Brownsville native John "Blaze" Tapia will head up to the Mecca Of Boxing Madison Square Garden to battle New York City's next great prospect "Shu Shu" Bruce Carrington on a Top Rank card that is headlined by Teofimo Lopez vs Sandor Martin. Tapia, a master boxer-puncher, has previously traveled up to NYC to fight at The Garden Twice. Both times he fought very competitively and came up on the wrong end of very controversial decisions. In March 2019 he dropped a six-round majority decision to Vladimir Nikitin and then again he stopped a disputed decision to Staten Island native and fan favorite James Wilkens last year/ A fight nearly everyone except the three judges had Tapia winning. Tapia sports a 12-4 (4) record and has a win at AT&T Stadium over Dallas-based super bantamweight Fernando Garcia on the undercard of Errol Spence vs Danny Garcia. The Brownsville native is currently riding a two-fight winning streak since dropping the disputed decision to Wilkens last year. He most recently fought in September in his home city and stopped Pedro Melo, a veteran of over 40 pro bouts, over three one-sided rounds. Carrington made his pro debut back in October of 2021 on the undercard of Wilder-Fury III and outpointed fellow 956er Cesar Cantu.
About 90 miles southeast of New York in the heart of Philadelphia at the world-famous 2300 Arena, Houstonian Eric Manriquez (7-14-1) looks to upset undefeated 21-year-old Julian Gonzalez of Reading PA. in a six-round affair. Manriquez is a rugged veteran who has been in the ring with some of the most touted prospects in the spot, he came up just short to Otha Jones III in Chicago in a fight so competitive OJ3's promoter Eddie Hearn assured Manriquez and his team that he deserved at least a draw. He has also been in with Malik Warren, Raymond Ford, Pablo Rubio, and Dallas native Angel Alejandro. He also has a draw with Laredo native Jorge Ramos. He has provided a substantial test for each of the names mentioned. Also on the card is Alamo City native Bryan Spring, a slick 5'10 southpaw who is always hard to deal with. He will battle Allentown, PA, based welterweight Thanjhae Teasley in a six-round affair.