Murodjon Akhmadaliev. Photograph by Ed Mulholland/Matchroom Boxing USA
Unified junior featherweight titleholder Murodjon Akhmadaliev has a brand new opponent for subsequent Friday evening.
Akhmadaliev will now defend his IBF and WBA titles towards Jose Velasquez, Matchroom Boxing introduced Friday afternoon. The 12-round bout will happen at SNHU Area in Manchester, New Hampshire, in assist of the principle occasion between WBO middleweight titleholder Demetrius Andrade and challenger Jason Quigley.
Each fights, together with the WBC flyweight title bout between titleholder Julio Cesar Martinez and McWilliams Arroyo, will stream reside on DAZN (8 p.m. ET/ 5 p.m. PT).
Velasquez will exchange authentic opponent Ronny Rios, who needed to withdraw from the battle as a consequence of testing constructive for COVID-19. Akhmadaliev and Rios are ranked Nos. 1 and 9, respectively, at 122-pounds by The Ring.
Akhmadaliev (9-0, 7 knockouts), who’s initially from Uzbekistan and now lives and trains in Indio, California, can be making his second protection of the IBF and WBA titles. In his most up-to-date bout on April 21, Akhmadaliev stopped Japan’s Ryosuke Iwasa, who’s ranked No. 10 by The Ring, in Spherical 5.
The 27-year-old sympathizes with Rios’ predicament however just isn’t overlooking Velasquez.
“I hope that Ronny is feeling properly,” stated Akhmadaliev, who’s managed by Vadim Kornilov and is skilled by Joel Diaz. “It’s a disgrace that he can’t face me however it’s a nice likelihood for Jose and I’m certain he’ll put all the things into this battle.
“The whole lot has been good in camp. It’s been a protracted camp with a few fights getting cancelled however we’ve stayed within the health club and I’m able to defend what’s mine.”
Velasquez has break up his time between combating at 118 and 122 kilos during the last a number of years.
After dropping by break up determination to Robinson Lavinanza in July 2016, Velasquez has reeled off a formidable string of 21 consecutive victories. Regardless of his profitable streak, Velasquez just isn’t ranked within the top-10 of any of boxing’s 4 main sanctioning our bodies.
The 32-year-old (29-6-2, 19 KOs) has notched noteworthy victories in latest fights. After stopping unbeaten prospect Ramon Averanga in July 2019, Velasquez stopped one other unbeaten fighter in present bantamweight contender Melvin Lopez lower than 4 months later.
In his most up-to-date bout on Might 22, Velasquez defeated previously-unbeaten bantamweight Ariel Lopez by unanimous determination.
Francisco A. Salazar has written for The Ring since October 2013 and has coated boxing in Southern California and overseas since 2000. Francisco additionally covers boxing for the Ventura County (California) Star newspaper. He will be reached by e-mail at [email protected] or on Twitter @FSalazarBoxing.
