Top Rank is loading up on not one, but two Madison Square Garden shows in March headlined by two of its young featherweight stars.
The first of these shows will take place on March 14, airing on ESPN, and will be headlined by WBO featherweight champion Shakur Stevenson making his first title defense against multi-time title challenger Miguel Marriaga. The co-main event of that card is Jessie Magdaleno vs. Sakaria Lukas in a 10-round featherweight bout.
Stevenson is coming off the most significant win of his pro career, which was a dominant victory over Joet Gonzalez last October to capture the vacant WBO title. Marriaga is unsuccessful in his three previous world title challenges but after consecutive losses to Oscar Valdez and Vasiliy Lomachenko in 2017, Marriaga has won four straight bouts.
Magdaleno once held the WBO super bantamweight title, but lost it to Isaac Dogboe in 2018. Afterwards, Magdaleno made the jump to featherweight, beating Rico Ramos and Rafael Rivera in his two fights after the loss to Dogboe. Lukas, a 35-year-old unbeaten fighter from Namibia, has won his two fights of 2019 and is coming into the bout ranked No. 6 by the IBF.
As for the other show, Top Rank will have its annual St. Patrick's Day show on March 17, to be streamed on ESPN+, and will feature Irish featherweight contender Michael Conlan taking on Belmar Preciado. In the co-main event, rising women's boxing star Mikaela Mayer facing Melissa Hernandez.
Conlan is the No. 1 contender to Stevenson's world title and last fought in December, avenging a controversial loss to Vladimir Nikitin from the 2016 Olympics by scoring a unanimous decision win. Preciado has fought the likes of Hiroshige Osawa and Franklin Manzanilla and is riding a two-fight win streak heading into this fight.
Mayer, who boxed in the 2016 Olympics, is unbeaten as a pro, winning all 12 of her fights. Hernandez, a former WBC featherweight champion, last fought in April when she defeated Selina Barrios and is victorious in four of her last five fights.