WORLD-RANKED contenders Oscar Duarte and Kenneth Sims Jr are gearing up to duke it out in an intriguing super-lightweight matchup on August 2.
It was announced on Tuesday that the pair will headline a Golden Boy card at the Credit Union 1 Arena, Chicago, following on from their cancelled showdown of last November.
Back then, a knee injury to Sims, 22-2-1 (8 KOs), meant that Duarte, 29-2-1 (23 KOs), instead faced Botirzhon Akhmedov, a sturdy Uzbek operator, who he beat via a unanimous decision.
His comprehensive performance arrived just two fights after his eighth-round knockout defeat to Ryan Garcia, to which the 29-year-old has since responded with a sustained run of momentum.
Stoppage victories over Joseph Diaz and Miguel Madueno, in particular, have cemented the Mexican’s identity as not only an all-action technician, but an authoritative puncher.
Sims, meanwhile, also boasts a points victory over Akhmedov, which came two fights before his last outing – a dominant 10-round display against welterweight campaigner Kendo Castaneda – in February.
It was an eight-round majority decision win over Elvis Rodriguez in 2021, though, that really catapulted ‘Bossman’ into the limelight, with the sizable upset only giving his career a much-needed boost at the time.
Given that both Sims and Duarte occupy lofty rankings – fourth and fifth respectively – with the WBA, too, the winner of their clash could quite easily navigate themselves towards a mandatory position.
As of now, the WBA world champion at 140lbs is, of course, Gary Antuanne Russell, who dethroned Jose Valenzuela for his black and gold strap in March.
