According to Ring.tv, Jeff Horn and his team have settled on British challenger Bradley Skeete for the first defense of their WBO belt. There was some talk of this shot going to Jessie Vargas, but it appears they are going a slightly softer route now that Manny Pacquiao has dropped out of their rematch to fulfill his government duties in the Philippines. We also have a potential date for Gassiev/Wlodarczyk, an undercard fight for Joshua/Pulev, and more.
Jeff Horn (17-0-1, 11 KOs) won the WBO belt via a controversial upset decision over Manny Pacquiao in July. They were intended to rematch in November, but that fell through. Now Bradley Skeete (27-1, 12 KOs) now is reportedly likely to step in. Skeete is unbeaten since his 2014 loss to Frankie Gavin, a nine fight streak that includes a win over the since surging Sam Eggington. Horn would be the favorite if this matchup comes through, but Skeete is an interesting underdog.
In more concrete news, the October 28th Anthony Joshua defense against Kubrat Pulev now has an undercard bout as Kal Yafai (22-0, 14 KOs) will defend his WBA super flyweight belt against Japan’s Sho Ishida (24-0, 13 KOs). In response to the same card, Liambowl II, the rematch between Liam Smith and Liam Williams, has been moved off the October 28th date to November 11th to avoid being forgotten in the Joshua hype.
In World Boxing Super Series news, Murat Gassiev’s (24-0, 17 KOs) first round defense of the IBF cruiserweight title against Krzystof Wlodarczyk (53-3-1, 37 KOs) is looking likely for October 21st in the strange location of Newark, New Jersey. This is the second of the cruiserweight bouts to end up with a seemingly random US location as Yunier Dorticos versus Russian Dmitry Kudryashov is happening in San Antonio as announced previously. That show now has an undercard bout as Nonito Donaire (37-4, 24 KOs) returns against Ruben Hernandez (22-2-1, 9 KOs) for a secondary WBC featherweight title.
Finally, Mikkel Kessler (46-3, 35 KOs) has a likely return date according to his local papers. Apparently November 11th is being targeted against Colombian prospect Roamer Angulo (22-0, 19 KOs). That is a pretty random matchup as Angulo isn’t a terrible prospect, but prime Kessler would have handled him at least.
Sources: Ring.tv and Boxingscene.com
