Australian contender Bilal Akkawy has been announced as David Lemieux's replacement for the interim WBA super middleweight title fight against John Ryder.
Akkawy will face Ryder for the title on the undercard of the May 4 Golden Boy Promotions card from Las Vegas. The card will be headlined by the three-belt middleweight title unification between Canelo Alvarez and Daniel Jacobs. Akkawy replaces Lemieux, who suffered an injury to his right hand, and have the opportunity to move one step closer to title contention.
The 25-year-old Akkawy sports a 20-0-1 pro record, having won the WBA Oceania and OPBF Silver super middleweight titles during his career. Akkawy owns a victory over former world champion Giovanni De Carolis in February 2018 and last fought in March when he stopped Hugo Medina Perez in the first round.
The interim title fight was supposed to be the co-main event of the card, taking place at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, but that was when Lemieux was set to fight Ryder. With Lemieux out, Golden Boy Promotions announced a new co-main event for the show. Undefeated prospect Vergil Ortiz Jr. will face Mauricio Herrera in a 10-round welterweight showdown.
Below is the full card as of this writing:
- Canelo Alvarez vs. Daniel Jacobs: WBA "Super," WBC and IBF Middleweight World Title Unification
- Vergil Ortiz Jr. vs. Mauricio Herrera
- John Ryder vs. Bilal Akkawy: Interim WBA Super Middleweight Title
- Pablo Cesar Cano vs. Michael Perez: WBC International Silver Junior Welterweight Title
- Lamont Roach Jr. vs. Jonathan Oquendo: WBO International and NABO Super Featherweight Title Unification
- Joseph Diaz Jr. vs. Freddy Fonseca: WBA Gold Super Featherweight Title
- Sadam Ali vs. Anthony Young: USNBC Silver Welterweight Title
- Alexis Espino vs. Billy Wager
Fightful will have live coverage of the card, which will be streamed on DAZN in the United States.
