Unbeaten featherweight prospect Omar Trinidad. Photo by Lina Baker / 360 Promotions
Omar Trinidad can knock off two birds with one stone.
He can continue becoming a polarizing figure in the Los Angeles area and become a world titleholder at 126 pounds.
Trinidad will face Viktor Slavinskyi Friday night at the Commerce Casino in Commerce, California. The 10-round bout will headline a Hollywood Fight Night card that will stream on UFC Fight Pass (10 p.m. ET/ 7 p.m. PT).
At Thursday’s weigh-in, Trinidad weighed in at 125.8 pounds. Slavinskyi came in at 124.8 pounds.
The 28-year-old Trinidad (15-0-1, 12 knockouts) last fought on January 28, also at the Commerce Casino, dropping Jose Perez twice en route to a knockout win in round eight. Perez suffered a broken jaw from the impact of the knockout blow. Trinidad also fought at the Commerce Casino on April 14 of last year, defeating former prospect Adan Ochoa by unanimous decision.
Several hundred people in attendance bought tickets to watch Trinidad, whether they were family, friends, former classmates, or neighbors. He does live less than a 10-minute drive in the Boyle Heights section of Los Angeles.
Promoter Tom Loeffler sees a lot of promise in Trinidad, and is banking on another stellar performance to solidify his standing as the ‘king of Los Angeles.’
“Omar is terrific to deal with,” Loeffler told The Ring Wednesday night. “One of the things we look at when signing young fighters is good character outside of the ring. He’s a homegrown talent from Boyle Heights. We’ve put him in against tough competition and he keeps winning. If he’s successful against a tough opponent like Slavinskyi, then he moves into contender status at 126 pounds.
“We have high expectations of all fighters who we sign and Omar is right up there. He doesn’t have that amateur background. He just keeps winning against tough competition.”
Trinidad has displayed more power and aggression in recent fights, having stopped seven of his last eight opponents. Trinidad also has wins over Jose Edgardo Garcia, Jose Luis Ramirez, and Roberto Meza.
Loeffler believes Trinidad is not far away from facing the best in the featherweight division, including the world titleholders.
“The sky’s the limit for Omar,” said Loeffler. “He’s a blue-collar type of fighter. He’s become a fan favorite. A lot of people buy tickets to come watch his fights. He’s become a top ticket seller. These people know that when they see Omar, they see a competitive fight. A statement win over Slavinskyi would put Omar in a situation where he can challenge any of the top 10 fighters in the division.
Slavinskyi (15-2-1, 7 KOs), who is originally from Mykolaiv, Ukraine and now resides in Los Angeles, last fought on December 14, knocking out journeyman Darel Harris in the fourth round. In his previous fight on April 8 of last year, Slavinskyi defeated Juan Antonio Lopez by majority decision in a close fight some ringside thought Lopez did enough to win.
The 33-year-old lost two fights in 2022, dropping a majority decision to Claudio Marrero on February 26 of that year, and a split decision to Edward Vazquez over seven months later.
In the co-feature, in a compelling clash of unbeaten welterweights, Gor Yeritsyan will square off against Amar Amirkhanyan in a 10-round bout.
Yeritsyan (18-0, 14 KOs), who resides in Los Angeles, defeated Quinton Randall by unanimous decision in his last bout on February 23.
The 29-year-old is trained by Freddie Roach.
Amirkhanyan (15-0-1, 4 KOs) defeated gatekeeper Cameron Krael by unanimous decision in his last bout on July 29 of last year. His most notable wins took place in 2018, a split decision win over Stanyslav Skorokhod and decision victory over Khuseyn Baysangurov.
Both Yeritsyan (146.8 pounds) and Amirkhanyan (146.4 pounds) were born in Yerevan, Armenia.
Prior to the UFC Fight Pass card, preliminary action will stream live on the UFC Fight Pass YouTube page, beginning at 8:15 p.m. ET/ 5:15 p.m. PT.
Francisco A. Salazar has written for The Ring since October 2013 and has covered boxing in Southern California and abroad since 2000. Francisco also covers boxing for the Ventura County (California) Star newspaper. He can be reached at [email protected]