Jose Martinez and Aston Palicte are taking their world title eliminator to California in late January.
It was announced and later confirmed by Fightful through Martinez himself that the fight is taking place on January 31, 2019 in Alpine, California. The fight will be at the Viejas Casino & Resort and the winner of the fight will be the mandatory challenger to the WBO super flyweight title.
Fightful had previously reported that the two boxers were headed for a potential bout in late January. A source had told Fightful that the two sides were planning on putting the fight in Las Vegas and a number of venues were already being examined, but the two sides eventually agreed to move the fight to California.
The title currently remains vacant after Naoya Inoue vacated the belt earlier this year in an effort to win a world title at bantamweight. Donnie Nietes and Kazuto Ioka are currently scheduled to fight for the belt in the main event of a boxing card in Macau, China on December 31.
Palicte and Nietes previously fought for the vacant belt back in September but the fight ended in a draw. During the WBO convention several weeks later, Palicte’s camp submitted a request for an immediate rematch, but the organization denied the request, ordering the aforementioned title fight and title eliminator.
Martinez is coming off a draw against former world title challenger Alejandro Santiago back in March that was the main event of a Golden Boy Boxing card on ESPN in Puerto Rico. Martinez, who is undefeated as a professional, is currently ranked No. 4 by the WBO at 115 pounds.
