We have a full buffet of fight announcements to unveil here that were booked over the last week. The highlight of the list is definitely top Russian middleweight prospect Sergei Derevynchenko finding himself in a IBF title eliminator against once beaten Tureano Johnson of the Bahamas for a crack at the winner of Golovkin/Canelo. Brian Viloria, Oleksandr Gvozdyk, Shun Kubo, Omar Chavez, Yukin Ugoni, Milan Melindo, and Manny Rodriguez also have fights booked.
“The Technician” Sergey Derevynchenko (10-0, 8 KOs), a 2008 Olympian, is considered one of the better prospects in the sport. At 31 due to years in the semi-professional World Series of Boxing league, however, his time to move is now. Tureano Johnson (20-1, 14 KOs) is best known for his 2014 fight with Curtis Stevens in which he was clearly winning before being controversially stopped in the 12th. The fight is set for August 25th with a venue, undercard, and television situation yet to be determined by purse bid winner Lou DiBella. A PBC on FS1 main event or bigger PBC show undercard would probably make the most sense here.
Two weeks earlier on August 19th, top Ukrainian light heavyweight prospect and emerging contender Oleksandr Gvozdyk (13-0, 11 KOs) will return from his impressive, HBO broadcast domination of Cuban Yunieski Gonzalez on the undercard of Terence Crawford and Julius Indongo’s junior welterweight unification fight. His opponent will be a bit of a step down, however, as Texan Craig Baker (17-1, 13 KOs) was blasted out by Edwin Rodriguez in three the only time he has stepped up. Gvozdyk is worlds more talented than Edwin Rodriguez.
A pair of IBF world title fights have been booked as well. First, super bantamweight belt holder Yukinori Oguni (19-1-1, 7 KOs) will make his first title defense against Ryosuke Iwasa (23-2, 15 KOs) on Sept. 13 in an all-Japanese clash while Filipino light flyweight titlist Milan Melindo (36-2, 13 KO’s) will do the same against Hekkie Budler (31-2, 10 KO’s) of South Africa in the Philippines. As a former minimumweight titleholder, Budler will be looking for his second world title.
In less than a month, popular Mexican junior middleweight Omar Chavez (36-3-1, 24 KOs), son of the legendary Julio Cesar Chavez, returns on August 12th. Still only 27, the once entirely dismissed younger Chavez is now 8-1 since 2013 against okay competition with the loss to Ramon Alvarez avenged emphatically via early stoppage. His opponent will be former Antonio Margarito foe Roberto Garcia (40-3, 24 KOs).
Finally, former two weight division titlist Brian Viloria (37-5, 22 KOs) and top bantamweight prospect Emmanuel “Manny” Rodriguez (16-0, 11 KOs) have return dates, but not yet opponents. Viloria is set to fight September 9th off television on the HBO flyweight triple header while Rodriguez will be back on August 5th. Technically Manny Rodriguez is Ryan Burnett’s mandatory challenger for his IBF belt. While that would be a great scrap between really good young fighters, Burnett is expected to pursue a unification fight first.
