2023 world champion and double champion of Russia Sharabutdin Ataev Successfully passed the weighing procedure on the eve of the fight for the IBA belt in the weight category up to 86 kg against the bronze medalist of the 2020 Olympic Games, Azerbaijanis of Cuban origin Lorena Alfonso.
The fight, which will take place on February 16 in Dushanbe, will last 10 rounds and will lead the next tournament of the IBA Night of Champions series. Alfonso is the 2021 world champion and the winner of the 2019 European Games.
Atayev’s weight was 86 kg, and Alfonso’s was 85.6 kg.
The upcoming fight will be the fourth in the head-to-head between Atayev and Alfonso, and so far the score of personal meetings is in favor of the Russian. For the first time, these athletes met in the quarterfinals of the 2021 World Championships, when Alfonso showed himself stronger by the majority of the judges’ decisions. But then Ataev won, and exclusively in the final – first in February 2023 by unanimous decision at an international tournament in Morocco, then in May by split decision at the World Championships in Tashkent.
In the co-main event of the tournament in Dushanbe, the IBF mandatory challenger in the second featherweight division will be determined. Former IBF champion of this division Shavkatdzhon Rakhimov (17-1-1, KO 14) from Tajikistan will meet Mexican Eduardo Nunez (25-1, KO 25). The weight of both boxers was 58.8 kg.
Also at the tournament in Tajikistan, the opponent of Russian Vsevolod Shumkov will be determined in the fight for the IBA belt in the under 57 kg category. 2019 world and Asian champion Mirazizbek Mirzakhalilov (4-0, KO 3) of Uzbekistan will meet Mexican Luis Rodriguez Ocana (15-0, KO 14) in a challenger match. Mirzakhalilov’s weight was 56.8 kg, and Okana’s weight was 56.6 kg.
The IBA Night of Champions tournament in Dushanbe will be broadcast live on the channel on February 16, the broadcast starts at 20:00 (Moscow time).
Source : MatchTV
I am Ashley Ortiz and I am a professional journalist working for Athletistic. My specialty is in sports journalism, particularly boxing. I have written articles for some of the most renowned publications on the subject, and my work has been featured across both print and digital media platforms.
