Victor Ortiz and Devon Alexander's upcoming fight will be in front of potentially one of the biggest television audiences of 2018.
The fight was made official on January 8 and Ortiz vs. Alexander, scheduled to take place on February 17, will be televised live on FOX, giving the network its first boxing fight for the new year.
The live boxing telecast will be a prelude to Showtime's Championship Boxing card taking place in Las Vegas that same night. By the time Ortiz vs. Alexander is done, the Showtime card will by underway, headlined by Danny Garcia vs. Brandon Rios in a WBC welterweight final eliminator.
The co-main event will feature super middleweight Caleb Plant facing former world title challenger Rogelio Medina in a world title eliminator for the No. 2 position in the IBF rankings.
This type of television schedule between FOX and Showtime for boxing has been done in the past with success. Last October, a PBC on FOX card in California had two WBA featherweight word title fights and was the lead-in to the Showtime card at the Barclays Center where there were three world title fights in the junior middleweight division.
Ortiz and Alexander have not been very active in the last couple of years, with Alexander fighting only once since the start of 2016 and Ortiz fighting twice since 2016. Ortiz made his return to the ring last summer after a 15-month long break to knock out Saul Corral in four rounds. Alexander easily beat Walter Castillo by unanimous decision this past November.