Don King has a special location in mind for a potential WBA cruiserweight title fight.
King, the long-time boxing promoter, is proposing a WBA “Regular” cruiserweight title fight between titleholder Beibut Shumenov and interim champion Arsen Goulamiriam in Kazakhstan sometime in May. King is proposing this potential event as the “Thrilla in Kazakhstan,", claiming it is to promote peace, harmony and unity for the Kazakhstanian people after Kassym-Jomart Tokayev was named interim president of the country on March 20, succeeding Nursultan Nazarbayev, who resigned on March 19.
In a press release sent to Fightful, King expressed excitement over the possibility of the fight taking place in Shumenov's home country.
“I’m excited about the prospect of Shumenov returning home to defend his title and meet both the outgoing and the new President of his country. I’m planning to put together another great Don King Productions extravaganza. It will be a night of boxing that Kazakhstan and the United States will not forget,” King said.
The proposal comes a little more than a month after King won a purse bid for the fight. King after submitting a winning bid of $821,000, beating Univent Production's bid of $621,500, losing by $199,500. Shumenov previously held the WBA title before ultimately retiring in 2017 due to an eye injury. Shumenov returned last year, defeating Hizni Altunkaya after nine rounds to recapture the WBA title.
Goulamirian earned the right to face Shumenov after beating Ryad Merhy this past March to win the interim title. Goulamirian retained his interim belt with a ninth-round TKO win over Mark Flanagan back in October.
