The bout between Malawi boxing star Isaac ‘Golden Boy’ Chilemba and Russian Dmitry Bivol has been confirmed for August 4.
Chilemba will vie for the World Boxing Association (WBA) light heavyweight championship, which Bivol holds, in the United States.
The fight, scheduled for Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Atlantic City, will be on Sergey Kovalez and Eledier Elvarez’s undercard.
The fight comes after Chilemba (25-5-2, 10 KO) bounced back from a career-threatening arm injury that sidelined him for 18 months to outpoint Blake Caparello in Australia on March 16 and win World Boxing Council and WBA Oceanic light heavyweight titles.
It was the 31-year-old Malawian’s first win in four fights, having earlier lost to Alvarez, Kovalev and Oleksandr Gvozdyk.
The South Africa-based Blantyre-born boxer has since challenged that he is unfazed by the perfect record of the young Russian.
“Come August 4, I will be the world champion again and I am really looking forward to becoming world champion again. I know that I am fighting a youngster, only 26 years old, and he has got only 13 fights and a 90 percent knockout ratio. But that doesn’t bother me.
“He is a world champion [and] I know [that] he didn’t get there by mistake. He fought his way up there so I have to prove myself that I am a world contender and that I can be the world champion. I need to prove that I am better than anybody else in the division. I am who I am—Golden Boy. There is nothing that can stop me from defeating him,” Chilemba said from his Johannesburg base.
Commenting on the fight, Chilemba’s trainer, former world title holder, Roy Jones Junior, told www.boxingscene.com that “[I am] so happy to have this fight for Isaac. It’s a great opportunity at a great time. I look forward to a great night for Isaac”.
Main Events, an American firm, promotes Chilemba.
Bivol has since been quoted by www. badlefthook.com that he was relishing the prospect of taking on the Malawian pugilist.
“I am glad that my next opponent will be a tough and well-known boxer in Chilemba. I will do my best to put on another exciting performance for all my fans!” In his last fight on March 3, Bivol (13-0, 11 KO) won through a knockout against Sullivan Barrera in Russia.
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