Akhmadliev to return in December!
Over the past few days it was announced that former unified Super Bantamweight champion Murodjon Akhmadaliev (12-1, 9) [Ахмадалиев, Муроджон Кахарович] will be returning to the ring on December 14th with a bout against Mexican fighter Ricardo Espinoza Franco (30-4-0-1, 25) for the WBA “interim” Super Bantamweight, just 10 days before Naoya Inoue (28-0, 25) [井上尚弥] defends the WBA’s main title against Sam Goodman (19-0, 8).
With a potential showdown between Inoue and Akhmadlaiev being strongly hinted at for Spring, it’s great to see both men fighting less than 2 weeks apart. For Inoue the Goodman bout will be his 4th within a year, and third of 2024, a level of activity few can match. In those 4 bouts he’ll have faced, and if he overcomes Goodman beaten, Marlon Tapales, Luis Nery, TJ Doheny and Goodman.
As for Akhmadaliev the bout with Espinoza his 4th since the start of 2022, and his first of the year. In 2022 he beat Ronny Rios, in April 2023 he lost to Marlon Tapales and most recently, back in December 2023, beat Kevin Gonzalez. The bout with Espinoza will be his first in almost a year, and a chance for him to shake some ring rust, something he really needs to do before getting in the ring with Inoue.
Whilst on paper Espinoza has suffered 4 losses in 35 bouts it does need to be noted that he is 20-2-0-1 in his last 23 bouts, with both of those losses coming to world class fighters in Johnriel Casimero and Daniel Roman. The loss to Casimero, at Bantamweight, saw him being stopped in round 12, whilst Roman took a clear decision over him.
Given the long lay off for MJ this bout makes a lot of sense, with Espinoza serving as a live opponent for his comeback, and the sort of opponent he will get rounds against but, ultimately, should beat without too many problems.
There is now issue with the match up, given the situation, though we again need to question the WBA, and their need for an interim title.
Back in 2017 Gilberto Mendoza Jr, the president of the WBA, travelled to Japan and held a meeting at the JBC head office in Tokyo, and explained "We will narrow down the number of WBA champions to one”, explaining “"created to give opportunities to boxers from economically disadvantaged areas, but ultimately the value of the belt has become diluted." He also added “this will happen in all weight classes by 2018." We are now in 2024, and by the time of the fights just weeks away from 2025 and the WBA are still finding chances to create interim titles, in a division where their title has an active champion, and has been defended 4 times in the last year alone!
In 2021 the WBA also announced “The Championships Committee decided that all Interim Championship titles are withdrawn with immediate effect”. It now seems clear that WBA have either forgotten their own words, or hoped boxing fans have. Sadly for Mendoza and company we haven’t and we must wonder again, following their recent link up with IBA, their U-turn on Russian fighter and this decision, whether they are once again taking their organisation down the wrong path and further tarnishing their reputation, which has long been in the gutter.
With a potential showdown between Inoue and Akhmadlaiev being strongly hinted at for Spring, it’s great to see both men fighting less than 2 weeks apart. For Inoue the Goodman bout will be his 4th within a year, and third of 2024, a level of activity few can match. In those 4 bouts he’ll have faced, and if he overcomes Goodman beaten, Marlon Tapales, Luis Nery, TJ Doheny and Goodman.
As for Akhmadaliev the bout with Espinoza his 4th since the start of 2022, and his first of the year. In 2022 he beat Ronny Rios, in April 2023 he lost to Marlon Tapales and most recently, back in December 2023, beat Kevin Gonzalez. The bout with Espinoza will be his first in almost a year, and a chance for him to shake some ring rust, something he really needs to do before getting in the ring with Inoue.
Whilst on paper Espinoza has suffered 4 losses in 35 bouts it does need to be noted that he is 20-2-0-1 in his last 23 bouts, with both of those losses coming to world class fighters in Johnriel Casimero and Daniel Roman. The loss to Casimero, at Bantamweight, saw him being stopped in round 12, whilst Roman took a clear decision over him.
Given the long lay off for MJ this bout makes a lot of sense, with Espinoza serving as a live opponent for his comeback, and the sort of opponent he will get rounds against but, ultimately, should beat without too many problems.
There is now issue with the match up, given the situation, though we again need to question the WBA, and their need for an interim title.
Back in 2017 Gilberto Mendoza Jr, the president of the WBA, travelled to Japan and held a meeting at the JBC head office in Tokyo, and explained "We will narrow down the number of WBA champions to one”, explaining “"created to give opportunities to boxers from economically disadvantaged areas, but ultimately the value of the belt has become diluted." He also added “this will happen in all weight classes by 2018." We are now in 2024, and by the time of the fights just weeks away from 2025 and the WBA are still finding chances to create interim titles, in a division where their title has an active champion, and has been defended 4 times in the last year alone!
In 2021 the WBA also announced “The Championships Committee decided that all Interim Championship titles are withdrawn with immediate effect”. It now seems clear that WBA have either forgotten their own words, or hoped boxing fans have. Sadly for Mendoza and company we haven’t and we must wonder again, following their recent link up with IBA, their U-turn on Russian fighter and this decision, whether they are once again taking their organisation down the wrong path and further tarnishing their reputation, which has long been in the gutter.