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          Dan Rafael Blog

          Notes: Guzman-Wake junior featherweight eliminator ordered

          Jonathan Guzman, left, could face Shingo Wake for a vacant junior featherweight title. Maddie Meyer/Getty Images
          • Dan Rafael, ESPN Senior WriterMay 3, 2016, 11:36 AM ET
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            • 2013 BWAA Nat Fleischer Award winner for excellence in boxing journalism
            • ESPN.com boxing writer since 2005
            • Five years at USA Today
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          A few notes from around the boxing world:

          • On Friday night in Atlantic City, New Jersey, junior featherweight Jonathan Guzman (21-0, 21 KOs), 26, of the Dominican Republic, knocked out Daniel Rosas in the eighth round of a world title elimination bout. On Monday, Guzman and Japan’s Shingo Wake (20-4-2, 12 KOs), 28, were ordered to meet for the title vacated last week by Carl Frampton, who is moving up to featherweight to challenge Leo Santa Cruz for his belt July 30. Guzman promoter Sampson Lewkowicz will begin negotiating the bout with Kyoei Promotions, which represents Wake. If the sides do not make a deal by June 2, the IBF will order a purse bid.

          • Featherweight contender Ronny Rios (25-1, 10 KOs), 26, of Santa Ana, California, will return to action June 3 (Estrella TV) on Golden Boy’s “LA Fight Club” card at the Belasco Theater in downtown Los Angeles. He’ll face an opponent to be determined. Rios suffered an upset fifth-round knockout loss to Robinson Castellanos in October 2014, but has rebounded to win two fights in a row, including a 10-round decision win against former world title challenger Jayson Velez in November on the Canelo Alvarez-Miguel Cotto HBO PPV undercard.

          • Junior lightweight contender Andres Gutierrez (34-0-1, 24 KOs), 22, of Mexico, will face countryman and former long-reigning junior bantamweight champion Cristian Mijares (53-8-2, 26 KOs), 34, on June 4 at the Oasis Hotel in Cancun, Mexico, organizers announced. Although Mijares is past his prime, he is still the biggest name Gutierrez will have faced. Mijares has won four fights in a row since losing a lopsided decision to Leo Santa Cruz challenging for a junior featherweight title in 2014.