{"id":698562,"date":"2026-07-18T15:03:14","date_gmt":"2026-07-18T15:03:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/698562\/"},"modified":"2026-07-18T15:03:14","modified_gmt":"2026-07-18T15:03:14","slug":"ernesto-mercado-targets-world-title-after-salita-promotions-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/698562\/","title":{"rendered":"Ernesto Mercado Targets World Title After Salita Promotions Deal"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>  <a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=boxing247.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" style=\"display:flex; align-items:center; justify-content:center;&#010;            width:140px; height:40px; overflow:hidden;\"><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"660\" height=\"208\" alt=\"Add East Side Boxing as a preferred source on Google\" class=\"perfmatters-lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/1770669047_552_google.png\"\/><\/p>\n<p>  <\/a><\/p>\n<p>  <a href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqKAgKIiJDQklTRXdnTWFnOEtEV0p2ZUdsdVp6STBOeTVqYjIwb0FBUAE?ceid=US:en&amp;oc=3&amp;hl=en-US&amp;gl=US\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" style=\"display:flex; align-items:center; justify-content:center;&#010;            width:140px; height:40px; overflow:hidden;\"><br \/>\n    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"468\" height=\"128\" alt=\"Follow East Side Boxing on Google News\" style=\"height:100%; width:auto; display:block;\" class=\"perfmatters-lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/follow-google-news.png\"\/><br \/>\n  <\/a> <\/p>\n<p>The 24-year-old Mercado (19-0, 18 KOs) was announced Thursday as the newest addition to Salita\u2019s stable. He\u2019ll make his promotional debut on August 15 in Atlanta when he faces veteran Emmanuel Tagoe (34-2, 16 KOs) in the co-feature to Claressa Shields\u2019 middleweight title defense against Kaye Scott.<\/p>\n<p>Mercado said he wanted a promoter capable of keeping him active after fighting only four times over the last two years.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt hasn\u2019t been the progression I\u2019ve wanted to take [recently],\u201d Mercado said. \u201cI want to fight four times a year. I\u2019m not like a lot of guys who are content to take a month or two off. I want to get back in there, and now I\u2019m right back in camp and excited about what\u2019s to come.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think [Salita] can make these big fights happen and conquer the entire division.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mercado believes staying busy is the quickest path to a world title.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOne thing I can guarantee is that I\u2019ll be a world champion, and it will happen by next year,\u201d he said. \u201cThe way you become a champion is to stay active.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The California native is currently ranked No. 4 by the WBO and No. 5 by the IBF at 140 pounds. With the IBF title vacant, Mercado hopes an active schedule will move him into position for a championship opportunity in 2027.<\/p>\n<p>First, however, he\u2019ll have to get past Tagoe. Mercado (19-0, 18 KOs) meets the 37-year-old Ghanaian, who is fighting for only the third time since losing a one-sided 12-round unanimous decision to Ryan Garcia in April 2022. Tagoe has won his last two bouts, although both victories came against little-known opposition.<\/p>\n<p>Mercado isn\u2019t expecting the fight to last long.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI plan to end it real quick so I can get back out there and watch Claressa\u2019s fight,\u201d Mercado said. \u201cThis guy is just a step in the way for me. Burgos hadn\u2019t been knocked down, either, and you saw what I did to him. I know what I can do. That\u2019s why I call out big fighters.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m going to put this man asleep and show everybody I\u2019m coming for that world title. Champions, hold on tight to your belts.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 24-year-old Mercado (19-0, 18 KOs) was announced Thursday as the newest addition to Salita\u2019s stable. He\u2019ll make&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":698563,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[2560,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-698562","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-boxing","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/698562","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=698562"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/698562\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/698563"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=698562"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=698562"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=698562"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}