Adan Ochoa and Anthony Garnica understand the stakes and know what a much-needed win would do for their respective careers.

The pair of featherweight will square off Saturday evening at Thunder Studios in Long Beach, California. The eight-round bout will headline a Showtime Boxing and Westside Boxing Promotions card that will stream live on the World Boxing Council (WBC) website and Facebook page (10 p.m. ET/ 7 p.m. PT).

At Friday’s weigh-in, both fighters weighed in at 126 pounds.

The clash between Ochoa and Garnica is a crossroads bout between a former prospect and an unbeaten fighter who has fought sporadically in recent years.

Ochoa (13-4, 6 knockouts; 1 No Contest), who resides in nearby Downey, was a top amateur standout in Southern California before turning pro in November 2016. In his last bout on January 27, Ochoa stopped John Mark Alimane in the second round.

In his previous fight on August 26 of last year, Ochoa lost by split decision to once-beaten Arnold Alejandro.

The 26-year-old has struggled in recent fights, losing three of his last six fights, including a unanimous decision loss to unbeaten featherweight Omar Trinidad on April 14 of last year.

Garnica (11-0-1, 6 KOs), who resides in Oakland, California, knocked out journeyman Oscar Negrete in the first round of his last bout on April 14 of last year. In his previous fight, which took place seven months earlier, Garnica defeated gatekeeper Juan Antonio Lopez by majority decision.

The 24-year-old Garnica fought three times in 2021 and three times in 2022.

Also on the card, featherweight Malikai Johnson of Sacramento, California will face Aidyn Yelzhanov in an eight-round bout.

Johnson (12-0-1, 8 KOs) has not fought since November 4, knocking out Eugene Lagos in the third round. In his previous fight on July 28 of last year, Johnson defeated Ivan Varela by unanimous decision.

The 27-year-old is promoted By Patrick Regan.

Yelzhanov (6-2-1, 4 KOs), who is originally from Kostanay, Kazakhstan and now resides in San Francisco, California, lost his last fight to unbeaten featherweight prospect Albert Gonzalez on August 19 of last year.

Fringe welterweight contender Vlad Panin of Belarus will square off against Argentina’s Victoriano Sanilltan (12-6-2, 8 KOs) in an eight-round bout.

Panin (19-1, 11 KOs), who now lives and trains in Los Angeles, stopped former world titleholder Devon Alexander in the second round of his last bout on May 24. The 28-year-old has won his last 12 bouts since a February 2020 loss to Moises Fuentes.

The 29-year-old Santillan has lost only once in his last six fights.

In junior lightweight action, Jalan Walker (12-1-1, 10 KOs) of Los Angeles will face Colombia’s Pedro Pinillo (5-8, 5 KOs) in a six-round bout.

Francisco A. Salazar has written for The Ring since October 2013 and has covered boxing in Southern California and abroad since 2000. Francisco also covers boxing for the Ventura County (California) Star newspaper. He can be reached at [email protected]

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