The November 24 HBO Boxing card from Atlantic City will feature a promising contender who won a medal in the most recent summer Olympics.
Undefeated super bantamweight contender Murodjon Akhmadaliev was announced to in the co-main event fight of the televised card. Akhmadaliev will face 22-fight veteran Isaac Zarate with the WBA Intercontinental super bantamweight title on the line.
This will be Akhmadaliev's fifth pro fight since making his pro debut back in March, but this will be Akhmadaliev's U.S. pro debut. Akhmadaliev won a bronze medal as a bantamweight in the 2016 Olympics and then capped his amateur career with a 300-15 record and a gold medal in the 2017 Asian Games.
Akhmadaliev won his first two fights by TKO and then knocked out Ramon Contreras in the first round to win the vacant WBA Intercontinental title. Despite only fighting four times as a pro up to this point, Akhmadaliev is already highly-ranked by the WBA, with the governing body putting him in the No. 3 spot and in good position to challenge for the world title currently being held by Daniel Roman in 2019.
Zarate, a 27-year-old boxer from California, has been fighting professionally since 2011. Zarate is on a five-fight unbeaten streak with his most recent bout being a split decision win over Horacio Garcia back in September.
The card will be headlined by the WBA light heavyweight world title fight between Dmitry Bivol and Jean Pascal. The fight will be Bivol's second straight fight in Atlantic City after he successfully retained his world title in a wide unanimous decision victory over Isaac Chilemba in August. Another WBA Intercontinental title bout is taking place on the card in the heavyweight division. Titleholder Sergey Kuzmin will face off against an opponent to be announced at a later date.
