On June 9th Frank Rojas of Venezuela and Jose Benavidez of the United States will meet at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas with the winner having the direct path to fight for the WBA welterweight title.

This elimination bout will be held over twelve rounds in support of the stellar clash of the night between the American Terence Crawford and the Australian Jeff Horn.

Rojas, 31, was born in the same city of Edwin “El Inca” Valero, known as Merida, and even honors him through a tattoo on his chest, which reflects the idea that he is interested in following in his footsteps.

So far, Rojas has a perfect record of 21 knockouts in 22 matches, but one of his weaknesses is that he has fought rather unknown boxers and proof of this is that his last ten rivals only have a combined 15 victories.

On the other hand, Benavidez has equal perfection in his record, with 17 knockouts in 26 bouts, but the level of opposition he has faced has undoubtedly been much higher.  Moreover, in 2014, he won the interim title of the WBA’s 140 pounds.

The opportunity will be there for both fighters when they are together in the ring.  Rojas is number five in the WBA rankings and Benavidez is the sixth in a stacked deck that is headed by Filipino Manny Pacquiao, who will fight the regular champion, Argentine Lucas Matthysse, on June 15th in Malaysia.

The event will be held at the MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas with an estimated capacity of 16,800 people and will be promoted by the legendary promoter Bob Arum of Top Rank Promotions.

Weigh-in:

Benavidez: 146.5 lbs.

Rojas: 147 lbs.