Filipino super-featherweight Charly Suarez has a new opponent for 20 September in Glendale, Arizona.
Two weeks before the fight, Suarez’s original foe — Andres Cortes — pulled out of the bout.
To save the fight, Top Rank signed up Jorge Castañeda of Laredo, Texas, to replace the unbeaten Las Vegas native.
Castañeda, though a substitute, seems decent.
He has a 17-3 win-loss mark with 13 knockouts.
Suarez, a veteran of the 2016 Rio Olympics and the 2014 Incheon Asian Games silver medalist, packs a 17-0 ledger with nine knockouts.
Suarez, 36, left for the United States a week ago accompanied by chief trainer Delfin Boholst, Ricardo Navalta and Christian Singson.
Navalta is an aide of former Ilocos Sur governor Chavit Singson while Christian is his son.
The decision of Cortes to withdraw is shrouded in mystery given that he is a top talent of Top Rank.
A victory by Suarez will put him on the brink of a world title shot as Singson himself made the assurance that the Davao del Sur native will fight for a world title next year.