“He’s going to be a great fight for me, a great test, and I know he’s going to be ready for it, and so am I. I’ve been training really, really hard, getting ready for it.”

The fight is part of the undercard on a night headlined by the WBO cruiserweight title fight between two-class champion David Benavidez (31-0), the challenger, and Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez (48-1).

Blancas connected with Benavidez a few years back as the world was starting to return to normal after the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic and became one of about a half-dozen boxers considered part of his team.

“When I was in Los Angeles, visiting some family, the opportunity came up to actually spar him,” Blancas said. “And I went and did that, and him and his father really liked the sparring session. So we kept in touch.

“And then they reached out to my dad, because he’s one of my trainers as well. And they were like, ‘Come down to another training camp with us. We really liked how you did.’”

The relationship has paid off with training and sparring opportunities with one of the best and chances to fight on the undercard at some of the most prestigious venues in the country.

Blancas has never fought professionally in Wisconsin. The exceedingly few opportunities there might have been as he was coming up conflicted with other, more prestigious opportunities in one way or another.  

Considering he spends only a couple of months at a time in Milwaukee between training camps, Blancas is proud of the fan base he has built in the community he still calls home.

“The city, they support me, a lot of the people support me. A lot of my friends support me,” Blancas said. “It feels good knowing that I’m loved back home in Milwaukee and it’s also an honor to represent the city because with everything going on sometimes in Milwaukee it’s a good thing to have someone doing something positive as well.”

This will be Blancas’ sixth fight in Las Vegas and second at T-Mobile.

“I feel really, really blessed because it’s been a long journey,” he said. “Now that I’m able to fight here in Las Vegas, especially on the big stages – like T-Mobile Arena, MGM Grand, Mandalay Bay; I fought in all those spots – that’s a dream come true for me and for a lot of boxers growing up, because that’s where the big fights have always happened.

“Just being able to be part of history and being able to live that, it just feels like sometimes unreal.”

Boxing closer to home in Racine

Coincidentally, the same weekend as Blancas’ fight with Salomon, BMB promotions has a Cinco de Mayo program scheduled for Memorial Hall in Racine with amateurs on May 1 and professionals on May 2.

Fights start at 6:30 p.m. Friday and 5 p.m. Saturday, culminating with a 10-round super-welterweight bout between Michigan native Joey Spencer (20-2, 11 KO) and Dominican fighter Eudy Bernardo (27-9, 19 KO).