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Broner-Porter fight in Las Vegas highlights latest slate of PBC cards

Former world champions Adrien Broner, left, and Shawn Porter will face off June 20 in a welterweight showdown at MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

Former world champions Adrien Broner, left, and Shawn Porter will face off June 20 in a welterweight showdown at MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

(Harry How / Getty Images; Nicholas Kamm / AFP)
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Round two of the Premier Boxing Championship fight cards will include a June 6 afternoon card at StubHub Center in Carson headlined by California’s Robert Guerrero, and a June 20 welterweight showdown at MGM Grand in Las Vegas between former world champions Adrien Broner and Shawn Porter.

The Times learned Monday from officials involved in finalizing the Broner-Porter negotiations that the bout, to be televised by NBC, will be fought at a catch weight expected to be 144 or 145 pounds.

A day after that fight at MGM Grand, in a card to be televised by CBS, junior-welterweight Antonio DeMarco, who trains at Hollywood’s Wild Card Boxing Club, will meet unbeaten former super-featherweight champion Rances Barthelemy.

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Former three-division champion Broner (30-1, 22 knockouts) helped powerful boxing manager Al Haymon’s PBC launch on March 7 on NBC when he defeated Covina’s John Molina by unanimous decision at MGM Grand.

Former welterweight world champion Porter (25-1-1) followed on a PBC show in Ontario, knocking out replacement opponent Erick Bone in the fifth round after Roberto Garcia failed to make weight.

Meanwhile, Guerrero, who lost to unbeaten Keith Thurman on the opening PBC card, will fight Los Angeles’ Aron Martinez (19-3-1, four KOs) on a Saturday afternoon show at StubHub Center in Carson on June 6.

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Tickets for the card range from $25 to $200 and will be a tough sell for promoters given the noon start of the telecast, but a heavy local flavor could help draw an audience.

In addition to bouts featuring former heavyweight title challenger Chris Arreola of Riverside and Southland junior-middleweight product Alfredo Angulo, the card will also feature a featherweight fight between Vic Darchinyan and Jesus Cuellar and other local talents, promoter Tom Brown said.

For former lightweight world champion DeMarco (31-4-1, 23 KOs), his bout against Barthelemy (22-0, 13 KOs) is a likely watershed event after the 29-year-old was battered by Jessie Vargas in a unanimous-decision loss in November.

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