28th and I want to look impressive doing it in order to get even bigger and better fights in the future.”

Uzcategui (31-4, 26 KOs) is hard hitting contender from Bolivia who defeated Andre Dirrell back in 2018 for an interim title. He was defeated by current IBF champion Caleb Plant in January 2019 but has won three of his last four bouts. He has been active this year with wins over Jaime Hernandez Lopez and Josue Obando and looks to continue this streak with a win over the 24 year old former champion.

“I’m excited to be back on the big stage for this fight,” said Uzcátegui. “I know what I’m up against with Benavídez. He’s a great fighter, and that’s my biggest motivation. This is going to be a war and I can’t wait to give the people a great fight.”

Jose Benavídez (27-1, 18 KOs) is the older brother of David and will take part in his first fight in Phoenix in nearly six years. The welterweight contender fell short of winning a world title in 2018 against Terence Crawford, but had scored victories over contenders such as Frank Rojas and Francisco Santana. After a long period of inactivity Jose wants to show that he is good enough to fight for a world title once again.

“I’m really excited to be back in the ring after being out for a while,” said Benavidez. “I feel more mature, motivated and stronger than ever. Fighting alongside my brother and in my hometown, is really a dream come true. I’m really looking forward to making a tremendous comeback.”

A native of Argentina, Torres (17-3, 5 KOs) has a nine fight winning streak coming into the bout against Jose Benavídez. A majority of his fights have been in the middleweight and super welterweight divisions, and he has fought in the US only twice winning both times (over Cleotis Pendarvis in August 2020 and Louis Hernandez in February of this year). He knows that this is a big fight for him as he has the opportunity to be a spoiler to Jose’s homecoming.

“I’m very pumped up for this fight,” said Torres. “I want to thank my whole team for this opportunity to participate in such an important fight. This is a great chance for me to go to the next level against a great fighter who’s had an exceptional career. I will work very hard to get the victory on August 14 and raise high the flag of Argentina.”