By Jake Donovan

Austin Trout will remain on the undercard of the Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) show this weekend in Hidalgo, Texas. The former 154 lb. titlist will face Luis Galarza, a very late replacement for injured Anthony Mundine.

Galarza’s placement on the show is pending his passing all medical tests to renew his Federal ID in Tennessee before flying out to Texas in time for Thursday’s final pre-fight press conference.

(Full disclosure: The author of this news story once served as Galarza’s manager.)

Mundine’s departure from the show was a buzzkill, as fans were looking forward to the clash of ex-beltholders in supporting capacity to the televised portion of the bill (Saturday, CBS, 4:00 p.m. ET). Unbeaten local favorite Omar Figueroa moves up from lightweight as he faces Scotland’s Ricky Burns in a main event battle of former 135 lb. titlists, while Tomoki Kameda faces England’s Jamie McDonnell in a 12-round bantamweight bout.

Trout (28-2, 15KOs) aims for his third straight win following a two-fight skid ended his tenure as a top player in the junior middleweight division. While there’s no shame in losing to Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez and Erislandy Lara, there was slight cause for concern when Trout was forced to overcome an early knockdown in outpointing Daniel Dawson last summer.

An easier night at the office came in Trout’s most recent ring appearance, a 7th round stoppage of Luis Grajeda last December. The bout was part of an ESPN2-televised tribute card in honor of the late Dan Goossen.

The showdown with Mundine was to serve as a final eliminator for a junior middleweight title shot. It’s doubtful that the bout carries that same level of significance given his opposition. 

Galarza (20-3, 14KOs) fights in Texas for the first time in his career, stepping way up in class. The 33-year old Boricua boxer—who now fights out of Antioch, TN, located on the outskirts of Nashville—has won three straight, all of which has come versus nondescript opposition.

The most notable win of Galarza’s career came in 2011, pulling off an upset split decision win over former title challenger Paul Delgado on the road in Atlanta. Galarza parlayed the feat into a crack at then-unbeaten rising contender Kell Brook, suffering a 5th round stoppage in a Dec. ’11 bout serving as the chief support to Andre Ward’s World super middleweight championship win over Carl Froch in the Showtime Super Six finals.

Trout-Galarza is one of 10 undercard bouts supporting the televised portion of the show. The event marks PBC’s return to CBS following its network debut last month with World light heavyweight champ Adonis Stevenson outpointing Sakio Bika in Quebec City, Canada.

Jake Donovan is the Managing Editor of BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox