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Zuffa Boxing

Zuffa Boxing returns on Sunday with the upstart promotion's fifth event. Zuffa Boxing 05 is headlined by a lightweight bout between Andres Cortes and Eridson Garcia and will take place at the Meta APEX in Las Vegas.

Cortes (23-0, 12 KO) was a solid signing for Zuffa. Though not a "big name," Cortes is ranked No. 9 by Ring Magazine and No. 4 by the WBO and No. 5 by the WBC. BoxRec's ranking formula also has Cortes at No. 4 in the world.

One of the wrinkles to Sunday's fight is that all of those rankings for Cortes are at junior lightweight, a division Zuffa Boxing does not currently promote. That means Cortes will be making the move to 135 pounds to compete in the lightweight division.

The most notable names on Cortes' resume are Xavier Martinez and Abraham Nova. Cortes stopped Martinez in seven rounds in 2023 and took a 2024 decision over Nova for a tertiary WBO title. It is worth noting that the scorecards in Cortes' win over Nova were questionable at best, and Cortes failed to make weight for the bout, so the jump to lightweight may well have been on the way with or without Zuffa's weight class decisions.

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After starting his career 17-0, Garcia (23-1, 14 KO) took his first big step-up fight in an August 2023 ShoBox main event against Jordan White. White stunned Garcia, knocking him out with a left hook just shy of two minutes into the fight.

Since the loss to White, Garcia has rattled off six consecutive victories, including solid wins over William Foster III and Taiga Imanaga, with the Imanaga fight coming on the undercard of Naoya Inoue's win over David Picasso this past December.

Garcia enters Sunday as a small betting favorite at -145.

There are some other familiar names on Sunday's card, including former WBC featherweight champion Mark Magsayo facing Feargal McCrory, and former junior featherweight title challenger Azat Hovhannisyan taking on Eduardo Baez.

One of the standouts from Zuffa Boxing 01 will also return to the ring, with Robert Meriwether III facing Tony Hirsch.

Let's take a look at the rest of the card set for Sunday before getting to a prediction and expert pick on the main event below.

Zuffa Boxing 05 fight card, odds

Odds via DraftKings Sportsbook

  • Eridson Garcia -145 vs. Andres Cortes +115, lightweights
  • Mark Magsayo -1400 vs. Feargal McCrory +750, lightweights
  • Azat Hovhannisyan -210 vs. Eduardo Baez +165, featherweights
  • Ervin Fuller III -220 vs. Alexis De la Cerda +170, featherweights
  • Robert Meriwether III -2500 vs. Tony Hirsch +1000, lightweights
  • Jorge Maravillo -500 vs. Elias Diaz +350, welterweights
  • Troy Nash -1200 vs. Bryan Rodriguez +650, featherweights

Where to watch Zuffa Boxing 05

Date: April 5 | Location: Meta APEX -- Las Vegas
Prelims begin at 6 p.m. ET
Main card begins at 9 p.m. ET
Watch live: Paramount+ (subscribe now for as little as $8.99 per month)

Prediction

The Nova fight has stuck in a lot of minds when it comes to evaluating Cortes, who looked bad that night. After missing weight, Cortes faded badly over the second half of the fight and seemed to gas out in a bout he should have lost on the scorecards. Despite that fight, Cortes has still shown himself to be a talented fighter and a win over Garcia would be a nice addition to his resume.

Garcia is the favorite, and he looked good in his win over Imanaga in Riyadh, with an eighth-round knockdown being the difference in the fight. The knockout loss to White was a bad moment for Garcia, as he got beaten to the literal punch when both men threw simultaneous left hooks.

This is an even fight on paper, and a tough call, but Cortes pulling off the minor upset feels very reasonable. Either way this goes, the winner is in a power position in Zuffa Boxing's still-growing lightweight division.