By Steve Kim
Sunday night from the Rabobank Theater in Bakersfield, California, Ringstar Sports stages a card that is headlined by the return of former WBC welterweight champion Victor Ortiz, who is matched against veteran journeyman, Saul Corral.
The card also features a host of prospects, including welterweight Eimantas Stanionis (1-0, 1 KO's) who faces Isaac Freeman.
Ringstar CEO Richard Schaefer is high on the 22-year old Lithuanian, who is trained by Hall of Fame trainer Freddie Roach.
"He recently sparred with Miguel Cotto and you can ask Freddie how he did," Schaefer told krikya360.com.
"But it was supposedly unbelievable and Freddie told me when I saw him last Friday. He said that from a fighters point of view the two most important dates in the Wild Card gym - and I'm using Freddie's words - were when Manny Pacquiao walked through the door and the next one is when Eimantas Stanionis walked through. So it's impressive for someone like Freddie to compare a Eimanas Stanionis to a young Manny Pacquiao."
Schaefer says those who aren't even involved in this career are bullish on Stanionis.
"The other vote of confidence that I got regarding him was from Egis Klimas (the noted manager of Vasyl Lomachenko and Sergey Kovalev, among others), when I saw him in Monaco with (Oleksandr) Usyk, and he came up to me and said,'Man, you got an unbelievable talent there. That's a fighter I really wanted to have, congratulations. He's spectacular.' He's managed by Shelly Finkel," noted Schaefer.
Steve Kim is the news editor for krikya360.com.