Devin Haney is heading to New York for his next fight, one that could reward him with a future world title opportunity with a win.
Matchroom Boxing announced that Haney's fight against Zaur Abdullaev will headline a DAZN card on September 13 at The Theater at Madison Square Garden. The fight is a title eliminator for the vacant WBC lightweight title with the winner potentially getting a shot at the title down the line.
The WBC lightweight title is currently vacant, but unified WBA and WBO champion Vasiliy Lomachenko and Luke Campbell will fight for the belt on August 31 in London. The winner of Haney vs. Abdullaev will be the mandatory challenger to the winner of Lomachenko vs. Campbell.
That's not the only big fight that was announced for the card. Unified WBA and IBF super bantamweight champion Daniel Roman will defend his titles against mandatory challenger Murodjon Akhmadaliev.
The other world title fight on the card is WBO Female featherweight champion Heather Hardy defending her title for the first time against seven-division champion Amanda Serrano. Hardy has not fought in the boxing ring since winning the belt last October when she defeated Shelly Vincent at Madison Square Garden. Serrano last fought in January when she captured the WBO super flyweight title.
Lastly, a heavyweight fight between rising contender Michael Hunter and Sergey Kuzmin was announced. Hunter has won his last five fights, all at heavyweight, after unsuccessfully challenging for Oleksandr Usyk's WBO cruiserweight title back in 2017. Kuzmin is unbeaten as a pro, winning all 15 of his fights. Kuzmin's most recent fight took place in March when he defeated Joey Dawejko by majority decision.
