David Rangel will put his boxing career on the line when he faces Nikki Bascome in a welterweight bout at North Field, National Sports Centre, next weekend.

Rangel has lost five of his previous seven fights, and Manuel Garrido, the Mexican’s manager, admits that his client could quit the sport if he loses to Bascome.

To prepare for his crossroads bout, Rangel has sparred more than 50 rounds in his native Chiapas and arrives in Mexico City on Friday to continue his training before landing in Bermuda on Monday — five days before the fight.

It is a very different approach to Bascome’s previous opponent — Guyanese Iwan Azore, who the Bermudian beat via unanimous decision in February — who only arrived on the island a day prior to the opening bell.

“David is at the stage of his career where he could either throw in the towel or start to think about this very seriously,” said Garrido, who has represented Rangel for more than a year.

“I believe he will make a decision after this fight — much will depend on the result, of course.”

Should Rangel beat Bascome, who is undefeated in six bouts, he is likely to leave the boxing backwater of Chiapas and move to Mexico City where he will get better sparring and more opportunities.

“He’s at a point of his career where he has to decide whether he is serious or not,” Garrido said. “The problem David has is that in his state Chiapas there’s not much boxing there.

“He and I have been talking lately and he’s considering moving to Mexico City where he can prepare better and get more opportunities.”

Although he is two years younger than Bascome at 24, Rangel is more experienced with 17 bouts since turning professional in 2012 and has fought for the WBC junior world championship title and WBC Fecombox title.

With so much at stake for Rangel, Garrido — whose company Miura Boxing exports Mexican fighters throughout the world — believes the tough, gritty Mexican will be a dangerous opponent for the ambitious Bascome.

He describes Rangel as a having a Mexican style as he likes to throw punches in bunches and always looks to take the fight to his opponent.

“David is a very tough, strong fighter,” Garrido said.

“Mexican fighters have a lot of heart, never give up, like to brawl and keep on coming for you. The company’s matchmaker has watched Nikki Bascome and thought he was a pretty good fighter, a fast fighter, but doesn’t have much experience yet.

“I like the idea of David continuing to do international bouts. It should be a very good bout, a very even one.”

Rangel suffered a first-round knockout defeat in his previous outing against highly rated Kazakh Batyrzhan Jukembayev in a super-lightweight bout in Montreal in January. Garrido, however, believes it would be foolish to read too much into Rangel’s display as he had struggled to make weight and was suffering from dehydration against the ruthless southpaw.

“David needs to get back on track,” Garrido added. “He lost his last fight against a very good opponent. He had a very tough time making weight for that fight and lost 12 pounds in the last two days.

“When he went into the ring he was not feeling well and was very dehydrated. He really felt the strength of the first punch because of the dehydration so there was not much for him in that fight.

“This fight will be a different story. It’s very close to welterweight and it’s a way more comfortable catchweight for David and he should have no problems making weight.”

Having already fought twice outside his country, in Nicaragua and Canada, Garrido is confident Rangel will not be fazed by fighting in Bermuda.

“I have fighters who have not gone out of Mexico many times, but I can see that they usually get very motivated when they do,” he said.

The undercard includes several amateur boxing bouts including Courtney Dublin v Jaylon Roberts; Matthew Tannock vs Gary Martinez; Robert Somner v Victor Santos; Zain Philpott v Kristan Browne; Tyler Christopher v Corey Moore; and Andre Lambe v Markees Hines.

General admission costs $60 and $95 for ringside, with tickets available at Caesars Pharmacy, Sports R Us, Hunts, and ptix.bm. For more information, email bermudaboxingfed@gmail.com.