Kudratillo Abdukakhorov is now one step closer towards fighting for his first welterweight world title after winning a title eliminator.
On the ESPN+ undercard of the Oleksandr Gvozdyk vs. Doudou Ngumbu fight from Philadelphia, Abdukakhorov won an IBF eliminator against Keita Obara. Abdukakhorov won a 12-round decision with scores of 115-113, 117-111, and 118-110 to put himself in a position to challenge for Errol Spence Jr.'s IBF world title at 147 pounds.
Abdukakhorov took the initiative in many of the rounds, landing several big shots, but failed to knock down Obara. Obara did well in taking many of Abdukakhorov's punches and even landed some solid punches as well, but saw himself getting outboxed thoroughly by the unbeaten contender from Uzbekistan.
The 25-year-old Abdukakhorov now improves to 16-0 with nine knockout victories. Obara, a former junior welterweight world title challenger, has now lost two of his last three fights and his record has now dropped to 20-4-1.
Whether or not Abdukakhorov is the next man up to face Spence for the title remains to be seen and is somewhat unlikely at this point. Spence recently retained his title with a unanimous decision win against Mikey Garcia on March 16 on a PBC on Fox pay-per-view event from Arlington, Texas. After the fight, Spence indicated that he would be up for fights against WBA "Regular" champion Manny Pacquiao and WBC champion Shawn Porter next.