World Championship Boxing: Andrade vs. Akavov
Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden, New York, NY
About the Event
Overview
World Championship Boxing returns to the Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden on Friday, January 18th whenDEMETRIUS “Boo Boo” ANDRADE makes the first defense of his WBO World Middleweight Championship against ARTUR AKAVOV at “The Mecca of Boxing”.
Two-weight World champion, Demetrius Andrade (26-0, 16 KOs) will be making his Madison Square Garden debut. The unbeaten Rhode Island ace looks to kick-off 2019 in style as he continues his quest to unify the Middleweight Championship.
Standing in his way, top Russian contender Artur Akavov (19-2, 8 KOs) will be challenging for a world title for the second time.
On the undercard Amanda Serrano (35-1-1 26KOs) aims for history as she looks to land World honors in an extraordinary seventh weight class as she meets Austrian WBC and IBF World Super-Flyweight champion Eva Voraberger (24-5 11KOs), while Irishman TJ Doheny (20-0 14KOs) makes the first defense of his IBF World Super-Bantamweight title.
Former World Lightweight ruler Jorge Linares (45-4 28KOs) continues his comeback on the card when he meets Pablo Cesar Cano (31-7-1 21KOs). Linares’ reign as WBA and Ring Magazine champion was ended in an epic clash with pound-for-pound star Vasily Lomachenko at Madison Square Garden in May, with Linares felling the Ukrainian star in the sixth before being stopped four rounds later.
Linares returned to winning ways in September with a third-round stoppage win over Abner Cotto in California and starts 2019 with his 50th pro fight against Cano, the Mexican former World title challenger who landed the WBC International Silver strap in his last outing in September.
Long Island favorite and former World ruler Chris Algieri (22-3 8KOs) steps up his pursuit of regaining his World champion status at Super-Lightweight as he faces fellow New Yorker Danny Gonzalez (17-1-1 7KOs), while one of Matchroom Boxing USA’s rising stars tastes his first action in 2019 on the card as Reshat Mati (2-0 1KO) returns to the scene of his last outing in October where the ‘Albanian Bear’ went the four round distance in his second fight.