Former unified super bantamweight champion Murodjon Akhmadaliev could be back in title contention by the end of the year, as Matchroom Boxing won today’s purse bid for his WBA final eliminator against Kevin Gonzalez with a $120,000 offer to be split 50/50.
Per Matchroom, the fight could join Regis Prograis vs Devin Haney on December 9th, Sunny Edwards vs “Bam” Rodriguez on December 16th, or an unannounced December 23rd show in Abu Dhabi.
That’s assuming it happens at all, of course; Gonzalez (26-0-1, 13 KO) can still withdraw if he decides $60k isn’t enough to fight someone who was until recently on the fringes of pound-for-pound status. He got this opportunity when top-ranked Tomoki Kameda elected to move up to 126, and if he does bow out, Ukraine’s Oleh Dovhun is next in line.
Dovhun is BoxRec’s no. 132 at super bantamweight and went to a split decision with the now 9-5 Geram Eloyan two fights back, just in case you’re curious as to how well-thought-out the WBA rankings are.
If it does go through, the winner would be in line to challenge the Naoya Inoue vs Marlon Tapales winner for undisputed status. I believe they’d be next, in fact, but don’t quote me on that; Tapales was the IBF mandatory against Akhmadaliev (11-1, 7 KO), which cleared that obligation, while Sam Goodman sits atop the WBO rankings and either Luis Nery or Alan Picasso is next up for the WBC.