Mexico has not seen living boxing in several weeks, but promoter Carlos Molina plans to change that with a fight card he is also fighting on.

Molina will face veteran Michi Munoz on May 23 in his hometown of Patzcuaro, Mexico, it was officially announced Wednesday afternoon. The 10-round junior middleweight bout will stream live on King Carlos Promotions’ YouTube and Facebook pages (7 p.m. ET/ 4 p.m. PT).

The five-bout ‘Behind Closed Doors’ card will take place with no fans in attendance.

The card falls in the midst of Mexico’s battle against the COVID-19 pandemic. Last week, Hugo Lopez-Gatell, Mexico’s deputy health minister, announced the country had entered into ‘Phase 3,’ the most serious stage, of their battle against the novel coronavirus. While president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador will continue not enforcing curfews, the phase is to further reduce movement of people in public spaces, which includes social distancing and the closure of non-essential businesses.

Mexico extended these government restrictions from Thursday (April 30) until May 30. If current measures show a decrease in positive cases and deaths, the government plans on easing restrictions on June 1. Michoacan is located along Mexico’s western coast.

While the fight card will take place one week before Mexico could ease restrictions, Molina promised the safety of the fighters, officials, and those involved will be paramount.

“I’m very excited to promote and fight on this event in Patzcuaro,” said Molina. “This is the seventh event my promotional company has presented except this time there won’t be any fans in attendance. We’re working with the local commission and taking very strict medical precautions far beyond the typical boxing event to ensure the safety of the fighters, their teams and the event production staff.”

Molina (31-11-2, 10 knockouts), a former IBF junior middleweight titleholder, last fought on February 14, stopping Nestor Garcia in round 10. He has won three of his last four bouts after dropping his previous four, including losses to Carlos Adames (July 2017) and Josh Kelly (Match 2018).

During his career that began in October 2003, Molina has defeated Kermit Cintron, Ishe Smith, Cory Spinks, and Ed Paredes. He is best known for his highly-controversial draws against Erislandy Lara and Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr., both of which many media thought he did enough to win, and his disqualification loss to James Kirkland in a fight he was winning up until the point of the stoppage.

Munoz (27-10-1, 18 KOs), who resides in Leon, Guanajuato, Mexico, has not fought since May 17 of last year, when he was knocked out by then-unbeaten Clovis Drolet. The 38-year-old has lost four of his last six bouts.

In the co-feature, junior middleweight Eric Walker will square off against Nestor Garcia in an eight-round bout.

Walker (20-2, 9 KOs), who resides in Plaquemine, Louisiana, defeated Damian Bonelli by unanimous decision in his last bout on December 7. He has won his last three bouts since his decision loss to Brandon Adams in May 2018 when he appeared on ‘The Contender’ series.

Garcia (23-20-1, 17 KOs) has not fought since the loss to Molina. The Cadereyta de Montes, Mexico resident has lost his last five bouts.

Two unbeaten prospects that reside in Pensacola, Florida will also fight on the card.

Middleweight prospect Shady Gamhour (12-0, 9 KOs) of Sweden will face Juan Torres Perez (7-9, 6 KOs) of Irapuato, Mexico. Heavyweight Rashid Akzhigitov (10-0-1, 7 KOs) of Russia will square off against Guadalajara, Mexico’s Hugo Lomeli (21-15-1, 15 KOs).

Rounding out the card will be junior middleweight Alejandro Davila (19-1-2, 7 KOs) of Mexico City against a fighter to be determined.

The fight card will be promoted in association with Roy Jones Jr. Promotions and comes on the heels of a card that took place on Saturday night in Managua, Nicaragua and one Sunday afternoon in Seoul, South Korea.

Francisco A. Salazar has written for Boxingscene since September of 2012 and has covered boxing in Southern California and abroad since 2000. Francisco also covers boxing for the Ventura County (Calif.) Star newspaper. He can be reached by email at santio89@yahoo.com or on Twitter at FSalazarBoxing