Uzcategui will face Ezequiel Maderna in a scheduled 10-round fight at a maximum weight of 170 pounds – two over the super middleweight limit – in the main event of the Top Rank Boxing on ESPN+ card on Friday night (7:30 p.m. ET, with the main card beginning at 10:30 p.m. ET) at the Oracle Arena in Oakland, California.
“Champions used to do this all the time, fight nontitle fights to stay active and to hone their skills, to sharpen their skills, so when the title defense comes around they feel better about how they will perform,” Top Rank vice president Carl Moretti said. “He probably doesn’t fight Caleb Plant until the beginning of next year so why not get in the ring and do what you do? There’s a chance to fight, to perform, and at least he won’t be out of the ring for a year [by the time he faces Plant].”
In May 2017, Uzcategui squared off with Andre Dirrell for a vacant interim belt in Oxon Hill, Maryland, and was ahead on two scorecards and even on the third when he was controversially disqualified in the eighth round for hitting Dirrell with a knockout punch thrown a split second after the bell ended the round, after which Dirrell’s uncle and trainer, Leon Lawson Jr., sucker punched Uzcategui in the face and was later arrested.
An immediate rematch was ordered and Uzcategui claimed the interim belt as he delivered a one-sided beating of Dirrell, who quit on his stool after the eighth round, on March 3 in Brooklyn, New York.
“I came to finish what I started in Maryland,” Uzcategui said of the rematch with Dirrell. “I felt like I had something to prove to show that the first time wasn’t a fluke. I made sure everyone understood what I was coming to do in this division. I felt like a champion before that fight but we just had to show the rest of the division I was here. Everybody in the 168-pound division was put on notice that day. If they weren’t they will when they get in the ring with me.”
Uzcategui (27-2, 23 KOs), 27, a Venezuela native fighting out of Mexico, was later elevated to a full titleholder when James De Gale elected to vacate the title rather than give Uzcategui his mandatory fight.
While waiting for Plant (17-0, 10 KOs), 26, of Las Vegas, Uzcategui said he is fine with boxing in a nontitle fight.
“We’re taking this fight while waiting to the mandatory fight with Plant, who injured himself,” Uzcategui said through a translator. “We don’t want to call it a tune-up because we don’t want to disrespect anyone. We respect Maderna; we respect everyone but we are waiting for Plant. He earned his mandatory shot, but we wanted to stay busy and not sit and wait for that fight.”
Jose Cital, Uzcategui’s trainer and co-manager, said he thinks the fight with Plant will take place around March.
Uzcategui said it was not more difficult to get mentally up for a nontitle fight than a title fight.
“I feel I have to be on point regardless because it’s an opponent, whether it’s for the title or not, who is very motivated and has nothing to lose,” Uzcategui said. “I take every fight seriously. I consider this a world title fight. I never take anyone lightly. I train like it’s a world title fight.”
Maderna recognizes his underdog status and knows he can’t win the title belt, but he said that won’t stop him from giving it his all.
“I recognize that Jose Uzcategui is a great champion. I know his background, that he had a tremendous amateur career. That’s why he’s the champion,” Maderna said. “I can say that about myself, too. I also had a great amateur career. I fought in the 2008 Olympics. I’m going to try and do my best, especially since this is my first opportunity in the United States.”
Should Uzcategui defeat Maderna (26-4, 16 KOs), 31, of Argentina, Plant would be next. A successful defense against Plant would likely lead Uzcategui to a unification fight with the winner of a rematch in the works between world titlist Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez (38-0, 25 KOs), 27, of Mexico, and Jesse Hart (25-1, 21 KOs), 29, of Philadelphia.
Last September, Ramirez narrowly outpointed Hart in an action-packed thriller and the rematch could happen as soon as December, according to Moretti. Unifying titles against the winner of Ramirez-Hart II is just what Uzcategui wants.
“I want to fight that fight, but I would prefer to fight ‘Zurdo,’ because he is Mexican and I consider myself Mexican now and everybody likes two Mexicans in the ring because it’s always a war,” he said. “But, absolutely, whoever wins [Ramirez-Hart II] I am ready for the winner. I’m hungry, I’m better [than I was before] and I ready for any challenge — Maderna, Plant or the winner of that fight. I know after [Friday] that there are bigger things coming for me.”
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