Newly crowned WBC middleweight champion Carlos Adames will make his first defense against 154-lb contender Terrell Gausha on June 15th on PBC PPV at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
The 36-year-old Gausha (24-3, 12 KOs) is ranked #9 WBO at junior middleweight, but he’s with Premier Boxing Champions, so it makes sense that he’ll be the challenger for Adames (23-1, 18 KOs).
Undercard Addition
Adames vs. Gausha will be fighting on the undercard of Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis vs. Frank Martin and David Benavidez vs. Oleksandr Gvozdyk.
Salvador Rodriguez of ESPN Knockout reports that Adames-Gausha has been added to the Tank-Martin card on June 15th.
Gausha’s Experience
The 2012 U.S Olympian Gausha has won his last two fights against Brandyn Lynch and KeAndrae Leatherwood after losing a 12-round unanimous decision to Tim Tszyu in March 2022. Gausha gave Tszyu a run for his money, dropping him and out-boxing him in the early rounds before he came on in the second half to win a decision.
The 14-year professional Gausha’s other two career defeats came against Erickson Lubin in 2020 and Erislandy Lara in 2017. Both of those losses were 12-round decision defeats.
Adames’ Belt and Ambition
Adames, 30, was elevated to the full WBC 160-lb title today after the previous champion, Jermall Charlo, was stripped by the World Boxing Council. Jermall hadn’t defended his title for three years since 2021, and he hadn’t spoken about making any defenses in the pipeline.
Adames quickly moved to defend his new WBC title next month against Gausha after being elevated only today. Like I said, Jermall hadn’t defended the belt in ages. It’s a breath of fresh air to have a WBC middleweight champion who is a real go-getter, wanting to defend the title right away rather than sitting on it without fighting.
Boxing fans hope that if Adames is victorious on June 15th against Gausha, he’ll fight a unification match next against either WBA champ Erislandy Lara or IBF/WBO champion Janibek Alimkhanuly. Those fights would be tough for Adames, but they would put him in a position to increase his popularity.