Jordan Panthen and Victor Toney set to face off in California in crossroads fight

Activity matters to Jordan Panthen.

The undefeated Panthen will face Victor Toney tonight inside the Hangar at the OC Fair and Events Center in Costa Mesa, California. The eight-round bout will headline a Fight Club OC card that will stream live on TrillerTV+ (10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT).

At Wednesday’s weigh-in, Pantheon weighed 155.6 pounds. Toney weighed 153.2 pounds.

Panthen (8-0, 7 KOs), originally from Poughkeepsie, New York and now residing in Honolulu, Hawaii, has already fought a handful of his fights in Costa Mesa. In his last fight on April 4, Panthen scored the best victory of his career thus far, knocking out former prospect Ravshan Hudaynazarov in the second round. In his previous fight on February 15, Panthen knocked out Adam Diu Abdulhamid in the first round.

Tonight will mark Panthen’s third fight this year. His team, which also includes manager Jerry Alfano, hopes Panthen fights six to seven times in 2024.

The 27-year-old has fought five times in 2023. Panthen trains at Brickhouse Boxing Gym in the Los Angeles area and is coached by Southern California-based trainer Julian Chua.

Panthen has recently fought often with former WBO junior middleweight world titleholder Tim Tsyzu. Before his professional debut in August 2022, Panthen was a cowboy in Arizona and Colorado, even teaching riding lessons on the side.

Nicknamed “The Patriot,” Panthen’s dream is to win a world title belt on July 4.

Toney (8-2-1, 6 KOs), who resides in Youngstown, Ohio, scored a surprise victory in his last fight on October 7, defeating once-beaten prospect Jahyae Brown by majority decision. Toney has won his last two fights since his unanimous decision loss to Troy Isley in August 2022.

The 36-year-old suffered his other loss to Sebastian Fundora in September 2017 in a clash between then-undefeated fighters.

Light heavyweight Jaime Cerna (5-0-1, 3 KOs) of Rancho Cucamonga, Calif. will face Oxnard’s Simon Aristegui (3-1, 2 KOs) in a four-round bout.

Dorian Mendez (3-0, 2 KOs) of Los Angeles will face Raymond Benavides (1-2) of San Marcos, Calif., in a four-round junior welterweight bout.

At welterweight, Steven Shareef will make his professional debut against Julian Baez (1-0) of Camarillo, Calif., in a four-round fight.

The card will be promoted by longtime Southern California promoter Roy Englebrecht.

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 Star newspaper in Ventura County, California. He can be reached at (email protected)

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