The Ronny Rios vs. Murodjon Akhmadaliev match has been rescheduled and is going to happen on Saturday, June 25, 2022. The venue of the match will be the Tech Port Arena in San Antonio, Texas. The Ronny Rios vs. Murodjon Akhmadaliev match is going to be the latter’s defense of his IBF and WBA junior featherweight championship belts. The match was originally scheduled to be held earlier but was postponed. Now, the date for the match has been fixed after an announcement by Golden Boy Promotions. The sports fans eagerly awaited the match and expected an official announcement to be made soon. Murodjon got both his belts from Danny Roman in a great boxing match a couple of years ago. Since then, he has also defended his titles successfully a couple of times. The initial defense was a year ago in Uzbekistan. He defeated Ryosuke Iwasa in the middle rounds. The following defense came half a year later. He got a lopsided decision victory over a tough and gritty Jose Velasquez in New Hampshire on the fight card of Andrade vs. Quigley.
Rios has climbed up his way into the position of the WBA mandatory challenger. He has revived his professional boxing career after a bad defeat against Robinson Castellanos nearly a decade ago. After that, he suffered a loss in a championship game against Rey Vargas a few years later. The next year, he obtained a stoppage defeat in the middle rounds against Azat Hovhannisyan. Since then, he has won more than three consecutive victories and looked quite good. This is more valid for his victories against the undefeated Oscar Negrete and Diego De La Hoya. The boxer has not been involved in any match in nearly a year. But the boxer has turned over thirty years of age. He is now in a position of make or break as a contender for the world championship. He has worked very hard to attain this position back again. Yet, many fans think he will be an underdog in the upcoming Ronny Rios vs. Murodjon Akhmadaliev match.
This fierce boxing fight was going to happen a year ago when it was ordered by the WBA. The two boxers were scheduled to fight six months later in New Hampshire. But Rios was forced to withdraw from the match because he contracted the coronavirus. So, Murodjon had to fight against the late replacement Jose Velazques. The champ won that match by unanimous decision. The defending champ can say that he is the best boxer around in his weight division. This is because he obtained the title through a unanimous decision win and has defended his belts comprehensively. He is a puncher who can do a little of everything. He has been trained well and has the foot and hand speed to outbox his rivals from a distance. But he has also shown the ability to fight very well on the inside. His rival in the match may not have the raw speed and natural athleticism that the camp has. But he is a true professional to the core. He has good ring intelligence and is a pressure boxer by nature. He has a great jab and the capability to fight on the inside. It is predicted that he is going to be in the face of the champ from the time the match starts.
The WBA and IBF junior featherweight champ Murodjon has successfully made several defenses of his belts. The first one was against the late substitute Jose Velasquez. Murodjon is ranked among the top three boxers in his weight class. He had been due to go against his mandatory challenger Ronny Rios. But the resident of California caught the coronavirus, and Velasquez had to be substituted to compete in the match. The boxer got married recently. He hopes to be able to unify the belts in his weight division this year. In the previous week, the IBF called for Murodjon to go against their mandatory challenger Marlon Tapales. The organization had given time till February to avoid any purse bid. Marlon had a great stoppage victory in the initial rounds against Hiroaki Teshigawara. But it is still unknown if Murodjon will fight against the mandatory WBA or IBF challenger. But both Taplaes and Rios have proved their worth in their positions. Thus, both can push forward for a match against Stephen Fulton for the position to be called the undisputed junior featherweight title holder.
Komilov is famous for the work that he has done with various boxers over the years. This includes Viktor Postol, Ruslan Provodnikov, and Dmitry Bivol. He thinks that a unification match would hold the most importance. This is although Akhmadaliev has been promoted by the World of Boxing and Matchroom and has his fights on DAZN. On the other hand, Stephen Fulton fights on PBC at Showtime. Still, Komilov is quite positive that both the boxers can meet in the near future.
Murodjon said, “It’s not always the best thing when you have something go wrong. You have to switch from one style to another, and of course, you don’t have time to change sparring partners or something like that. But that’s what we have to deal with, and I’m happy we had a fight. I’m happy with my performance. I gained much-needed experience. The first and second is that we went the distance, and [I could] breathe pretty well, as I struggled to post COVID myself a little bit. Hence, it helped me feel more confident in my abilities. The only thing that could be better was to stop the guy, and I felt like I could, but at the same time, it was a game opponent, and I didn’t want to take unnecessary risks later in the fight. My goal remains the same until I become an undisputed champion. But it’s not my call. It is [the] WBA’s. If I have to face Ronny, I have no problem with it. He is a true warrior, and I’m not going to avoid him as he deserves his shot.” Promoter Kornilov said, “I don’t see any problem organizing a fight for an undisputed championship. Even in the case of the two champions being on different networks.”
|
Murodjon Akhmadaliev |
Ronny Rios |
|
|
Pro Record At Fight |
10-0-0 |
33-3-0 |
|
Title |
Champion |
Challenger |
|
Nationality |
Uzbekistan |
United States |
|
Fighting Out Of |
Indio, California |
Santa Ana, California |
|
Age At Fight |
27 years, 2 weeks, 3 days |
31 years, 9 months, 4 weeks |
|
Latest Weight |
N/A |
N/A |
|
Height |
5'5" (165cm) |
5'7" (171cm) |
|
Reach |
68.0" (173cm) |
67.0" (170cm) |
|
Division |
Fighter #1 |
Fighter #2 |
Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
|
super flyweight (115 lbs) |
Jesse Rodriguez Franco |
Wisaksil Wangek |
For WBC World tit. |
|
flyweight (112 lbs) |
Julio Cesar Martinez |
McWilliams Arroyo |
For WBC World tit. |
|
super bantamweight (122 lbs) |
Murodjon Akhmadaliev |
Ronny Rios |
For WBA (Super) World, IBF World tit. |
|
welterweight (147 lbs) |
Jessica McCaskill |
Alma Ibarra |
For WBC World Female, WBA World Female, IBF World Female, WBO World Female, IBO World Female, The Ring Female tit. |
|
featherweight (126 lbs) |
Raymond Ford |
Richard Medina |
For WBA Continental Americas, IBF North American tit. |
|
lightweight (135 lbs) |
Marc Castro |
Jean Guerra Vargas |
|
|
super welterweight (154 lbs) |
Nikita Ababiy |
Noe Larios Jr |
|
|
light heavyweight (175 lbs) |
Khalil Coe |
Joaquin Berroa Lugo |
|
Conclusion
Over the past many years, Matchroom promotions have kept investing their money and time into the lower weight division of the sport of boxing. This commitment continues with the announcement of the Ronny Rios vs. Murodjon Akhmadaliev match. It will see Murodjon make another defense of the WBA and IBF junior featherweight championship belts against the mandatory challenger of Ronny Rios. The fierce boxing fight is going to be a treat for the fans living in Texas and people watching at home around the globe.